Posted 15 hours ago

Waterslide, Israel
Photo: James L. Stanfield

A coiling serpent of watery fun greets vacationers in Ein Gev, Israel. The waterslide welcomes visitors to this kibbutz of the Sea of Galilee’s eastern shore.

Posted 16 hours ago

Maasai Men, Kenya
Photo: David McLain

Maasai men perform a traditional jump dance. The Maasai, nomadic pastoralists of East Africa, divide each year into two: a year of plenty during the rainy season, and a year of hunger.

Posted 18 hours ago

Hot Air Balloon, New Mexico
Photo: Bruce Dale

As colorful as a butterfly wing, this balloon at the Albuguerque International Balloon Fiesta provides a shimmering backdrop for silhouetted visitors. Five hundred balloons from 39 states and 17 countries thrilled visitors at the 2010 festival.

Posted 1 day ago

Summer Festival, Spain
Photo: Tino Soriano

Young people in oversize papier-mache heads pause in a blooming field on the way to a summer festival in the town of Banyoles. Called capgrossos in Catalan, the big heads are often worn on feast days.

Posted 1 day ago

Bushman, Botswana
Photo: David Doubilet

Sunlight and shadows highlight a river Bushman in a canoe in the Okavango River. When the river swells and floods, it creates an alluvial fan of more than 10,000 square miles (26,000 square kilometers).

Posted 1 day ago

Folded Hands, Brunei
Photo: Adam Hanif

Colorful shawls and flowered dresses accentuate these Bruneian girls as they practice for a traditional Malay family gathering. There hands, folded together, symbolize humility and peace.

Posted 1 day ago

Walrus Skull, Bristol Bay
Photo: Michael Melford

A walrus skull sits alone in a field of wildflowers. Each spring thousands of walruses return to the Walrus Islands in northern Bristol Bay to feed, rest, and sometimes die.

Posted 2 days ago

Ivanhoe Reservoir, Los Angeles
Photo: Gerd Ludwig

in 2007, high levels of bromate - a carcinogen formed when bromide and chlorine react with sunlight - were found in Los Angeles’s Ivanhoe Reservoir. Today three million black plastic balls help deflect UV rays.

Posted 2 days ago

Lotus Bloom, Maryland
Photo: Stephanie Lane

Looking like a lemon torte on a plate of petals, a lotus blooms in a Maryland garden pool. The chartreuse circle, three inches (eight centimeters) in diameter, is dotted with 23 seed holders and ringed by immature pollen sacs.

Posted 2 days ago

Ferris Wheel, Kansas
Photo: Joel Sartore

The Ferris wheel at the Kansas State Fair in Hutchinson mimics a giant Lite-Brite toy. Long lines can form at popular midway rides, but in this long exposure all the stress melts away.