The Calbuco volcano in Chile spews a blast of ash and smoke and generates volcanic lightning.
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Jewels of the Jungle

A silverback from the 22-member Mapuwa family in Virunga National Park emerges from the jungle to keep an eye on a ranger patrol. The park in the Democratic Republic of the Congo has largely succeeded in protecting mountain gorillas, its top tourist draw, from violence. Their population is now growing.

Tiger Shark.
Bahamas.
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Frozen bubbles of methane trapped beneath Alberta's Lake Abraham are beautiful, but dangerous if popped

These frozen bubbles under Alberta's Lake Abraham might look like winter jewels, but you wouldn't want to be too close to one if it popped: the bubbles are actually frozen pockets of methane, a highly flammable gas. Most of the time, methane escaping from the surface of water is relatively harmless—but if you happen to be lighting a match at the time one of these bubbles explodes, watch out.

Methane bubbles form in bodies of water when dead organic matter (leaves and animals) falls into the water and sinks to the bottom, to the delight of bacteria waiting below. The bacteria munches on the matter and poops out methane, which turns to white floating blobs when it comes into contact with frozen water. Methane is formed in thousands of lakes around the arctic, but decreasing permafrost means more and more of this methane is being released into the atmosphere, a worrying trend for climate scientists who note that methane is a more potent greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide.

Photographer Darwin Wigget has been leading photography tours and workshops to Lake Abraham for 11 years, which has helped popularize the location.

Amazing photo by Sergey Polyushko.
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Polar Bear.
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Bali colors.
Photo Helminadia Ranford.
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Angel Falls, Venezuela.
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Strange Roots

Socotra Island, located off the southeast coast of Yemen, is known for its lush biodiversity—and strange plant life. Dracaena cinnabari—more commonly known as the dragon’s blood tree—is the island’s iconic species, with its upturned branches perfectly adapted to capturing moisture.

New Bee

A new honeybee emerges from a brood cell. In her six-week life span, this worker bee will forage for food, make honey—and raise the next generation.
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Green-Eyed Gecko
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Ahead of the Herd 🐾

"I've been working on a photographic survey, 'The Saami of Russia,' for 22 years (since 1991)," writes Your Shot contributor Alexander Stepanenko. "This picture was taken on black-and-white film in April 1996 near Murmansk." Stepanenko explains that herders were attempting to drive the reindeer into a corral. He captured this shot while riding on a sledge that was leading the reindeer in the foreground. "Fascinated by shooting," he says, "I almost fell off the sledge." Stepanenko's photographs documenting Russian village life are highlighted in the new Your Shot feature Long Lens.

Polished Porcelain🍄

“I am a big fan of mushrooms,” writes member Agorastos Papatsanis. He encountered these specimens on Mount Olympus. “On one of my autumn excursions in the beech forest, I found this amazing porcelain fungus (Oudemansiella mucida). I was drawn to their cyclic hats with the radial paths of the gills, the amazing porcelain texture, and the combination of rain and sun. I used the available bright sunlight as a backlight and enhanced it with an off-camera flash to create this atmosphere.”

Lena Pillars, Yakutia

Lena Pillars - it rocks, located on the right bank of the Lena River, two hundred kilometers from Yakutsk, Russia. The age of these rocks is 500,000 years.

Siberia

In Botswana’s Okavango Delta, a bull elephant towers above his reflection with a herd of thirsty kudus on the horizon. 

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A camera trap near Yellowstone National Park catches a grizzly bear stealing whitebark pine nuts from a squirrel’s cache. The nuts are an important food for the bears, a threatened species.

Sunset Flamingoes

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