Tiny Beach in a Cave
These breathtaking images capture the hidden depths of one of the worlds largest caves, which is so big its home to a beach, a river and a jungle. At more than 130m high, and 150m across, the imposing cave is so big as high as the London Eye and wider than one-and-a-half football pitches. Continue reading »
Living on Water
The Bajau people of Malaysia live their lives completely at sea, living in wooden huts and spending their days fishing. Sailing over crystal clear waters, the Bajau people of Malaysia live their lives almost entirely at sea.
Children as young as four catch fish, octopus and lobsters from handmade boats off the eastern coast of Sabah, Malaysia. Along with their families, they live in wooden huts on stilts and trade their seafood for necessities with islanders in the nearby town of Semporna.
Photographer Ng Choo Kia joined the Bajau people on their pirogues, which are long narrow canoes made from single tree trunks, and documented their daily life in a series of pictures.
The 43-year-old, of Penang, Malaysia, says: “The Bajau people are refugees from the Philippines, who now choose to live at sea for their whole life. They visit the land only briefly in order to trade fish for rice, water and other staples. The Bajau children are all ferocious in catching fish and octopus, as fishing is their main source of income.
Every day the children get on their handmade pirogue, and equipped with a net and lance, they go off on the search for food. The children have no opportunity to go to school, so there are no future prospects for them”.
As refugees, the Bajau people are not allowed to live on land, and so have built wooden huts out at sea. During the day, they fish and sail around the coast, looking to sell food, before returning to their huts as soon as the sun goes down.
Choo Kia says: “When most people see these photographs they are attracted by the unique scene and the lifestyle these people are living. However, in my opinion this is a situation that should be controlled. The children should be educated on topics like the environment and hygiene, and I personally do not encourage people to grow up there”.
Shipwrecks Visible In Clear Lake Michigan Waters
Wreck of the James McBride, which ran aground Oct. 19, 1857, during a storm. A Coast Guard helicopter crew in northern Michigan captured several images of shipwrecks visible through the water of Lake Michigan along the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore now that the ice has melted. Continue reading »
Namibia From Above
Theo Allofs taking his paraglider engine apart after flight over the desert, in October, 2014, in the Namib Desert, Namibia. A photographer has captured a bird’s eye view of the stunning Namib Desert from a paraglider. Theo Allofs travels the world taking stunning pictures of untouched landscapes from a unique perspective. Soaring 300 metres above ground, Theo shot the yellow sand dunes, dry red river beds and remote townships in Namibia. His use of a paraglider, which can soar to 1400m above ground, also allowed him to follow a flock of ostriches and a herd of zebras. Theo’s unusual method of transport meant he could explore the far reaches of the desert and minimise the disruption to wildlife. (Photo by Theo Allofs/Barcroft Media)
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Japan’s Rural School
Students in Aone’s elementary school during break in between the class on April 9, 2015. The school has only six students, two of whom are from the same family. Similarly small schools can be found throughout Japan. (Photo by Ko Sasaki/The Washington Post)
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Elderly Blind Man and His Armless Friend Plant Over 10,000 Trees in China
Looking at the lush, green, tree-filled stretch of land north of the Yeli Village in Sunzhuang Township, Jingxing County, Hebei, China, it’s hard to imagine that just 12 years ago, those plains were filled with nothing but rocks and weeds. This miraculous transformation is all thanks to the hard work and dedication of an elderly blind man named Jia Haixia and his friend Jia Wenqi, a double amputee with no arms. For more than 10 years, the duo have been planting thousands of trees in an effort to protect and preserve the natural ecology of the land surrounding their village. Continue reading »
Mystery Piano On Top Of The Mountain
“The piano was discovered on top of Topanga Lookout, near Stunt Road in the Santa Monica Mountains Recreation Area. Several photos posted to Instagram indicated the piano was hauled up Tuesday to the ridgeline for a music video shoot involving Seatlle-based artist Rachel Wong. Wong was a finalist in Ford’s 2012 “Gimme the Gig II” contest, according to her biography. The photos showed the five-person crew using a rope to pull the piano up a narrow trail, part of a two-mile round trip hike with about 160 feet of elevation gain. They used a moving dolly on some parts of the rugged trail, a job that took about 45 minutes, said videographer Michael Froton. Aerial video Thursday afternoon showed hikers playing the piano on the graffiti-covered concrete foundation of an old fire tower and taking pictures of the instrument with a dramatic natural backdrop. “It shows how different we are”, said hiker Nick Herron. “Where else do you hear about a piano on top of a ridge?” – Jonathan Lloyd and Adrian Arambulo
A person sits at an upright piano that had been hauled up to Topanga Lookout in the Santa Monica Mountains in Calabasas, Calif. For a couple of days last week, a Southern California hilltop was alive with the sound of mystery. Hikers venturing to Topanga Lookout found a battered upright piano sitting on a graffiti-scrawled concrete slab with a panoramic view over the mountains between Calabasas and the Pacific Ocean. Turns out, the piano was used for a music video by Seattle-based artist Rachel Wong. The cinematographer, Michael Flotron, says he and four others used a dolly and rope to haul the 350-pound instrument a mile up the trail on Tuesday. After the shoot, it was too dark to get the piano back down. Flotron says people seem happy to leave it there. But if necessary, he’ll haul the piano back down. (Photo by Michael Flotron/AP Photo) Continue reading »
Beautiful Abandoned NYC In Photographs By Will Ellis
From Manhattan and Brooklyn’s trendiest neighborhoods to the far-flung edges of theouter boroughs, Will Ellis has spent the last three years photographing and researching the lost and lonely corners of the United States’ most populous city. His photo book Abandoned NYC is packed with 150 color images of sixteen of New York’s most beautiful and mysterious abandoned spaces, paired with detailed essays on the fascinating history of these forgotten sites. Here: the Gowanus “Batcave” was the home of a thriving squatter community in the early 2000s. Today it’s being renovated into artists’ studios and exhibition space. (Photo by Will Ellis) Continue reading »
Travelling Across Mexico’s Baja California Peninsula
In this March 3, 2015 photo, a group of California sea lions rest on a large bouy in the San Ignacio lagoon, in the Pacific Ocean, near Guerrero Negro, in Mexico’s Baja California peninsula. (Photo by Dario Lopez-Mills/AP Photo)
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Cold Winter on Mount Washington
In this Tuesday, March 10, 2015 photo, rime ice extends horizontally from a metal pole at the summit of Mt. Washington, in New Hampshire. Rime ice forms in the direction of the wind driven fog that often blows across the summit at hurricane force. (Photo by Robert F. Bukaty/AP Photo)
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Tibetan Buddhists Celebrate Monlam
Devotees bow to a passing Tibetan Buddhist monk on his way to take part in a special prayer during Monlam or the Great Prayer rituals on March 5, 2015 at the Labrang Monastery, Xiahe County, Amdo, Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Gansu Province, China. Labrang Monastery is one of the six great monasteries of the Gelug school of Tibetan Buddhism and one of the largest outside of the Tibetan Autonomous Region. Monlam, the most important prayer event for many Tibetans was banned during the Cultural Revolution in China but once again in recent years it is celebrated in many areas. (Photo by Kevin Frayer/Getty Images)
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Backpacked: Explore New Zealand Through The Lens Of A Belgian Photographer
If you are a lover of Highsnobiety‘s Snobshots then the name Michiel Pieters and his Instagram handle @mchlptrs might sound familiar to you. The young Belgian fashion photographer is currently backpacking New Zealand with his friend Yvo Dezeure, who often models for him. They decided to document their trip on Tumblr. On BACKPACKED you can follow the duo and explore the incredible landscapes of New Zealand trough the lens of Michiel Pieters. Continue reading »
Vedema: A Fire Harvests The Stone
The project was commissioned by Vedema, a Luxury Collection Resort, one of Santorini’s most unique and prestigious hotels, built around a 400 year old winery made of dark volcanic stones. The hotel is located in the southern part of the island, in the scenic village of Megalochori, next to a wonderful large area of vineyards. The name comes from its history and connection to the surrounding nature, as in Santorinian idiom ventema (βεντέμα) means harvest.
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Holi – Traditional Festival of Colours in India
A physically challenged Indian child, smeared with gulal-coloured powder, smiles at the camera during Holi celebrations at the Society for the Edcuation of the Crippled school in Mumbai on March 4, 2015. ‘Holi’, the festival of colours, is a riotous celebration of the coming of spring and falls on the day after full moon annually in March. Revellers spray coloured powder and water on each other with great gusto, whilst adults extend the hand of peace. AFP PHOTO / PUNIT PARANJPE (PUNIT PARANJPE/AFP/Getty Images)
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A Neighbourhood Pool Parties In Peru
A group of women dance in a pool in Callao, Peru, Sunday, February 22, 2015. One of centers for the front-doorstep, pool-party phenomenon is Lima’s port city of Callao. People hold parties in them and sometimes entire blocks chip in to buy a pool, which can be had in local department stores for a bit over $100. (Photo by Martin Mejia/AP Photo)
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“Bloco da Lama” – A Traditional Mud Carnival Party in Brazil
A woman, covered in mud, dances during the traditional “Bloco da Lama” or “Mud Block” carnival party, in Paraty, Brazil, Saturday, February 14, 2015. Revelers in the seaside colonial town threw themselves into deposits of black, mineral-rich slime, emerging covered head-to-toe in the sludge. Bikinis and trunks disappeared beneath the mud, which highlights both gym-pumped pectorals and beer-fed guts. (Photo by Leo Correa/AP Photo)
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The Nomadic Life of a Man who Lives in a Camper Van
Mike Hudson chose to pack up his life and hit the road. He turned his van into a home and started a website called Van Dog Traveller to document his journey around Europe. Continue reading »
Oymyakon, the Coldest Village on Earth
A local woman enters Preobrazhensky Cathedral in a swirl of freezing mist in the city of Yakutsk, Russia, considered to be the coldest city in the world, January 2014. (Photo by Amos Chapple/REX Features)
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Loi Krathong Festival in Thailand
We are all drawn to fire, entranced by its beauty and ferociousness. Its brilliance draws us in like moths to a candle flame. Thus, many of the celebrations that humans have involve lighting fires. They can be big or small; there could be many little lights or one giant inferno; they may float on water, burn on land, or rise high into the skies. Loi Krathong is a festival that is held each year in Thailand and a number of other places. During this festival thousands of little fires are lighted, presenting a marvelous sight for all the onlookers. It is believed that this tradition is an adaptation of Brahmanical festival, which was adopted by Thai Buddhists to honor Buddha.
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Pakistan: the Double Life
This combination of two images taken on Thursday, January 15, 2015, shows Pakistani Riasat Hussain, 19, posing for a picture at a friend’s place in Rawalpindi, Pakistan. Across conservative Pakistan, where Islamic extremists launch near-daily attacks and many follow a strict interpretation of their Muslim faith, male cross-dressers and the transgendered face a challenge of balancing two identities. Some left their villages for the anonymity of a big city, fearing the reactions of their families while still concealing their identity from neighbors and co-workers. (Photo by Muhammed Muheisen/AP Photo)
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People Of The World: Māori In Stunning Photographs By Jimmy Nelson
The Māori are the indigenous Polynesian people of New Zealand. The Māori originated with settlers from eastern Polynesia, who arrived in New Zealand in several waves of canoe voyages at some time between 1250 and 1300 CE. Over several centuries in isolation, the Polynesian settlers developed a unique culture that became known as the “Māori”, with their own language, a rich mythology, distinctive crafts and performing arts. Early Māori formed tribal groups, based on eastern Polynesian social customs and organisation. Horticulture flourished using plants they introduced, and later a prominent warrior culture emerged. Continue reading »
Eagle Hunting in Mongolia
Land Cruisers drove through a river in western Mongolia. (Photo by Brad Ruoho/The Star Tribune)
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Annual Cold-Endurance Festival in Tokyo
A half-naked shrine parishioner using a wooden tub pours cold water onto himself during an annual cold-endurance festival at the Kanda Myojin Shinto shrine in Tokyo, Saturday, January 10, 2015. Pouring cold water on their bodies is believed to purify their souls. (Photo by Eugene Hoshiko/AP Photo)
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Traditional Cage Fighting in Bali
Most of people who have visited Bali have seen the cockfighting popular among the locals. A little-known but no less ardent hobby among Bali’s farming community is cricket fighting, or mejangkrikang. The insects face off inside bamboo tubes known as bumbung, and bets are placed on the bouts, which typically last two minutes. Indonesia, as well as other countries in the Southeast Asia region. In China, cricket fighting even has a very long history, dating back almost 1,000 years to the famous Tang Dynasty in the 12th century. The fights have quite strict rules: The fighters must be of similar body size and in a healthy condition, meaning that all the body organs were complete. When all the fight requirements are met, the two competing crickets face off against each other in a fierce fight on bamboo tubes called Bumbung. Two men must stand by to increase crickets fighting drive on Bumbung used steams of grass during the tournament. The cricket that survives and can make the opponent surrender that is marked by the cricket run to the glass of bombing is declared as the champion. Meanwhile, the game will not be fun if there is no betting. Bets depend of the owners. But, for this small miniature blood sport, the owners usually place bets of between Rp 100,000 and Rp 200,000 ($7.86-15.71) per 2 minutes game. Here: two Balinese men used steams of grass to increase crickets fighting drive on Bumbung during the tournament. (Photo by A. A. Gde Agung/JG Photo)
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“Noche Buena”: A Christmas Eve Dinner on Philippines
Filipino workers turn bamboo poles used in pigs at a roasting pit in suburban Quezon city, Philippines on Tuesday, December 23, 2014. Roasted pig is popular during Filipino celebrations and traditionally served during a Christmas eve dinner called “Noche Buena” in this predominantly Roman Catholic nation. (Photo by Aaron Favila/AP Photo)
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