First published 127 years ago, National Geographic is ingrained in photography culture. The magazine never fails to capture our planet’s stunning natural beauty and spark our collective imagination.
There was a time when you had to wait for National Geographic’s monthly issue to arrive in the mail before you could see its latest awe-inspiring images. We’re lucky to live in the digital age, where Nat Geo publishes a “Photo of the Day” to feed our wanderlust.
As we ring in the New Year, here are a few of the top 2015 photos of the day from National Geographic’s staff photographers and online community. To see more, visit National Geographic’s website.
Alexey Trofimov/National Geographic Your Shot
“Ice on Lake Baikal is a very interesting phenomenon,” writes Alexey Trofimov. “Ice ridges, cracks, tears, hugging. All this creates unique and fantastic stories.”
Ernie Vater/National Geographic Your Shot
The setting sun shines through the ice on the shore of a frozen Lake Superior, traversed by Your Shot member Ernie Vater to reach this spot. “Part of the beauty of this place is the silence of it,” he writes of the ice caves at the Apostle Islands National Lakeshore near Bayfield, Wisconsin.
Clinton Berry/National Geographic Your Shot Your Shot member Clinton Berry captured this photo with a GoPro on Antarctica's sea ice, about six miles from Casey Station. "I studied the movements of the penguins for weeks," Berry writes. "They walked in the same area almost every day. We would get maybe a dozen or less going by. The day this was taken there were over 60 penguins. It was a bit of luck involved too."
Ciemon Frank Caballes/National Geographic Your Shot
The residents of Jellyfish Lake on Eil Malk—one of the Rock Islands of Palau—surround a snorkeler in their midst. The saltwater lake’s golden jellyfish, harmless to humans, spend much of their lives following the sun as it makes its daily progress across the sky. For these jellies, sunlight is essential: It nourishes the algae-like organisms that live symbiotically in their tissues.
