Holy Week Procession, Guatemala

Photograph by Chantal Levesque

This photo was taken during a procession in Antigua Guatemala during Holy Week.

Climber, Queen Maud Land

Photograph by Cory Richards

Suspended from an anchor in the rock hundreds of feet above the ice and snow, Mike Libecki hauls himself up a granite tower in Antarctica's remote Queen Maud Land.

Snake Charmer, China

Photograph by Wesley Thomas Wong

A snake charmer performs with his pet snake during a spring festival in China.

Snorkeler, Mexico

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Photograph by Paul Nicklen

A snorkeling tourist floats in a cenote called Las Calaveras—“the skulls”—near Tulum. Local Maya got their drinking water here until about 30 years ago, when divers found bones. Archaeologists have recorded the remains of more than a hundred people, usually shrouded by the water’s primordial darkness.

Ruby Beach, Washington

Photograph by Abelardo Morell

With the ground beneath his feet as a canvas, photographer Abelardo Morell uses the camera obscura technique—focusing light through a small opening onto a dark surface—to inspire fresh appreciation for America's national parks.

Military Guide, North Korea

Photograph by David Guttenfelder

A military guide leads a tour to the mystical Mount Paektu. It was here, official lore says, that Kim Il Sung fought for independence from Japanese occupiers in the 1930s.

Woman and Child, Bhutan

Photograph by Lynsey Addario

In the tiny Buddhist kingdom of Bhutan, environmental protection is one of the "four pillars of Gross National Happiness," along with sustainable development, cultural preservation, and good governance. A high entry fee for visitors keeps idyllic places like this eastern forest—through which Kunzang Choden sets off with her nine-month-old baby to visit family—free from crowds of backpackers.

Rath Yatra Festival, Bangladesh

Photograph by Md Rafayat Haque Khan

Enthusiastic devotees take part in a colorful Rath Yatra procession in the Sylhet region of Bangladesh. Also known as the Festival of Chariots, the Hindu celebration honors a mid-summer chariot journey made by Lord Jagannath.

Photographing in his hometown, Your Shot contributor Md Rafayat Haque Khan wanted to capture the essence of the festival in a single frame. To get this shot, Khan went to the top of a three-story building as devotees pulling raths, or holy carts, arrived in time for an afternoon prayer. "I got a vantage point for capturing this awesome moment," Khan says. "It seemed to me I was seeing a wave of devoted souls coming row by row to get blessings from the Jagannath."

Icebreaker, Antarctic

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Photograph by Charles Swithinbank

U.S.S. Atka stands off Crater Hill on McMurdo Sound in mid-March; she kept channels open for evacuation of the last summer residents.

Tsukuba City, Japan

Photograph by Akira Takaue

Your Shot contributor Akira Takaue was after a cityscape in Tsukuba when he came across this building in what he calls an uncommon suburban town. Located about 37 miles from Tokyo, it's known as Science City for its various national research facilities and structurally challenging architectural features. "I found this [building] with a beautiful exterior and regularly placed windows standing beside a crosswalk under the soft sunlight," Takaue says. "I aimed to capture only this wall combined with the pedestrian signal in a perfect flat-plane image without any optical distortions."

Docks, Ohio

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Photograph by Jacob J. Gayer

In a circa 1928 autochrome, ships approach a vast dock to unload millions of tons of iron ore near Ashtabula, Ohio. The photo was published in the May 1932 issue of National Geographic.

Tukad Unda Dam, Bali

Photograph by Lisa Hendrawan

This dam is on a river called Tukad Unda in Klungkung, Bali. I framed the photo to make the dam look like a natural waterfall. Locals regularly bathe and wash their clothes here. It's also a fun place for the children to play. I adjusted the shutter speed to capture the arcs of water flowing from their buckets. —Lisa Hendrawan

Railway Bridge, Japan

Photograph by Teruo Araya

On an early summer morning, Teruo Araya captured this image of a train on Japan Rail's Tadami line as it passed through Fukushima Prefecture. "The haze generated by the river created a fantasy world," as the train crossed the railway bridge, Araya says. For the Your Shot contributor, the sight expressed the recovery of the people of Fukushima, defying the earthquake and nuclear accident of March 2011. "But it is like an endless journey."

Church of Rodel, Outer Hebrides

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Photograph by Jim Richardson

The 15th-century church of Rodel on the Isle of Lewis, built for the warlike chiefs of the MacLeods, towers over the sea lochs of Scotland's Outer Hebrides. Nothing in early modern Britain, from its cities to its remotest corners, was more political than religion. The church in every parish—nearly always the most imposing building—was as much a symbol of worldly control as a shrine to God.

Roman Ruin Arch, Algeria

Photograph by George Steinmetz

TIMGAD, ALGERIA
This triumphal arch awed visitors to the city of Thamugadi, founded by the emperor Trajan around A.D. 100 as a civilian settlement near the fort of Lambaesis. The grooves left by wagon and chariot wheels can still be seen in the stone road.

Llamas, Peru

Photograph by Antoine Bruneau

After a couple of days trekking across the Peruvian Andes, our group had an unusual encounter at 4,600 meters, on top of the narrow, windy, and freezing Huacahuasi Pass. While we had not run into a single soul for days, we had to give way to a flock of llamas and their herder, basically coming out of nowhere: a real culture shock between us Occidental folks in search of adventure and the local Quechua mountain people going about their daily business. —Antoine Bruneau

Kangaroos, Australia

Photograph by Graeme Ricketts

Kangaroos retreat to the leeward side of a tree line to escape a late-afternoon shower on Kangaroo Island in South Australia. National Geographic Your Shot contributor Graeme Ricketts captured the photo "from the comfort of our front veranda, which has a fantastic view of the Eleanor River Valley." When the sky opened up, Ricketts "was in awe of the wonderful light and contrasts that were created by the rain that descended upon the valley. The local wild kangaroos were forced to take shelter, and I just had to capture it." The challenge, Ricketts writes, was capturing all of the scene's elements. "Too fast a shutter speed would have frozen the rain and too slow would have washed the scene out."

Sheep Encounter, China

Photograph by Steven Chou

Steven Chou was on his way back to Lhasa from Kashgar in remote western China—"a long, tough way"—when he encountered "a big gold-pit truck preparing to go back to Lhasa too." Chou, a member of National Geographic's Your Shot photo community, got a lift from the truck's Tibetan driver. He describes this shot as one glimpse from his seven-day journey on board.

Ghadames, Libya

Photograph by George Steinmetz

Tight clusters of traditional mud-brick-and-palm houses have stood for centuries in Ghadames, a pre-Roman oasis town in the Sahara. Rooftop walkways allowed women to move freely, concealed from men’s view.

Fishers, Haiti

Photograph by Guy Mokia

This long-exposure photo was taken in Jeremie, Haiti, as local fishermen tried to salvage a ship that got stuck, using the waves to bring pieces of the ship back to shore.