See the 10 top photographs in our ‘Photo of the Year’ contest

See the 10 top photographs in our ‘Photo of…

February 18, 2023
by RJ Hamster

Saturday, February 18, 2023

In today’s newsletter, we talk dragons with the daring photographer who won our annual photo contest, hop along with Scotland’s cool (but threatened) mountain hares, go snorkeling with a POTUS, and learn how lifestyle choices really could extend our lives … Plus, do you know which single president that U.S. Presidents Day is supposed to observe?

PHOTOGRAPH BY KARTHIK SUBRAMANIAM, @KARTHZ

The way the bald eagle swooped in—and menaced eagles already perched on a tree—reminded photographer Karthik Subramaniam of A Dance with Dragons, the fictional dragon war by Games of Thrones novelist George R.R. Martin.

Subramaniam’s photograph, made in the last few hours of his trip to Alaska, took the grand prize in the National Geographic Pictures of the Year contest, earning a spot in our May edition of the magazine. The San Francisco software engineer’s entry was chosen from nearly 5,000 submissions.

See the full story here.

Please consider getting our full digital report and our magazine by subscribing here.

PHOTOGRAPH BY ALEX BERGER, @VIRTUALWAYFARER

The finalists: The contest’s runnerups represented a broad spectrum. Above, riding through the Austrian Alps, Alex Berger took a one-lane road alongside a small stream—and found this golden tree blooming in a forest. There’s “a fantasy-ish inspired dimension for me,” says Berger, “which gives me goosebumps.”

PHOTOGRAPH BY ERIC ESTERLE, @ERICESTERLEPHOTO

The eagle hunter: Asiilbek, a nomadic Kazakh eagle hunter, preps his golden eagle, Burged, for a horseback hunt in the grasslands of western Mongolia. “For this image, I was lying on my stomach in the prone position looking through the electronic viewfinder at the edge of the stream,” says photographer Eric Esterle. “The ground shook as Asiilbek’s horse passed less than a few feet away, splashing me with ice cold water.”

PHOTOGRAPH BY TAYFUN COSKUN, @TAYFUNCOSKUN.AA

From the air: These are salt marsh ponds in San Jose, California. These unique urban marshlands are being threatened by rising sea levels, and conservation projects are racing to turn back time and restore the region for wildlife and fish—and also for absorbing floodwaters and capturing carbon dioxide. See the other finalists—and Nat Geo’s photos of the year.

STORIES WE’RE FOLLOWING

PHOTOGRAPH BY JENNIFER EMERLING

Aliens weren’t in those UFO shootdowns. But in Area 51, tourists believe the truth is out there. (Above, high-schoolers wearing alien masks in another UFO ‘center,’ Roswell, New Mexico.)

Freezing your eggs is a big decisions. Here’s what the science says.

This Nat Geo photographer had an unusual assignment: Go snorkeling with the president.

New findings on the ‘good’ fat that could keep you youthful

What would you do, caught face to face with a rarely glimpsed 30-foot sea ‘monster’?

Where did a powerful Biblical empire go? Researchers now have a clue.

These stunning monuments to love were made by women

How liquid biopsies have made it easier to treat cancer

Presidents Day technically celebrates only one president. Which one?

Be smart: Lifestyle choices really could extend your life

IN THE SPOTLIGHT

PHOTOGRAPH BY ANDY PARKINSON

In its glory: The United Kingdom’s only native species of hare or rabbit has a thick, insulated pelt of brilliant white or dove gray as camouflage during the winter months. But with climate change, snowy conditions happen less often, leaving the animal exposed to predators and perhaps better off with its summer coat of mousy brown, Nat Geo reports. (Pictured above, a hare blends into a snowbank in Scotland’s Monadhliath Mountains.)

HOPPING PHOTOS

PHOTO OF THE DAY

PHOTOGRAPH BY CHARLIE HAMILTON JAMES, @CHAMILTONJAMES

Who’s hungry? In southwest England, a kingfisher attempts to feed her chicks at their riverbank nest. Kingfishers, despite being exquisitely handsome, are born blind, bald, and ugly—recalling the ugly duckling story. Mum and dad feed the chicks all day long for nearly a month, catching small fish along the river and bringing them back to the nest—a tunnel dug into the bank, with a small chamber at the end. Inside, it’s almost completely dark, so the parents work by touch to find an open beak. Nat Geo Explorer Charlie Hamilton James talks about his photography on the birds on an episode of Overhead, our podcast.

THE KINGFISHERS

LAST GLIMPSE

PHOTOGRAPH BY FLIP NICKLIN, NAT GEO IMAGE COLLECTION

Speechless: While on assignment for a story on humpback whales in 1999, writer Douglas H. Chadwick felt the sounds from the whale above vibrate in his bones. “Forty feet of solid whale passed so close that I could have reached out and touched its eye,” he says. “We were left hovering nose to nose. The moment probably called for profound thoughts, but I couldn’t have told you my name.” Tomorrow marks World Whale Day.

HIDDEN WORLD OF
WHALES

Today’s soundtrack: Edith and the Kingpin, Herbie Hancock and Tina Turner

This newsletter has been curated and edited by David Beard, Jen Tse, and Sydney Combs. Amanda Williams-Bryant, Alec Egamov, Rita Spinks, and Jeremy Brandt-Vorel also contributed this week. Have an idea? We’d love to hear from you at david.beard@natgeo.com. Thanks for reading!

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RJ Hamster

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See the 10 top photographs in our ‘Photo of the Year’ contest

See the 10 top photographs in our ‘Photo of…

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