Sometimes we see good photos, other times we see *great* photos. And sometimes… we see photos that just take our breath away. Below you will see a collection of the most raw, most stunning photography by National Geographic. Oh how the world is an amazing place!
#1. Many people pilgrimage to Uluru, but what is seen there often depends on where you’ve come from.
#2. Arrows of rain seem to pelt a dragonfly in Indonesia’s Riau Islands
#3. A portrait of two identical twins (Nils and Emil, 15 years old) in Fyn, Denmark
#4. A farmer in Bagan, Myanmar moves his goats within the centuries old complex filled with Buddhist temples and pagodas.
#5. A woman swims through the Chile lake during a heavy downpour.
#6. A mid-morning Marrakech traveler tries to travel in light.
#7. An extraordinary display of spring frost covering everything in sight at the backdrop of a blue metal dumpster from a construction site.
#8. The great Japanese maple tree in the Portland Japanese Gardens.
#9. Glacial ice washes ashore after calving off a glacier on Iceland’s eastern coast.
#10. Fishermen in Sri Lanka sit on a cross bar called a petta tied to a vertical pole planted into the coral reef during stilt fishing.
#11. A streetcar in New Orleans traveling back towards The Quarter on St. Charles Ave.
#12. Deer under falling Cherry Blossom petals in Nara Park, Japan
#13. A polar bear peers up from beneath the melting sea ice on Hudson Bay, Canada
#14. An adult male gelada rests in the early morning light after ascending the steep sleeping cliffs of the Simien Mountains, Ethiopia.
#15. At safari not only animals can attract attention.
#16. The Matterhorn at full moon, Switzerland
#17. A moth rest upon a stem covered in fresh dew in a forest in Russia
#18. Thousands of fish move in synchrony running from a predator in the deep ocean waters.
#19. Star-gazing at Crater Lake, Oregon
#21. A surfer duck dives his board to clear the rolling waves of the raw ocean at Cloud Break at an outer reef in Fiji.
#22. Light pours over the Taj Mahal creating an absolutely divine and serene atmosphere.
#23. A swollen creek bed in the desert near Broken Hill in Australia, a local cools off.
#24. Beautiful frozen trees line the famous blue pond in Biei, Hokkaido, Japan
#25. Copenhagen, The Gemini Towers, private residential building by the river.
#26. A winter gloomy day creates an eerie ambiance at the famous landmark Eiffel tower, Paris.
#27. Beluga whales in the arctic having fun.
#28. A mentally ill patient lies chained on the floor at the Yayasan Galuh Rehabilitation Center – an impoverished mental health facility based in Bekasi, Indonesia.
#29. A curious kid peeks out of a train window in India, early morning.
#30. A girl stands alone among the ancient forest of Baobab trees in Madagascar.
#31. A couple kiss among spraying lava during a volcano eruption.
#32. A female cheetah and her cub in affection among the grasslands of Africa.
#33. H’Mong minority children play with their balloons on a foggy day in Moc Chau – Ha Giang province, Vietnam.
#34. An orphan gives an infectious and unbelievably beautiful smile to the doctors at the hospital grounds in the Western Highlands of Ethiopia performing obstetric fistula and uterine prolapse on patients.
#35. A wild Alaskan brown bear digging on a game trail, Alaska
#36. Snow Geese in flight. Kleinfeltersville, Pennsylvania
#37. A man sits alone at Salar de Uyuni salt flats in Bolivia
#38. A well-dressed lady trying to cross the street in a torrential downpour in China.
#39. Female members of a family of a nomadic tribe in the Kyrgyz lands of the Wakhan Corridor sit at peace.
#40. Miss Confidence, Ruth stands in her newly won sash and tiara in her one room apartment that she shares with two other people. Ruth is three feet tall. She entered an able-bodied beauty pageant and won one of the top 3 titles of Miss Confidence.
#41. At the hospital of Dadaab’s Refugee Camp in Kenya, a weak little girl lies in the lap of her mother.
#42. A jellyfish drifts just beneath the surface looking to capture the first sun rays to trigger their symbiotic algae to produce energy at Mar Menor coastal lagoon, Murcia province, Spain.
#43. Rare and endangered Australian Sea Lions swim and play in the shallows of Hopkins Island, South Australia.
#44. Bonobo Portrait, Jacksonville Zoo, Florida
#45. Nathan Fletcher rides one of the biggest waves ever ridden at Teahupoo, in Tahiti.
#46. After school fun at the river, in Laos.
#47. A solitary tree surviving another harsh winter in Yellowstone National Park.
#48. Like ancient giant marbles, the Moeraki Boulders are strewn across Koekohe Beach on New Zealand’s South Island.
#49. Diving on a single breath without scuba gear in the Red Sea.
#50. Bubbles of underwater gas leaks get frozen and trapped under a lake in an arid area of the Canadian Rockies.
#51. The Himba Women of northern Namibia perfome daily rituals where by they annoint themselves with a mixture of ochre, oil and ash to protect themselves from the harsh desert climate. They never take a shower, but rather burn aromatic herbs in a pot each morning with which they smoke themselves as if applying perfume.
#52. In a mud pool at the sea salt mines near Bourgas, Bulgaria locals gather. He applies the mud from the pool and then stands upright until it is dry only to take a dip in the nearby sea. Afterwards he gets a relaxing swim in the 30cm of water in the salt mine.
