National Geographic Photos of the Day January | February | March 2015

Happy 2015! The first quarter of the year is past us, and we can look back on some excellent captures from January, February, and March. Here are some of my selects:

JANUARY 3, 2015

The Village

Photograph by Gabor Dvornik, National Geographic Your Shot

“This little lake is a part of my life,” writes Your Shot member Gabor Dvornik, who lives half a mile from its location on a natural reserve in Sződliget, Hungary. “I shoot here nearly every month, sometimes every week. It has a very special air in every season, but to have a nice, misty day is rare, as wind is always present due to the nearby Duna River.”

Seeing the fog during a last glance outside the night before, Dvornik slept only three hours to make it to the lake for a “dream” shoot. “It was utterly ghostly and very moody out there,” he writes. “I felt like I was in a fantasy tale, in an enchanted land. I was so euphoric that I made around 500 captures and walked around the lake two to three times.”

JANUARY 4, 2015

Gathered Greens

Photograph by Matthieu Paley, National Geographic

A group of Wakhi women return from a daily excursion across Pakistan’s Hunza riverbed to gather fodder and wood for their cooking fires. Photographer Matthieu Paley has been traveling the world in search of our ancestral ties to the food we eat.

JANUARY 12, 2015

Ram’s Eye

Photograph by Dawn Wilson, National Geographic Your Shot

“During a recent trip to Wyoming to photograph wildlife, I made a point of stopping in the North Fork Canyon outside Cody, Wyoming, to photograph the bighorn sheep during their annual rut,” writes Your Shot member Dawn Wilson. “The weather had been warm, so activity was a bit low. But on my final drive out of the canyon before heading home, I came upon two rams fighting nonstop, to the point that each had a bloody nose. An hour into the battle, this ram, which wound up being defeated, stopped for the briefest of moments to look at me, almost like a plea for help.”

JANUARY 14, 2015

Two to Tonga

Photograph by Fabrice Guerin, National Geographic Your Shot

“This day the sea was clear and quiet,” writes Your Shot member Fabrice Guerin, who captured this picture of a humpback whale and calf off the South Pacific island of Tonga. “The baby played for a few moments, and before joining the depths of the ocean, rubbed its mother as if to [give her] a hug.”

JANUARY 17, 2015

Morning Takeoff

Photograph by Aijing He, National Geographic Your Shot

“Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge in New Mexico is a well-known winter home for thousands of migrating sandhill cranes,” writes Your Shot member Aijing He. A particular pond in the refuge hosts a large flock of cranes at night. “Every morning they fly out, one by one, to the nearby grass field to feed.”

On a cold December morning, He waited patiently for the cranes’ morning takeoff. “At around 7 a.m., they started their daily routine. The early morning light was still very dim, so I decided to reduce the shutter speed to 1/30th of a second to give a blurring effect to the flapping wings, and with some panning techniques, I managed to make the eye and the red crown stay well in focus.”

FEBRUARY 1, 2015

Cowabunga

Photograph by David Bengtsson, National Geographic Your Shot

Highland cattle ignore a paraglider in Denmark, where Your Shot member David Bengtsson seized an opportunity to capture his airborne friend while his camera captivated at least one onlooker. “Great memory from a great summer day in Denmark,” he writes.

FEBRUARY 12, 2015

The 'Do' Seller

Photograph by Ly Hoang Long, National Geographic Your Shot

After the harvest, farmers in the village of Tat Vien in Vietnam’s Hung Yen Province spend their spare time knittingdo, writes Your Shot member Ly Hoang Long. “It may be the simplest way to catch fish: Put some bait inside, and after a few hours pick them up and just collect the fish, eels, and crabs.” Here, a man sells the bamboo traps from his bicycle.

FEBRUARY 17, 2015

Inside the Drop

Photograph by Gus Schiavon, National Geographic Your Shot

“As a professional canyoning photographer ... I had seen and taken plenty of shots from the top or bottom of a waterfall but never from the inside of one,” writes Gus Schiavon, who submitted this photo to a recent Your Shot assignment. Here, a canyoneer begins descending the Campuhan waterfall in Bali, Indonesia’s Kerenkali canyon.

“Getting in position for the shot involved using a secondary belay and my own rope, rappelling until I was slightly behind the waterfall’s flow, carefully securing myself, finding good foot balance, and, most importantly, using a special waterproof cover for my camera while keeping the front element clear from water spray, which would have ruined the shot.”

FEBRUARY 23, 2015

Winter White

Photograph by Stefano Unterthiner, National Geographic

Among the wildlife inhabiting Italy’s Gran Paradiso National Park are ibex, chamois, red foxes, and ermines such as the one shown here wearing its white winter coat (its spring and summer coat is reddish brown).

FEBRUARY 26, 2015

Winter Lodgings

Photograph by John Warner, National Geographic Your Shot

A solitary beaver pauses at dawn on its way home from a night of chewing off tree branches, newly within reach under the weight of freshly fallen snow. Your Shot member John Warner explains that the beaver, a mate, and two kits appeared late in the fall on Montana’s Lake Elmo and hastily built a lodge before the winter freeze.

MARCH 2, 2015

Icesheet #4727

Photograph by Murray Fredericks, National Geographic

A constellation of orbs, rings, and halos hangs above the Greenland ice sheet in this picture by Murray Fredericks, who spent months photographing the island’s remote beauty. The optical phenomena seen here occur when ice crystals—suspended by powerful winds called piteraqs—refract sunlight.

ICESHEET #4727, 22° AND 46° HALO, TANGENT ARC, PARRY ARC, CIRCUMZENITHAL ARC, AND PARHELIC CIRCLE

MARCH 8, 2015

The Pitcher and the Carpenter

Photograph by Christian Ziegler

The fanged pitcher plant and the carpenter ant (seen here in Borneo) have a mutualistic relationship: While the plant’s pitcher stem provides a home for small ant colonies of up to 30 individuals, the ants keep the chemistry of the pitcher’s liquid balanced by removing large insects that have found their way inside. If the insects were to rot in the liquid, it would spoil.

MARCH 12, 2015

Fox on the Rocks

Photograph by Irina C., National Geographic Your Shot

Lingering at a lookout in Chile’s Torres del Paine National Park, Your Shot member Irina C. spotted this fox entering the scene. “It navigated very confidently among the rocks, moving small ones with its paws and picking up food scraps dropped by tourists during the day,” she writes. “I thought it was genius: Instead of wasting energy and time hunting for mice, this fox had it all figured out.”

MARCH 15, 2015

The Twins

Photograph by Fabrice Guerin, National Geographic Your Shot

Every year, a sardine run occurs in the warm waters of the Gulf of Mexico, says Your Shot member Fabrice Guerin, who adds that this is when it’s possible to spot the fastest fish in the ocean—the sailfish—hunting fish shoals. “They drill the balls of terrified fish, offering us a stunning show,” he writes. “When I saw these two sailfish going toward the sardines against the sun, I shot as quickly as possible.”

MARCH 17, 2015

Evening Snowfall

Photograph by Haruka Iwasaki, National Geographic Your Shot

“When I arrived at the Blue Pond in Biei in Hokkaido, Japan, a lot of snow had fallen and the wind was blowing strongly,” writes Your Shot member Haruka Iwasaki. “The moment the light that illuminates the pond was reflected in the snow, I witnessed a fantastic spectacle.”

MARCH 18, 2015

Crabbing a Ride

Photograph by Nancy Leigh, National Geographic Your Shot

"The setting was very eerie,” writes Your Shot member Nancy Leigh. “In the darkness [of] an overcast early morning, there was a large gathering of black juvenile iguanas on the rocks of Punta Espinoza on Fernandina Island in the Galápagos.” While completely surrounded by iguanas, Leigh spotted a bright-red Sally Lightfoot crab climbing onto one of the lizards. “It was a delicate balance ... acting fast to capture the moment while respecting their space and not disturbing either animal," she says.

MARCH 20, 2015

Fearless Symmetry

Photograph by Souvik Kundu, National Geographic Your Shot

It’s a rare and privileged experience to witness the interaction of tiger cubs in the wild, says Souvik Kundu, a member of our Your Shot photo community. After learning that a tigress had given birth to cubs in India’s Ranthambore Tiger Reserve, Kundu visited the sanctuary a number of times to photograph the family. On this day his group was treated to an “unforgettable display of tender bonding,” with “the cubs engaged in several bouts of play-fighting under the watchful eyes of the mother.”

MARCH 22, 2015

Sacred Feathers

Photograph by Marco Vernaschi

In Argentina’s Jujuy Province, the Suris, also known as Samilantes, are a cultural group within the Quechua community. This woman is Belén Cruz. Her feathered costume represents the nandu, or rhea, sacred bird of the Suris. Photographer Marco Vernaschi’s Biophilia Foundation looks to help indigenous groups preserve their cultural heritage by developing their own local economy through native products.

MARCH 23, 2015

Lines in the Sand

Photograph by Cezary Filew, National Geographic Your Shot

The Pan American Highway cuts a modern path past some of Peru’s ancient Nasca lines, here captured from a Cessna by Your Shot member Cezary Filew. For Filew, the mysterious lines and figures—called geoglyphs—have been a draw since childhood. “I am scared of flying, but this time ... I had to overcome it to see what I came for.”

all photos and text © National Geographic Photo of the Day