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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Street Photographer Lukasz Kazimierz Palka Perfectly Shoots Japan
Lukasz Kazimierz Palka, or Lukas, is a prolific street photographer from Chicago, Illinois. He’s been living and working in Tokyo, Japan for the past years. His photos range from revealing the hidden beauty in the mundane, to exposing the delicate pulse of life in a chaotic and over crowded city. Continue reading »
Justin Bieber for Calvin Klein Spring 2015 Ad Campaign
It amuses us to see the pop culture audience collectively lose their shit over these pics. BELIEBE us, we’re not here to defend this little shit, but darlings, it’s a Calvin Klein campaign. Photographing the vapid and the douchey is kind of their thing.
Justin Bieber and Lara Stone for Calvin Klein Spring 2015 ad campaign shot by Mert Alas and Marcus Piggott.
“I have been wearing Calvin Klein underwear for years in hopes of getting to model for the brand one day,” Bieber told WWD. “It’s always been a dream. Last spring, I posted a picture on Instagram in my underwear, using the #mycalvins tag. Thankfully the brand saw it and liked the reaction it was getting, and a relationship started from there.”
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Selfie Sticks
Huang Hsin, left, and Lu Yz-che, right, from Taiwan take a photo with selfie stick at the gate of Sensoji temple in Asakusa District in Tokyo Wednesday, January 7, 2015. Selfie sticks have become popular among tourists because you don’t have to ask strangers to take your picture, and you can capture a wide view in a selfie without showing your arm. But some people find selfie sticks obnoxious, arguing that they detract from the travel experience. (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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Adorable Knitted Hats for Winter Fall
These fashionable knit hats will keep you warm this winter – or make great gifts.
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The Fantastic Mechanical Creatures of the Isle of Nantes
Due to the influence of Sci-Fi movies, many of us have an obsession with giant robots. How cool would it be to ride a gigantic robotic dinosaur or elephant? It would be even cooler to control one! Continue reading »
Riding a Snail
Frog legs it! Indonesian flying frog tries to hitch a ride on snail’s back before realising it would be quicker to hop it alone. A tiny frog struck up an unlikely friendship with a giant African land snail after clambering onto its shell to catch a ride. The bright green Wallace’s flying frog was spotted giving the snail a quick kiss before it hopped onto its back where it sat for a few minutes. Photographer Hendy Mp, 25, captured the unusual antics in the woods near his home in Sambas, Indonesia, and sat just 30cm away from the friendly pair while they played. “I couldn’t help but laugh when I saw them, it was very funny. I haven’t seen anything else like it”, he said. (Photos by Hendy Mp/SOLENT/Visual Press Agency)
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Year 2014 from Space
Image of the Clouds taken in August 2014 by astronauts on board the International Space Station (ISS). A year from space photographs of hurricanes, typhoons and meteorite craters show an astronauts-eye view of our planet from hundreds of miles above the earth. The illuminating images were taken by astronauts onboard the International Space Station (ISS) over the course of 2014. The space-based snappers captured everything from phenomenal weather to the Northern Lights from their orbit at around 220 miles above the earth. Astronauts have lived on the ISS every day since October 2000 – and the floating home and science lab provides a unique opportunity to capture out-of-this-world photographs. (Photo by NASA/SPL/Barcroft Media)
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Astonishing Time-lapsed Landscapes
These stunning photos act as postcards for one photographer, who has traveled all over the globe, braving freezing temperatures to create the ultimate time lapse video. Photographer Dustin Farrell, 36, spent four years perfecting his technique and traveling all over the world in his quest to capture the most beautiful time lapses of nature. The dramatic photo shoots would take anywhere from 30 minutes through to a painstaking, and patience testing, six hours. Dustin, who lives in Arizona, merged almost a million pictures together to create the incredible timelapse video of scenes such as a lightning storm over the Grand Canyon and an explosive display of the Northern Lights in Iceland. Here: a rock spike infront of the milky way. Continue reading »
Colorado Dedicates $8M for Medical Marijuana Research to Understand Benefits
Colorado will spend more than $8 million researching marijuana’s medical potential – a new frontier because government-funded marijuana research traditionally focuses on the drug’s negative health effects. The grants awarded by the Colorado Board of Health will go to studies on whether marijuana helps treat epilepsy, brain tumors, Parkinson’s disease and post-traumatic stress disorder. Some of the studies still need federal approval. Though the awards are relatively small, researchers say they’re a big step forward. While several other federal studies currently in the works look at marijuana’s health effects, all the Colorado studies are focused on whether marijuana actually helps.
Among the projects poised for approval Wednesday:
– Two separate studies on using marijuana to treat post-traumatic stress disorder ($3.1 million)
– Whether adolescents and young adults with irritable bowel syndrome benefit from marijuana ($1.2 million)
– Using marijuana to relieve pain in children with brain tumors ($1 million)
– How an oil derived from marijuana plants affects pediatric epilepsy patients ($524,000)
– Comparing marijuana and oxycodone for pain relief ($472,000)
In this February 7, 2014 file photo, Matt Figi hugs and tickles his once severely-ill seven year old daughter Charlotte, as they walk together inside a greenhouse for a special strain of medical marijuana known as Charlotte’s Web, which was named after the girl early in her treatment for crippling severe epilepsy, in the mountains west of Colorado Springs, Colo. Colorado is poised to award more than $8 million for medical marijuana research, a step toward addressing complaints that little is known about pot’s medical potential. Among the research projects poised for approval on Wednesday, December 17, 2014, are one for pediatric epilepsy patients, and another for children with brain tumors. (Photo by Brennan Linsley/AP Photo)
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Slacklining in Australia
Antek Marciniec holds onto a slackline after falling off as he highlines between two cliffs at Diamond Bay on December 21, 2014 in Sydney, Australia. Slacklining is a balance sport in which participants walk on a flat nylon webbing anchored between two points with the tension adjusted to allow for slack, providing an experience similiar to that of walking on a trapmoline. Highlining is a style of slacklining where the two anchor points are set up with significant elevation from the ground or water. (Photo by Cameron Spencer/Getty Images)
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Best of The Washington Post Photography 2014
Participants sing hymns as the sun attempts to break through clouds as the Capitol Church leads the 36th annual sunrise Easter service at the Lincoln Memorial on April, 20, 2014 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Bill O’Leary/The Washington Post)
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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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Bandung Body Art Festival
A tattoo is displayed on the arm of a girl during Bandung Body Art Festival in Bandung, West Java, on December 7, 2014. Upon its establishment in 2010, founders of the Bandung Body Art Festival sought to celebrate an art form that was once taboo and associated with criminals. Tattoos are now an increasingly acceptable part of Indonesia’s urban landscape, and the annual event this year continued its campaign with 45 tattoo artists offering their services for free at the Ganesha Cultural Center. (Photo by Rezza Estily/JG Photo)
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Shark Island in Central Indonesia
This picture taken on November 8, 2014 shows students from Singapore snorkeling at a coral reef in the waters off Lombok, West Nusa Teggara. Sharks are hauled ashore every day at a busy market on the central Indonesian island of Lombok, the hub of a booming trade that provides a livelihood for local fishermen but is increasingly alarming environmentalists. (Photo by Sonny Tumbelaka/AFP Photo)
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Amazing Polar Bear Photos By David Jenkins
The stunning collection of photographs, taken over the space of ten years, manage to capture the tender bond between both mother and child as they emerge from their den for the very first time. Continue reading »
Christmastime in New York City Through the Ages
An estimated 4000 people line both sides of 51st St. waiting to see the Christmas show at Radio City Music Hall in New York, December 27, 1945. (Photo by Tony Camerano/AP Photo)
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Beautiful Winter Wonderlands Around the USA
These snaps capture true winter wonderlands – as Mother Nature’s icy grip takes hold of America’s National Parks. From snow-capped mountains in Yosemite to an icy still Glacier Bay, the incredible images show their beauty is year round. In other breath-taking shots crisp frost lines the paths through Great Smokey Mountains and Crater Lake has had more than a dusting of snow. Each stunning shot was collated by the U.S. Department of the Interior – the agency which protects US land, water and wildlife. Tim Fullerton, Director of Digital Strategy, said: “America’s public lands are just as beautiful this time of year as they are in the warmer months. Snow and ice turns national parks, wildlife refuges and other public lands into a winter wonderland, enhancing the beauty of nature in America’s great outdoors”. Here: Apostle Island National Lakeshore Park in Wisconsin. (Photo by U.S. Department of the Interior/Cater News)
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Bicycle Cafe in Zurich, Switzerland
In the past, having a car was synonymous to success. Now, however, having a bicycle in the new trend. Riding a bicycle is all pros and no cons. It makes you slimmer and healthier, it allows you to enjoy the fresh air, traffic jams are no longer a problem, and of course you don’t waste money on gas. Continue reading »
Winners of the 2014 National Geographic Photography Contest
Grand Prize and People Winner
Photo and caption by Brian Yen / National Geographic 2014 Photo Contest
“A Node Glows in the Dark”
In the last ten years, mobile data, smartphones and social networks have forever changed our existence. Although this woman stood at the center of a jam-packed train, the warm glow from her phone told the strangers around her that she wasn’t really there. She managed to slip away from “here” for a short moment; she’s a node flickering on the social web, roaming the Earth, free as a butterfly. Our existence is no longer stuck to the physical here; we’re free to run away, and run we will.
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Creatures Great and Small
Children sit under a crocodile based table, as they pose for photographers during a press preview of a themed auction that features the animal as artistic inspiration, entitled “Creatures Great and Small”, in London, Monday, December 15, 2014. The sale scheduled for December 17, 2014, explores animals across a diverse range of mediums and styles, from intricate carving details in 19th century furniture through to contemporary sculpture, according to Christie’s auction house. (Photo by Lefteris Pitarakis/AP Photo)
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Incredible Body Art Works
This is the stunning body of work by a talented painter – who transforms humans into amazing animals. From alligators to foxes and even owls, artist Shannon Holt, 39, paints every little detail on models to turn them into wildlife. The incredible paintings, which take anywhere between six to 12.5 hours to complete, are part of her Florida Wildlife Series. Shannon, from DeLand, Florida, previously worked on different surfaces such as glass, metals and wood. But the animal advocate decided to experiment with human canvasses and incorporate animals in her work. Here: Red Fox.
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Visual Artist Damien Hypolite Revisited Assassin’s Creed Locations In Modern Paris
Assassin’s Creed is a game that is set in the past with the main character’s subconsciousness traveling through the fabric of time to acquire hidden knowledge. Continue reading »
Photographer Puts Everyday “Selfies” to Shame, Part 2
A photographer has shot this series of scenic selfies – scaling freezing mountain tops to snap himself in front of stunning scenery. Paul Zizkas (previously) breath-taking work features himself in front of beautiful backdrops such as shimmering lakes, snowy mountains and vibrant auroras. He has travelled to a number of different locations worldwide including Canada, New Zealand, Niue the South Pacific and French Polynesia. Explorer Paul, from Banff, Alberta, Canada, saw his selfies go viral early in 2014 – and has now unveiled his latest work. He said: I find that sometimes including a person in a landscape scene adds to the photograph – that it conveys a different story. Here: lake Minnewanka, Banff National Park, Alberta, Canada. Continue reading »
