Visions of Earth 2008 Photo Gallery - National Geographic Magazine

Current Issue September 2008
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Visions of Earth

Each month, National Geographic magazine features breathtaking photographs in Visions of Earth. Browse through visions of the world as seen through a photographer's eye.

/visions-of-earth/img/0908-1-divers-whale-shark-714.jpg /visions-of-earth/img/0908-1-60-divers-whale-shark-714.jpg Maldives— A school of snorkelers struggle to keep pace with a whale shark—the world’s biggest fish, which can grow more than 60 feet long. These rare sharks glide along swiftly, exhausting even fit swimmers within minutes.]]> http://pictopia.com/perl/ptp/natgeo?photo_name=1185873 /visions-of-earth/img/0908-1-candles-bodies-714.jpg /visions-of-earth/img/0908-1-60-candles-bodies.jpg Cerro de Sorte, Venezuela—Surrounded by candles symbolizing regeneration, followers of a cult centered on the local goddess María Lionza wait for cleansing during an hour-long ritual.]]> /visions-of-earth/img/0908-1-red-coat-sculpture-714.jpg /visions-of-earth/img/0908-1-60-red-coat-sculpture.jpg Kiev, Ukraine—Dwarfed by the memory of her nation's past, a woman at the National Museum of History of the Great Patriotic War adjusts her outfit in front of a monument to Soviet soldiers.]]> /visions-of-earth/img/0808-1-india-bull-714.jpg /visions-of-earth/img/0808-1-60-india-bull.jpg India—Decorated in pink powder, a bull dives through a crowd of men who hope to hang on to the animal long enough to win a prize. The sport, jallikattu, is part of harvest celebrations in the Tamil Nadu town of Alanganallur.]]> /visions-of-earth/img/0808-2-argentina-mountain-714.jpg /visions-of-earth/img/0808-2-60-argentina-mountain.jpg Argentina—Moonlight sets mist aglow on the Patagonian peak of Mount Fitz Roy, known to local people as Cerro Chaltén, or "smoking mountain," because its summit is often capped in clouds.]]> http://pictopia.com/perl/ptp/natgeo?photo_name=1171866 /visions-of-earth/img/0808-3-lion-truck-714.jpg /visions-of-earth/img/0808-3-60-lion-truck.jpg Gaza City—Missing her claws, a few teeth, and the tip of her tail, a lion stolen as a cub from the Gaza Zoo is returned—two years later—in an SUV. Hamas police provide armed escort.]]> /visions-of-earth/img/0708-1-monkey-group.jpg /visions-of-earth/img/0708-1-60-monkey-group.jpg Shodo Shima, Japan—Huddled for warmth, macaques press their bodies into a vast ball of fur. The monkeys' relaxed social hierarchy allows high- and low-ranking individuals to share the same tight space.]]> http://pictopia.com/perl/ptp/natgeo?photo_name=1170942 /visions-of-earth/img/0708-2-cyclists-desert-pipes.jpg /visions-of-earth/img/0708-2-60-cyclists-desert-pipes.jpg Qatar—Tour of Qatar cyclists sprint in a quick burst of color past a pipe storage yard outside Umm Said. The flat desert terrain makes for an easy ride, but headwinds can be punishing.]]> /visions-of-earth/img/0708-3-fish-school.jpg /visions-of-earth/img/0708-3-60-fish-school.jpg Gulf of Aqaba—Surrounded by thousands of golden sweepers, photographer Magnus Lundgren spun his camera to capture this shifting school off Elat, Israel. After 200 tries he got it: a whirlpool of four-inch fish. ]]> http://pictopia.com/perl/ptp/natgeo?photo_name=1170941 /visions-of-earth/img/01-cars-street-graphic.jpg /visions-of-earth/img/0160-cars-street-graphic.jpg New York City—Secret prize on the urban game board, a miniature garden brightens a Rockefeller Center rooftop seven stories above midtown traffic. Four gardeners labor eight hours a week to keep its lawn and hedges trim.]]> /visions-of-earth/img/02-ship-blades-swim.jpg /visions-of-earth/img/0260-ship-blades-swim.jpg Arctic Ocean—The 22-ton stainless steel propellers on the icebreaker Louis S. St-Laurent pause in their work pushing the Canadian vessel through frozen waters—allowing a diver to venture near.]]> http://pictopia.com/perl/ptp/natgeo?photo_name=1163627 /visions-of-earth/img/03-pink-dress-quinceanera.jpg /visions-of-earth/img/0360-pink-dress-quinceanera.jpg Weslaco, Texas—Ruffled, tiaraed, and manicured, twins Vanessa and Veronica Del Toro wait to leave for their quinceañera reception—the 15th-birthday party that, in Latino culture, marks their coming of age.]]> /galleries/bcove/assets/voe1-field-hills.jpg /galleries/bcove/assets/voe160-field-hills.jpg Yunnan—Blooming rapeseed plants weave around hills near Luoping. China grows more of the crop—some 14 million tons in 2006—than any other country; officials hope a biodiesel boom will increase demand even more.]]> /galleries/bcove/assets/voe2-monastery-china.jpg /galleries/bcove/assets/voe260-monastery-china.jpg Yunnan—The Songzanlin Monastery overlooks the town known until 2001 as Zhongdian, but renamed—to attract more visitors—Shangri-La. Tourists, largely from within China, bring billions of dollars to Yunnan every year.]]> /galleries/bcove/assets/voe3-sand-dunes.jpg /galleries/bcove/assets/voe360-sand-dunes.jpg Xinjiang—A column of dunes could provide geologic data for sand-sampling scientists, whose trucks scratch tracks across the wind-scoured Kumtag Desert.]]> /galleries/bcove/assets/voe0408_01.jpg /galleries/bcove/assets/voe0408_0160.jpg Antarctica—Not far from its Franklin Island colony, a lone Adélie punctuates the looping scrawl of penguin tracks across plates of Ross Sea pack ice. Some 2.7 million of the birds populate the Ross Sea region.]]> /galleries/bcove/assets/voe0408_02.jpg /galleries/bcove/assets/voe0408_0260.jpg Germany—The see-through skin of an inch-long glass frog reveals her eggs. Native to Venezuela, the frogs lay eggs in bushes and trees overhanging streams. Tadpoles hatch, then tumble into the current to be swept away.]]> http://pictopia.com/perl/ptp/natgeo?photo_name=1137054 /galleries/bcove/assets/voe0408_03.jpg /galleries/bcove/assets/voe0408_0360.jpg United States—A red-clay spray showers spectators at the mud-pit belly flop, highlight of the annual Summer Redneck Games in East Dublin, Georgia. Other events include a hubcap-discus throw and bobbing for pigs' feet.]]> /galleries/bcove/assets/0308voe_01.jpg /galleries/bcove/assets/0308voe_0160.jpg Kenya—Hungry lions in a Masai Mara pride leave little of a wildebeest. "The animals were so involved eating that I was able to drive very close and take a picture standing on my car's roof," says photographer Michel Denis-Huot.]]> http://pictopia.com/perl/ptp/natgeo?photo_name=1133743 /galleries/bcove/assets/0308voe_02.jpg /galleries/bcove/assets/0308voe_0260.jpg California—More than 3,000 wind turbines bristle across the hills of the Tehachapi-Mojave Wind Resource Area, generating enough electricity to serve a quarter million homes each year.]]> http://pictopia.com/perl/ptp/natgeo?photo_name=1133740 /galleries/bcove/assets/0308voe_03.jpg /galleries/bcove/assets/0308voe_0360.jpg San Diego Union-Tribune/Zuma Press]]> California—As his mother scatters his ashes from a lifeguard boat, friends of Emery Kauanui, Jr., gather in a memorial paddle-out off La Jolla's Windansea Beach on June 9, 2007. The pro surfer, 24, died the previous month.]]> /galleries/bcove/assets/a62f30ce-f2c7-4c9e-aa42-4724b78918fb.jpg /galleries/bcove/assets/c7f067d7-c5be-4e37-846c-db16a85ebfdb.jpg Afghanistan—Good luck and centripetal force help driver Mohammed Jawed keep circling the shuddering wood-plank Wall of Death during his traveling stunt show's stop in Kabul.]]> /galleries/bcove/assets/6b3b7ac3-dff3-4f19-b676-f1ca16384766.jpg /galleries/bcove/assets/2a3620c9-eb7b-49ec-a3b9-3553cd845f5e.jpg Sweden—The facial disk of feathers circling this great gray owl's eyes channel forest-floor sounds back to its ears, helping the bird pounce on a vole and carry it away.]]> /galleries/bcove/assets/f64c1dcd-50aa-401f-a180-bff9ede5e260.jpg /galleries/bcove/assets/e2fe897a-b323-48fe-8bcb-80d34134e737.jpg Zambia—The 355-foot (108 meter) drop of Victoria Falls just inches away, a swimmer stands at the lip of a hidden pool—an eight-foot-deep (2 meter) divot in the riverbed rock—accessible only when the Zambezi River runs low.]]> http://pictopia.com/perl/ptp/natgeo?photo_name=1119340 /galleries/bcove/assets/73787c78-4b35-4240-9849-df02db236998.jpg /galleries/bcove/assets/28d51412-8823-4891-bdca-93e5d482e90c.jpg Czech Republic—It takes a microscope to make a handful of carrot seeds look like a swarm of bristling space invaders. There are about 450,000 of these Daucus carota seeds in a single pound.]]> http://pictopia.com/perl/ptp/natgeo?photo_name=1123257 /galleries/bcove/assets/ed5edcca-f4d2-4e32-a2ff-2b5f351d8513.jpg /galleries/bcove/assets/7ef70f00-4b12-4866-b753-1cc33bd00b81.jpg Azerbaijan—The carcass of an abandoned amusement park ride is a diving platform for teens on a Caspian Sea beach near Baku. Despite the nation's oil and gas boom, almost half of Azerbaijanis live in poverty.]]>