These 13 National Geographic Photos Capture Things You Never Expected to See
Each year, National Geographic holds an annual photo contest where some of the most elite and talented photographers from around the world submit their best work. Then, a committee of experts votes to determine the best of the hundreds of submissions.
Entries are divided by three distinct categories - "Nature, Places, and People," with a winner being determined for each. And while submissions vary significantly in both composition and style, each is uniquely evocative.
"A rare and jaw-dropping anti-cyclonic tornado touches down in open farmland, narrowly missing a home near Simla, Colorado."
"On the occasion of the preparation of a report on Ríotinto from the air, I decided to include phosphogypsum ponds located in the marshes of red and whose radioactive discharges has destroyed part of the marsh...I discovered this on a low-flying training that caught my attention for its resemblance to the impact of an asteroid on its green waters."
"Bwengye lives in a slum called Kamwokya in Kampala, Uganda's capital city. He cherishes his bicycle more than anything else. He brings it to this playground in the slum every evening where he watches kids playing soccer."
"I was taking photos of orangutans in Bali, Indonesia, when it started to rain. Just before I put my camera away, I saw this orangutan take a taro leaf and put it on top on his head to protect himself from the rain! I immediately used my DSLR and telephoto lens to preserve this spontaneous magic moment."
"A flock of Alpine choughs (Pyrrhocorax graculus), a species of mountain-dwelling bird, performs acrobatic displays in the air. During a windy day, I was able to immortalize their impressive flight skills."
"There are many hundreds of thousands of crosses on the Hill of Crosses near Šiauliai, Lithuania. It represents Lithuanian Catholicism’s peaceful resistance to oppression. Many spirits of the dead are thought to live here on this small hill. When I visited this place, a girl in a pink dress ran through as if she brought peace, hope, and love."
"In Maasai Mara National Reserve in Kenya, the cubs of the famous cheetah Malaika learn to hunt. They moved from one hill to another, scanning the lands. Here, they seemed to change shifts as one cheetah leaves the hill while another takes her place."
"This photo was taken during Chinese New Year's Eve of 2015 in Taiwan. I noticed how the light was coming into the room as our family members passed incense sticks to each other, sending our prayers and paying respects to our ancestors. The photo is symbolic, as the passing of incense sticks represents the knowledge and wisdom passed down from generation to generation."
"The game (Altinho) in Ipanema - Rio de Janeiro."
"White-fronted bee-eaters gather on a bough before going to sleep in their burrows, scraped into a sand wall. I was working on this theme for 18 days, as there were only five to ten minutes each day when the light conditions were appropriate. Ninety percent of my efforts to capture this image were not successful...At this angle angle, the backlight generated rainbow coloring through the wings of the flying birds."
"Taiwan - In the countryside, the funerals are usually accompanied by local chapels. When a family member dies, their body is kept in the house, or in a tent built specifically for this purpose. After a set period of time, the deceased, accompanied by a funeral procession is buried."
"As the largest system of mountain ranges in Central Asia, Tian Shan—which translates to “sky-mountain” in Chinese—has one of the best collections of natural landscapes in the world and is considered a paradise for outdoor adventures. Thanks to the richness of the land’s sediments...the north face of Tian Shan is carved into stunning plateaus and colorful canyons hundreds of meters deep, resulting in this surrealist painting in nature."