Someone, Like You.

Thursday, February 23, 2012, 18:30

Alpacas
A baby alpaca displays some affection with her mother.


Owls
These two owlets are known as Sunda scops (Otus lempiji). They had just hatched from their eggs a few weeks before this photo was taken.


Red Foxes
Recently, a red fox has been hunting in the marsh behind my condo on the Connecticut shoreline. I've seen her during the early morning hours when I walk my dog and on my way to work. I thought it strange to see a traditionally circumspect creature in such a public venue. These two are the explanation, it turns out. She and her two kits (featured here) have a den within the boulders of the seawall by the town docks. Every day they become more curious of their enraptured audience, us.


Cheetahs
Most wild cheetahs are found in eastern and southwestern Africa. Perhaps only 12,000 of these big cats remain, and those are under pressure as the wide-open grasslands they favor are disappearing at the hands of human settlers.


Lion Pride, Serengeti.
A pride of lions behaves naturally for the camera—a remote-controlled car outfitted with still and video cameras to capture the lions at ground level. The equipment was field tested by photographer Michael "Nick" Nichols while on assignment for National Geographic magazine.


Polar Bear Cubs
These two polar bear cubs are playing close to our Tundra Buggy in Canada's Wapusk National Park.


Lowland Gorillas
This photo of two lowland gorillas was taken at the Bronx Zoo in New York City. This is part of a series of photos I call Bronx Zoo Diaries.


Singapore
Couples in Singapore gather for Movies on the Beach, a government-sponsored event designed to promote love. Public programs—from litter-prevention campaigns to grants for studying abroad—are common in Singapore. So too are strict laws, with many crimes punishable by caning or hanging. Yet Singaporeans have accepted broad limits on their personal freedom in return for stability and safety. For them, happiness and success have become tightly intertwined.


Llamas
Llamas, like the one shown here, are a common sight at Machu Picchu. Used as pack animals for centuries by Andean dwellers, the camel relatives were also sources of leather, wool, and meat for the Inca.


Llamas
Llamas graze beside the ruins at Machu Picchu. Both llamas and alpacas served crucial roles during the Inca’s reign. South America’s only draft animal, a llama could carry 70 pounds of gear on its back.


Machu Picchu, Peru
The tilt shift lens, often used in architectural photography, is fun to use for rendering actual settings into scale-model worlds in which people look like toy figures. Because you’re altering the planes of focus and drawing the eye to a narrow area of the photograph, a specific point of interest must be included. In this image, the two small figures walking through the "maze" are essential elements. I love that one of the people is wearing something red, providing the only bright color in the entire image.


Mongolia
An ocean of green, Mongolia is the most sparsely populated country in the world, with just under three million people in a landmass larger than Alaska. Mongolian culture—physical, mobile, self-reliant, and free—developed out here on the steppe. "When people move to Ulaanbaatar, they bring that mentality with them," says Baabar, a well-known publisher and historian.


Mural, Chile
A mural of Neruda graces the Bellavista neighborhood in Santiago, Chile.


Guard, Moscow
Guard outside the Kremlin, Moscow, 2009.


Hjrundfjorden, Norway
Hikers trekking through snow in Hjrundfjorden, Norway, in late October.


Polar Bear, Svalbard
A curious female polar bear approaches the Lindblad Expeditions ship National Geographic Explorer in Svalbard, Norway.


Pulpit Rock, Norway
People standing on the edge of Preikestolen (Pulpit Rock), Norway.


Briksdal Glacier, Norway
This vertorama is made from six horizontal shots taken on approach to Briksdal Glacier in Norway in August 2008.


Thick-Billed Murre, Iceland
I captured this image at Hornstrandir in Iceland. The young couple of thick-billed murre (Uria lomvia) were taking care of the next generation.


Waterfall, Iceland
Mist rainbow at a waterfall in Iceland.


Snaefellsnes, Iceland
Small log house under brilliant sky in Snaefellsnes, Iceland.


Ring Road, Iceland
Ring Road curving through the landscape of hills in Iceland.


Seljalandsfoss, Iceland
One of the most beautiful waterfalls that there is in Iceland. This was taken at Seljalandsfoss waterfall at sunset.


Lungre, Sweden
This photo was taken in the village of Lungre in northern Sweden. It is of a church from the 12th century that is still in use today. I was taking photographs of the starry skies in the village and this church seemed like a good setting for something as timeless as the stars.


Aurora Borealis, Norway
Aurora borealis over Skittenelv, Norway.


Aurora Borealis, Iceland
Aurora borealis over water in Iceland.

From National Geographic.
http://www.nationalgeographic.com/