National Geographic | National Geographic

National Geographic

HOW OUR TOP PHOTOGRAPHERS GOT
THESE IMAGES

Saturday, November 26, 2022

In today’s newsletter, we get the stories behind the year’s best pictures, learn how we’ll never find traces of Noah’s Ark, find out which ‘green’ products are really environmentally friendly … and hear the tale of the demon cat of the U.S. Capitol.

Two women push strollers across sea ice

PHOTOGRAPH BY KILIII YÜYAN

One image can tell so much about traditional culture and modern life. Pickup trucks, baby strollers—and the hurry (shown above) to get to a Greenland community’s biggest annual event: The dogsled races.

Nat Geo Explorer and photographer Kiliii Yüyan says the races reflect the important relationship that Inughuit, or northern Greenlandic Inuit, have with dog teams. Yüyan’s own background inspires him to portray, for example, “how the thousands of wildly varied Native cultures around the world manage to be so good at land stewardship, while this modern globalized culture has basically dropped the ball.”

See the full story of our top photographers of the year here.

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

A person drives a tall stake into the mud

PHOTOGRAPH BY AJI STYAWAN

As basic as water: Due to the rising tides, villagers from Timbulsloko in Central Java, Indonesia, are adding mud to raise their houses—and cemeteries, pictured above. “I’ll be taking a shower and think what the villagers have to do to get water—this year, their freshwater is going salty,” says photographer Aji Styawan. “But life must go on. And my job is telling their stories.” Read more about people living with rising waters.

A toddler wears a cap connected to cables to monitor brain activity

PHOTOGRAPH BY LYNN JOHNSON

Practicing patience: "Occasionally a storytelling moment comes at you all at once,” says Nat Geo Explorer Lynn Johnson. She was photographing nine-month-old Ian Boardman, who was having his brain activity recorded by neuroscientists. “When he beamed at the researcher, that was a moment; it just happened.” Read more about the science of touch.

See each photographer’s story—and see all 49 of our Pictures of the Year.

STORIES WE'RE FOLLOWING

A picture of many digital cameras

PHOTOGRAPH BY REBECCA HALE

Need a compact camera? Here are the picks from our photo engineering team (a selection pictured above)

Why Noah’s Ark will never be found. Ever.

This owl detects prey hiding under mounds of snow

Uncovering a long-ago murder in the Arctic

How to know if a ‘green’ product is truly eco-friendly

The legend of Washington’s ‘demon cat’ that portends catastrophe

They were once among North America’s biggest cities. What happened to them?

The kiss of the spider monkey: How a 1,700-year-old primate played a key role in ancient diplomacy

IN THE SPOTLIGHT

A group of girls laugh together

PHOTOGRAPH BY PATRICK WACK

Defying Beijing: Thousands of miles from home, young ethnic Uyghurs stand before a flag in Istanbul. “One day, we will raise this flag in our homeland,” a speaker tells them. “Are you ready?” “Yes!” responds the young crowd in unison. In Istanbul and elsewhere, exiles keep their culture alive despite China’s campaign to erase their culture at home, Nat Geo reports. (Above, Uyghur girls gather at a youth empowerment program in Istanbul, photographed by Nat Geo Explorer Patrick Wack.)

PHOTO OF THE DAY

A picture of baby elephants

PHOTOGRAPH BY @AMIVITALE

Stick with the herd: For the first eight years of their lives, elephants rarely stray 10 meters from their mothers. So what happens when a mother dies from poaching or drought? A study earlier this year says that orphaned elephants who form deep bonds with other young elephants have lower stress than those that didn’t. They fare even better when they stay with family members. (Above, Nat Geo Explorer Amy Vitale photographed bonded orphaned calves in Kenya’s Reteti Elephant Sanctuary.)

Related: Another trick for caring for orphaned elephants? Goats.

LAST GLIMPSE

A picture of a bird

PHOTOGRAPH BY JOEL SARTORE, NAT GEO PHOTO ARK

Turkeys, pheasants, and quails. They’re hunted for sport and our consumption—but game birds are surprisingly beautiful. And more than 25 percent are at risk of extinction. Nat Geo Explorer Joel Sartore has photographed nearly 14,000 species for his Photo Ark, including 12 stunning game birds featured in our tribute to their beauty. “We won’t save what we’ve never even met,” says Sartore. (Less than 2,500 of the stunning Bornean peacock-pheasants, above, are believed to remain.)

GORGEOUS GORGEOUS GAME BIRDS

This newsletter has been curated and edited by David Beard, Jen Tse, Heather Kim, 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 [email protected]. Thanks for reading!

SHARE YOUR THOUGHTS

We'd like to hear from you! Tell us what you think of our emails by sharing your feedback in this short survey.

TAKE THE SURVEY

Clicking on the Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and National Geographic Channel links will take you away from our National Geographic Partners site where different terms of use and privacy policy apply.

This email was sent to: [email protected]. Please do not reply to this email as this address is not monitored.

This email contains an advertisement from:
National Geographic | 1145 17th Street, N.W. | Washington, D.C. 20036

Stop all types of future commercial email from National Geographic regarding its products, services, or experiences.

Manage all email preferences with the Walt Disney Family of Companies.

© 2022 National Geographic Partners, LLC, All rights reserved.