| 2015-5-surfing-underwater-waves | | Picture of a surfer duck diving under a wave with a wooden alaia, Kona, Hawaii | | A woman duck dives beneath a wave on a wooden alaia, a modern rendition of an ancient Hawaiian surfboard. “The main reason I love ocean and surf photography is the combination of the physical and creative challenge of it,” says photographer Sarah Lee, who captured this image off Kona, Hawaii.
See more of Lee’s photography on Proof.
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| 2015-5-fireflies-stars-night | | Picture of fireflies and stars at night in Tanzania | | Constellations in the southern Milky Way compete with an earthly display of light near Tanzania’s Lake Natron. “These glowing elves were flying up and down among the lush grass on both sides of a ravine stream, like a flowing ‘firefly way’—as if to contest ... the Milky Way,” writes Your Shot member Steed Yu.
This photo was submitted to Your Shot, our storytelling community. Check out the new book Getting Your Shot for more photos, plus tips and creative insights from Nat Geo experts.
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| 2015-5-building-water-moss | | Picture of an abandoned torpedo station, Gdynia, Poland | | An abandoned World War II torpedo station appears suspended between a moody sky and a calm bay near Gdynia on the coast of Poland. Setting out from Warsaw, Your Shot member Trynidada drove through the night to catch the first light of sunrise—but as the sun came up, the weather turned dark. “The sky had this steel-like color, with just a hint of white clouds moving slowly on the horizon,” Trynidada writes.
Trynidada’s image was recently featured in Your Shot’s Daily Dozen.
This photo was submitted to Your Shot, our storytelling community. Check out the new book Getting Your Shot for more photos, plus tips and creative insights from Nat Geo experts.
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| 2015-5-robber-fly-macro-insect | | Picture of a robber fly, South Africa | | A robber fly saved from a pool rests on the tip of a bottlebrush flower in Boksburg, South Africa. Using post-processing software, Your Shot member Mervin Pearce created a composite image consisting of multiple shots of the fly stacked on top of each other.
This photo was submitted to Your Shot, our storytelling community. Check out the new book Getting Your Shot for more photos, plus tips and creative insights from Nat Geo experts.
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| 2015-5-girls-fan-summer | | Picture of girls standing in front of a fan in Roswell, Georgia | | “We all know that sound it makes when you yell into a fan,” writes Kate Parker, who shared this picture with our Your Shot community. Parker had volunteered to take a friend’s children outside after an early dinner out. “This was shot in July in Georgia,” she writes. “Lots of restaurants have these huge fans outside in case anyone is looking to sweat while they eat. [As] soon as the girls saw the fan, they were drawn right to it.” Parker recalled doing this herself as a child. “It is universal. I knew I wanted to capture that moment ... yelling freely, with the wind blowing their hair, and just being kids.”
This photo was submitted to Your Shot, our storytelling community. Check out the new book Getting Your Shot for more photos, plus tips and creative insights from Nat Geo experts.
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| 2015-5-traditional-dancing-phuket-thailand | | Picture of men performing a ceremony at the Vegetarian Festival in Phuket, Thailand | | A ceremony takes place in the courtyard of the Put Jaw Chinese Temple during the annual Vegetarian Festival in Phuket, Thailand. “A wonderful moment,” writes Your Shot member Kampol Jindaprom, who visited the temple to pay homage during the nine-day event. “It stems from ... belief and faith.”
This photo was submitted to Your Shot, our storytelling community. Check out the new book Getting Your Shot for more photos, plus tips and creative insights from Nat Geo experts.
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| 2015-5-underwater-girl-jellyfish | | Picture of a girl swimming with golden jellyfish, Jellyfish Lake, Palau | | The residents of Jellyfish Lake on Eil Malk—one of the Rock Islands of Palau—surround a snorkeler in their midst. The saltwater lake’s golden jellyfish, harmless to humans, spend much of their lives following the sun as it makes its daily progress across the sky. For these jellies, sunlight is essential: It nourishes the algae-like organisms that live symbiotically in their tissues.
This photo was submitted to Your Shot, our storytelling community. Check out the new book Getting Your Shot for more photos, plus tips and creative insights from Nat Geo experts.
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| 2015-5-snowboarder-cave-austria | | Picture of a snowboarder jumping over an ice cave, Austria | | To get this shot, taken in Austria, Your Shot member Christoph Jorda set up two Profoto B1 flash systems: one on top of the ice cave and one inside. “We had to dig out the entrance of the cave because it was almost totally closed by the snow you see in the foreground,” Jorda writes. The problem? According to Jorda, the ice cave was at an altitude of nearly 9,800 feet, the temperature was at minus 4ºF, and the flash didn’t work properly. “So he [had] to jump a couple of times to get it right,” he says.
Jorda’s image was recently featured in Your Shot’s Daily Dozen.
This photo was submitted to Your Shot, our storytelling community. Check out the new book Getting Your Shot for more photos, plus tips and creative insights from Nat Geo experts.
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| 2015-4-men-sitting-fire-beach | | Picture of men sitting by a fire on the beach, United Arab Emirates | | While shooting at the seaside in the United Arab Emirates, Your Shot member Muhammad Babar Swaleheen was about to pack up when he spotted these men “discussing daily life” around a small fire. Swaleheen asked if he could photograph them, and “they gladly agreed.”
This photo was submitted to Your Shot, our storytelling community where members can take part in photo assignments, get expert feedback, be published, and more. Join now »
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| 2015-4-bangkok-night-guttenfelder | | Picture of traffic on a busy city road in Bangkok, Thailand, at night | | Dams are rising all along the Mekong River to bring the people of Southeast Asia clean electricity. In Thailand the hunger for electricity is driving dam construction on the lower Mekong in Laos and Cambodia. Bangkok’s CentralWorld complex (at right) houses some 500 shops, a hotel, and an ice-skating rink.
See more pictures from the May 2015 feature story “Harnessing the Mekong or Killing It?” »
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| 2015-4-night-fire-trails | | Picture of a man creating fire trails using burning wool on a starry night, Salcombe, England | | Your Shot member Steve Bradburn used wire wool and a long exposure to create this fiery effect in Salcombe, England. Above, stars wheel in the night sky.
This photo was submitted to Your Shot, our storytelling community where members can take part in photo assignments, get expert feedback, be published, and more. Join now »
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| 2015-4-rowing-mathura-lake | | Picture of a man rowing a boat on the Yamuna River, Mathura, India | | While taking pictures of Hindu holy men in the Indian city of Mathura—birthplace of the Hindu god Krishna—Your Shot member Andrew Louis Kleynhans came across a boatman on the Yamuna River who asked to have his picture taken. To get this angle Kleynhans got on his stomach in the boat’s stern, his feet dangling in the water. “In the end ... the boatman was very happy with his image,” he writes.
This photo was submitted to Your Shot, our storytelling community where members can take part in photo assignments, get expert feedback, be published, and more. Join now »
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| 2015-4-lanterns-chinese-festival | | Picture of numerous red lanterns hung for the Spring Festival in China | | Red lanterns create a decorative canopy during the Spring Festival, or Chinese New Year, a significant holiday during which millions of Chinese travel home to be with family. In China the color red traditionally symbolizes good fortune and is said to bring happiness and prosperity.
This photo was submitted to Your Shot, our storytelling community where members can take part in photo assignments, get expert feedback, be published, and more. Join now »
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| 2015-4-mayana-soora-thiruvizha-festival | | Picture of a young girl having her face painted for the Angalamman festival, Tamil Nadu, India | | A young girl’s face is painted for a festival honoring the guardian deity Angalamman, “the fiercest form,” evoked in participants’ expressions. The festival is held every year in the village of Kaveripattinam in Tamil Nadu, India.
This photo was submitted to Your Shot, our storytelling community where members can take part in photo assignments, get expert feedback, be published, and more. Join now »
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| 2015-4-children-balloon-india | | Picture of children in Bow Barracks, Kolkata, India, on Christmas Eve | | Families celebrate under a corridor of twinkle lights on Christmas Eve in Kolkata’s Bow Barracks. “This auspicious occasion is celebrated in a very colorful way,” writes Abir Choudhury, a member of our Your Shot community. “I [tried] to highlight them with black and white.”
This photo was submitted to Your Shot, our storytelling community where members can take part in photo assignments, get expert feedback, be published, and more. Join now »
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| 2015-4-sardines-reef-caribbean | | Picture of a swirling school of sardines, Thousand Steps Reef, Bonaire | | A shoal of sardines resembles an eye on the ocean depths as it swirls near the surface at Thousand Steps Reef off the Caribbean island of Bonaire. Your Shot member Federico Cabello photographed and documented Bonaire’s more than 90 official dive sites for his book Bonaire Point to Point. “Thousand Steps Reef was one of these dive sites,” Cabello writes. “It’s reached via a narrow, meandering stone stairway. A long trek but worth it.”
This photo was submitted to Your Shot, our storytelling community where members can take part in photo assignments, get expert feedback, be published, and more. Join now »
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| 2015-4-red-fox-new-jersey | | Picture of a red fox on the New Jersey shore | | A red fox meanders through dunes along the New Jersey shore in this picture by Your Shot member Mitch Adolph. “When it got to the top of this dune, I got down on my knees to get a lower point of view and bring the cloudy sky into the background,” he writes. “As the fox looked back, I got this shot."
This photo was submitted to Your Shot, our storytelling community where members can take part in photo assignments, get expert feedback, be published, and more. Join now »
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| 2015-4-street-scene-slovenia | | Picture of a street performer reflected in a window with an image of Ray Charles, Nova Gorica, Slovenia | | A street performer and a picture of Ray Charles meet in a window in the small town of Nova Gorica in western Slovenia, home of Your Shot member Gregor Pirih, who came upon this scene while taking a walk. Pirih stopped and listened for a while before taking out his camera and hunting for the serendipitous angle captured here. He then waited to include a passing woman. “I wanted to have a good street atmosphere [in] my photo,” he writes. “I fired off a few frames, and I knew immediately that I just took the photograph I was hoping for.”
Pirih’s image was published in the Street Photography assignment.
This photo was submitted to Your Shot, our storytelling community where members can take part in photo assignments, get expert feedback, be published, and more. Join now »
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