20080827
August 27, 2008
French Quarter, New Orleans, Louisiana, 2000
Photograph by Bob Sacha
Shot in infrared, New Orleans' French Quarter seems bathed in blue early one morning. The oldest neighborhood in the city, the quarter is a national historic landmark and a popular tourist destination.
(Photo shot on assignment for, but not published in, "Spirits of New Orleans," October 2000, National Geographic Traveler magazine)

20080828
August 28, 2008
Island at Twilight, South Africa, 2003
Photograph by David Doubilet
Clouds streak the twilight sky above a South African island. South Africa's coastline stretches some 1,550 miles (2,500 kilometers) along the Atlantic and Indian Oceans.
(Text adapted from and photo shot on assignment for, but not published in, "My Seven: The World's Best Diving Spots," January 2004, National Geographic magazine)

20080829
August 29, 2008
Custom Car, Near San Diego, California, 1981
Photograph by Bruce Dale
A woman in a custom-made classic car replica motors along a stretch of highway near San Diego. Car-crazy California boasts more than 15,000 miles (24,140 kilometers) of state highways, including some of the country's most scenic routes.
(Photo shot on assignment for, but not published in, "America's Auto Mania," February 1981, National Geographic magazine)

20080830
August 30, 2008
Temple Ruins, Near Marib, Yemen, 1979
Photograph by Steve Raymer
Pillars of a Sabaean moon-god temple jut from the desert near Marib, Yemen, offering clues to a powerful kingdom that may have been ruled by the legendary Queen of Sheba, mentioned in both the Koran and the Bible.
(Text adapted from and photo shot on assignment for, but not published in, "North Yemen," August 1979, National Geographic magazine)

20080831
August 31, 2008
Luther-Translated Bible, Eisenach, Germany, 1983
Photograph by James L. Amos
A copy of the Bible translated from Greek to German by religious reformer Martin Luther in 1521 lies open to the New Testament in a dimly lit room in Wartburg Castle in Eisenach, Germany. Luther lived incognito at the castle for nearly a year after he was declared an outlaw by the Roman emperor for refusing to recant his Reformation writings.
(Photo shot on assignment for, but not published in, "The World of Luther," October 1983, National Geographic magazine)

20080901
September 01, 2008
Fishing Boats, Hebei, China, 2003
Photograph by Michael Yamashita
Fishermen prepare their nets on Panjakou Reservoir in Hebei, China. This tranquil lake, formed when the Luan River was dammed in the late 1970s, hides a stretch of China's Great Wall. The submerged structure now serves as an artificial reef, which attracts the carp these fishermen seek.
(Photo shot on assignment for, but not published in, "Chasing the Wall," January 2003, National Geographic magazine)

20080902
September 02, 2008
Inca Child Sacrifice, Cerro Llullaillaco, Argentina, 1999
Photograph by Maria Stenzel
Five centuries after Inca priests sacrificed this boy and two other children on a peak called Cerro Llullaillaco in Argentina, archaeologists found them frozen to near perfection, accompanied by breathtaking artifacts and textiles.
Richly wrapped Inca child sacrifices were more than just gifts to the gods. They were ambassadors, sometimes volunteered by their families, sometimes taken from them. This boy, perhaps eight years old, wore a tunic big enough to grow into and carried extra sandals for his journey into the next world.
(Text adapted from, and photo shot on assignment for, but not published in, "Frozen in Time," November 1999, National Geographic magazine)

20080903
September 03, 2008
Lynx Trap, British Columbia, Canada, 2005
Photograph by Amy Toensing
A bird's wing waves above a trap set for lynx in British Columbia, Canada. Captured for conservation, trapped cats are set free in the Colorado Rockies—part of a project to restore the lynx to their historic range after decades of absence.
(Text adapted from and photo shot on assignment for, but not published in, "Of Lynx and Men," January 2006, National Geographic magazine)

20080904
September 04, 2008
Stonehenge, Wiltshire Plain, England, 2006
Photograph by Jodi Cobb
Stonehenge on England's Wiltshire Plain is the most famous relic of prehistory in Europe and one of the best known, most contemplated monuments in the world.
(Photo shot on assignment for, but not published in, "This Thing Called Love," February 2006, National Geographic magazine)

20080905
September 05, 2008
Bernina Express Train, Europe, 2000
Photograph by Joe Patronite
The Bernina Express crosses a stone bridge during its rapid yet stunning journey from the Alps of Switzerland to the meadows of Italy. This train’s roller-coaster route through scenic canyons and forests includes a freestanding loop, mountain switchbacks, and curving bridges.
(Photo shot on assignment for, but not published in, "The Lure of the Rails," July/August 2000, National Geographic Traveler magazine)

20080906
September 06, 2008
Wrangell-St. Elias National Park, Alaska, 2003
Photograph by Frans Lanting
Seen from above, a network of countless tributaries gleams like molten metal in Alaska's Wrangell-St. Elias National Park. Larger than Connecticut, Rhode Island, and Massachusetts combined, the park protects more than 13 million acres (5 million hectares) of mountains, tundra, forests, ice fields—and solitude.
(Text adapted from and photo shot on assignment for, but not published in, "Alaska's Giant of Ice and Stone," March 2003, National Geographic magazine)

20080907
September 07, 2008
Bug on Ripening Fig, Borneo, Indonesia, 1997
Photograph by Tim Laman
A bug feeds on a ripening tropical fig in Borneo’s Gunung Palung National Park. The rain forest contains many varieties of these strangler fig trees, and their fruit is a critical food source for numerous rain forest dwellers, including monkeys, civets, butterflies, and ants.
(Photo shot on assignment for, but not published in, "Borneo’s Strangler Fig Trees," April 1997, National Geographic magazine)

20080908
September 08, 2008
Farm and Floodwaters, Bangladesh, 1993
Photograph by James P. Blair
Raging rivers in Bangladesh create arable islands of silt, called chars, then slowly scrape away at their shorelines until eventually they disappear. More than 60 percent of Bangladeshis work in the agriculture sector.
(Photo shot on assignment for, but not published in, "Bangladesh: When the Water Comes," June 1993, National Geographic magazine)

20080909
September 09, 2008
Gulliver's Travels Theme Park, Japan, 2002
Photograph by Karen Kasmauski
A Lilliputian-like worker scrubs the giant head of Gulliver at Japan's now defunct Gulliver's Travels theme park in the shadow of Mount Fuji. Surrounded by the amusing and the mundane, Fuji—Japan's most sacred summit—manages to rise above it all.
(Text adapted from and photo shot on assignment for, but not published in, "Japan's Sacred Summit," August 2002, National Geographic magazine)

20080910
September 10, 2008
Prayer Candles, Lhasa, Tibet, 2003
Photograph by Galen Rowell
Built in 1416, the Drepung Monastery outside Lhasa, Tibet, was once the largest monastery in the world, housing up to 10,000 monks. Here, candles illuminate one of the giant building's chanting halls.
(Photo shot on assignment for, but not published in, "275 Miles on Foot Through the Remote Chang Tang," April 2003, National Geographic magazine)