National Geographic Photo of the Day (Selects from September and October)

SEPTEMBER 3, 2013

Balloon Ride, Myanmar

Photograph by Dima Chatrov, Your Shot
This Month in Photo of the Day: The Stories Behind Your Shots
For Your Shot contributor Dima Chatrov, seeing Bagan, Myanmar, from a hot air balloon is a must for any traveler to the ancient city. "The location is ideal for shooting: the bend of the river, flat valley … and mountains on the horizon," Chatrov says. "But the main thing [is] there are thousands and thousands of temples, pagodas, and stupas."
According to Chatrov, the balloon flight lasts from 40 minutes to an hour. "The first sunbeam breaks through the haze on the east and colors the valley in golden tones. A few more seconds and thousands of light blades pierce the fog. It is so beautiful and unusual that it seems like you are no longer in the 21st century, but somewhere in the middle of the 19th, flying like the heroes of Jules Verne, to open the unknown …"
SEPTEMBER 8, 2013

Airplane Shadow, California

Photograph by Avani Agarwal, Your Shot
This Month in Photo of the Day: The Stories Behind Your Shots
"It was a clear and beautiful day as I took off from San Francisco Airport heading eastbound," says Your Shot contributor Avani Agarwal, who spotted the plane's shadow while taking in the city from a window seat. "At first I thought it was another airplane, or some figment of my imagination," Agarwal says, "but I quickly realized it was my airplane's shadow and furiously grabbed for my camera," an iPhone.
SEPTEMBER 12, 2013

Jal Mahal, India

Photograph by Mahesh Balasubramanian, Your Shot
This Month in Photo of the Day: The Stories Behind Your Shots
At Jal Mahal in Jaipur, India, a flock of pigeons burst into the sky just as Mahesh Balasubramanian was contemplating the landscape's misty backdrop. "It was an early morning, and I was roaming around Jal Mahal," says the Your Shot contributor. "I was in the right position to [capture] those floating structures' reflections, with one nearby and another a bit far, balancing the frame. The water was very still."
The pigeons coming out of Jal Mahal surprised Balasubramanian, but "that is what made this shot for me."
SEPTEMBER 17, 2013

Railway Bridge, Japan

Photograph by Teruo Araya, Your Shot
This Month in Photo of the Day: The Stories Behind Your Shots
On an early summer morning, Teruo Araya captured this image of a train on Japan Rail's Tadami line as it passed through Fukushima Prefecture. "The haze generated by the river created a fantasy world," as the train crossed the railway bridge, Araya says. For the Your Shot contributor, the sight expressed the recovery of the people of Fukushima, defying the earthquake and nuclear accident of March 2011. "But it is like an endless journey."
SEPTEMBER 21, 2013

Garden Lizard, India

Photograph by Arpan Parui, Your Shot
This Month in Photo of the Day: The Stories Behind Your Shots
No more than five inches long, a baby garden lizard of the Calotes genus rests on a cactus in Your Shot contributor Arpan Parui's backyard. "I first saw it on a winter morning sitting on a brick," Parui says. "Its dreamy eyes, basking in the pleasures of its surroundings, caught my attention."
A researcher of ant ecology, Parui had been on an early-morning prowl for the perfect insect shot when he spotted the lizard. "Wildlife is my passion—I have spent more than three years working in the forest, and yet every day presents something new and unique."
OCTOBER 10, 2013

Golden Gate Bridge, California

Photograph by Abelardo Morell
This Month in Photo of the Day: The Power of Photography
Morell, recently retired as a professor of photography at the Massachusetts College of Art and Design, created this image of the Golden Gate Bridge using a camera obscura and the ground as a canvas. 
OCTOBER 17, 2013

Lions, Serengeti

Photograph by Michael Nichols
This Month in Photo of the Day: The Power of Photography
For male Serengeti lions like Hildur and C-Boy, teamwork is essential. Here, Hildur shakes the rain from his mane. He and C-Boy work together to retain control over two prides: the Vumbi, consisting of five adult lionesses, and Simba East, a pride now also with five.
OCTOBER 21, 2013

Scotch Pines, Norway

Photograph by Orsolya Haarberg
This Month in Photo of the Day: The Power of Photography
Still water and the setting sun create a painterly backdrop for a stand of Scotch pines on the island of Sula—one of the many ice-scraped, sea-sculpted, barely peopled places that together create Norway’s sublime shore.
OCTOBER 27, 2013

Ice Diamond, Iceland

Photograph by James Balog
Destined to melt, an 800-pound chunk of ice glows in moonlight on a wintry Icelandic beach. The ice washed up in a lagoon formed by a receding glacier. Photographer James Balog calls such pieces ice diamonds, finding beauty as well as tragedy in disappearing glaciers.
OCTOBER 29, 2013

Fjord, Western Norway

Photograph by Erlend Haarberg
Western Norway’s fjords—like Nærøyfjorden, northeast of Bergen and a UNESCO World Heritage site—look like fingers of the sea intruding into the land. But they are also receptacles for fresh water pouring off the peaks and ridges that surround them.
photos and text copyright National Geographic's Photos of the Day, and the individual photographer.
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