Best of 2012 - National Geographic Magazine Photos of the Year

Featured photographers include Martin Schoeller, Mitch Dobrowner, Lynn Johnson, Aaron Huey (2),Stephanie Sinclair, Karla Gachet and Ivan Kashinsky, Paolo Pellegrin, Paul Nicklen, Michael “Nick” Nichols 

Paul Nicklen

Penguins | November 2012

Emperor penguins can bolt away for any number of reasons, as photographer Paul Nicklen discovered when he spooked this group. "A tenth of a second after I took this picture, all I could see were bubbles."

Martin Schoeller

Twins | January 2012

Six-year-old Johanna Gill puts a protective hand on her sister, Eva. The twins both have mild autism, a disorder linked to genetic inheritance.

Mitch Dobrowner

Epic Storms | July 2012

A dying tornado like this one is said to be in the "roping out" phase.

Watch Editor in Chief Chris Johns discuss his picks in a video from the December digital edition of National Geographic.

Lynn Johnson

Vanishing Languages | July 2012

Aidyng Kyrgys caresses his newborn baby girl, whom he refers to using a Tuvan term of endearment: anayim, or "my little goat." There are only 235,000 Tuvan speakers in Russia

Aaron Huey

Pine Ridge | August 2012

Stanley Good Voice Elk, a heyoka on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota, burns sage to ritually purify his surroundings. In Oglala spirituality, heyokas are recipients of sacred visions who employ clownish speech and behavior to provoke spiritual awareness and "keep balance," says Good Voice Elk. Through his mask, he channels the power of an inherited spirit, which transforms him into Spider Respects Nothing.

Aaron Huey

Pine Ridge | August 2012

A passenger barely has room for the journey home as a car is loaded with used clothing donated by a Colorado-based Native American charity. Contrary to popular myth, Native Americans do not automatically receive a monthly federal check and are not exempt from taxes. The Oglala Lakota and other Sioux tribes have refused a monetary settlement for the U.S.'s illegal seizure of the Black Hills, their spiritual home.

See more here

Interview with National Geographic Photographer Steve McCurry

See my post on Steve McCurry HERE

Fascinating Identical Twins Portraits ~ By Martin Schoeller for National Geographic

They have the same piercing eyes. The same color hair. One may be shy, while the other loves meeting new people. Discovering why identical twins differ—despite having the same DNA—could reveal a great deal about all of us. [via NationalGeographic]

Photographs by Martin Schoeller


*click on images for a larger view*

Martin Schoeller

Behind the scenes with National Geographic Photographer Michael 'Nick' Nichols

Photographer Michael "Nick" Nichols photographs a silverback mountain gorilla while on assignment for National Geographic

Conversation with National Geographic Photographer Sam Abell

Photographer Sam Abell is committed to his craft. He has taken an entire year to make a single image. This dedication to the image is very inspiring. Especially today in the instant gratification world we live in. Do you want to have your work stand out from the rest of your peers? Go the extra mile... or ten.

French artist Claude Monet liked to paint the same subject over and over again, at different times of day and in different types of weather. He painted Rouen cathedral in France some thirty times. He was committed to depicting the changing light at different times of the day and seasons.

Follow Magnum Photographer Steve McCurry as He Shoots In India

Photographer Profile ~ Steve McCurry

Steve McCurry was born in Philadelphia, and graduated from Pennsylvania State University. After working at a newspaper for two years, he left to freelance in India.

His career was launched when, wearing native clothing, he crossed the Pakistan border into rebel-controlled Afghanistan just before the Russian invasion. When he emerged, he had rolls of film sewn into his clothes that contained some of the world's first images of the conflict. His coverage won the Robert Capa Gold Medal for Best Photographic Reporting from Abroad Showing Courage and Enterprise. He has won numerous awards including the National Press Photographers' Association award for Magazine Photographer of the Year and an unprecedented four first prizes in the World Press Photo contest.

McCurry has covered many areas of international and civil conflict, including the disintegration of the former Yugoslavia, Beirut, Cambodia, the Philippines, the Gulf War and continuing coverage of Afghanistan. His work has been featured in magazines around the globe. His reportage for National Geographic has included Tibet, Afghanistan, Burma, India, Iraq, Yemen, Buddhism, and the temples of Angkor Wat.

A high point in his career was finding Sharbat Gula, the previously unidentified Afghan refugee girl, whose picture has been described as one of the most recognizable photographs in the world.

via Magnum Photos

Most of my photos are grounded in people, I look for the unguarded moment, the essential soul peeking out, experience etched on a person’s face. ~Steve McCurry

My life is shaped by the urgent need to wander and observe, and my camera is my passport. ~ Steve McCurry 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 "What is important to my work is the individual picture. I photograph stories on assignment, and of course they have to be put together coherently. But what matters most is that each picture stands on its own, with its own place and feeling."  ~ Steve McCurry

 

 

 

Most of my images are grounded in people. I look for the unguarded moment, the essential soul peeking out, experience etched on a person’s face. ~ Steve McCurry