The Secret

1. Cosmic. Mother nature doing what she does best (Photo and caption by Patrick John O'Doherty)

2. A supercell thunderstorm rolls across the Montana prairie at sunset (Photo and caption by Sean Heavey)

3. Salvation. Appreciate life to save the world (Photo and caption by Hongsik Kim)

4. The Great Pyramids. The people of Ancient Egypt believed that death on Earth was the start of a journey to the next world. The embalmed body of the King was entombed underneath or within the pyramid to protect it and allow his transformation and ascension to the afterlife (Photo and caption by Jesus Oranday)

5. The Music Of Love. This picture was taken in Tenganan Village, Bali (2010). Tenganan is the most famous Bali Aga (original Balinese) village and is located close to Candi Dasa in East Bali. A man was playing bamboo music to entertain a disabled child which is not his son, but he loves this child likes he loves his own son (Photo and caption by Ario Wibisono)

6. Liquid Planet. Another picture from the Liquid Vision Series, which shows a different point of view of waves. An angle that people are not used to seeing (Photo and caption by Freddy Cerdeira)

7. Brown bear, Buskin River, Kodiak Alaska. This bear had been fishing in the river on this morning. It climbed onto the bank and laid down in the grass. This photo was taken about an hour after sunrise just as the sun was starting to clear the trees. The temperature was near the dew point and steam was rising off its body. It didnâ € ™ t seem at all concerned by the fishermen in the river or the photographer on the bank (Photo and caption by James Haskins)

8. Praying Mantis - Pseudocreobotra wahlbergii. This beautiful whalbergii evolved through two of its nymph-stages on the Barberton Daisy at left, surviving because of its bright color which blended so well with the flower. Towards the end of its growth into an adult, it became a little more adventurous (but not much more) as pictured here. Once it had shed the layer in this picture, it became a fully-fledged adult, and departed after about two weeks. Total stay in this tiny ecosystem was approximately six weeks. (Photo and caption by Fred Turck)
9. A Wrinkle in Time. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder (Photo and caption by Nikki Krecicki)
10. Alone. I was up in the air in an helicopter, taking images for the community and suddenly I saw one tree surrounded by thousands of spruces and I got only one shot in this perfect light (Photo and caption by Mats Almlöf)


12. Kanana Camp, Botswana. Pulling over by the side of the road to watch a grazing giraffe, we spotted an amber head lurking behind a small mound. A hungry lioness. Watching, waiting, camera to my eye, she eventually chose her moment and pounced just as the giraffe sensed danger. The lioness gave chase, but failed. Hungry, she lay down, invisible, in the grass not ten feet from us and waited again. (Photo and caption by Alex Tan)
13. The child in us. Traveling from Zhangmu (Nepal-Tibet border) to the Tibetan capital - Lhasa you can see road workers all along the Friendship Highway. The Chinese industrialization has affected Tibet a great deal. But despite the Chinese government 's attempts to settle Chinese population across the Tibetan Plateau, the Roof of the World still remains a place where only the Tibetans can survive its harsh climate conditions. A Tibetan boy holding the hand of his father who works on the road construction, Tibet (Photo and caption by Sergi Barisashvili)
14. The baboon in front was harassing one of the babies in the troop. This male facing the camera attacked him. The whole fight was over in a few seconds but it was loud and seemingly vicious. The rest of the troop was scrambling around trying to get out of their way. There is, needless to say, always a lot of drama going on in a baboon troop (Photo and caption by Sharon Raoli)

16. Lightning Strike NY Harbor. This shot was captured during a major electrical storm. There was little wind and no rain which allowed me to stay safely inside and shoot from an open window. This was the 82nd exposure out of 150 made that night. The camera was mounted on a tripod, exposures made ​​with a cable release for 5 seconds at f10. Except for a some minor level adjustments and a square crop this was what came out of the camera (Photo and caption by Jay Fine)

17. Boise Sunrise. With the fog and morning light this looks like a place I 'd love to be. If you look very closely, you can see a deer in a clearing in the center left area of​​ the picture (small dot, head poking above bushes, See DETAIL )

18. Yes it 's spring. Fishing on the end of the bridge (Photo and caption by Stan Bouman)

19. The Look. There are only 400 of these birds in existence (Photo and caption by Rolf Skrypzak)

20. Against the windstorm on Mont Blanc. My friend Laszlo Varkonyi is leading a group on Mont Blanc, he died on Everest this April in a fatal accident : a big serac fell down (Photo and caption by Aniko Molnar)
21. Mystery Bug. This was on my clothesline. I have no idea what it is. I have used a macro lens as the insect was only an inch or so long. We live in the Northern Rivers district of New South Wales, Australia. The rainforest around our house sometimes brings forth intriguing creatures like this. I know it looks like a studio shot but it is not. The photograph was was taken in natural light. The background is a sheet that was serendipitously drying on the clothesline at the time. I have rotated the image to make the insect easier to examine. If anyone can tell me what it is I would be grateful (Photo and caption by Stephen Hocking)

22. Pure Elements. I drove my 4x4 over rivers to get a view of the Volcano eruption at "Fimmvorduhals"in Iceland. It was a full moon and strong winds gave me problems standing still outside the truck. I had m​​y camera with me and zoom lens but no tripod, suddenly there was a magical moment, I was experiencing a display of nature rarely seen by man. I found my camera with the zoom lens, rushed out of the truck, trying to fight the strong wind. I pushed the camera on to the hood of the truck trying to stand still, holding my breath, I shot 30 frames, and only one shot was good. (Photo and caption by Olafur Ragnarsson)

23. Bicycle Crash. Zestful BMX (Bicycle Moto-Cross) rider crashes after a failed attempt to grind the handrail. When in pain, even the ambitious, strong, extreme sports loving man looks like a simple, tired, vulnerable person. (Photo and caption by Karolis Milasevicius)


24. The Serra da Leba Road near Lubango (HuÃla, Angola) This is Serra da Leba, a landmark in Angola. A road built in the 70 's, it 's been in the country 's postcard images for decades, but all shots were taken by day. ​​I wanted something different and tried a night shot. But it seemed impossible : pitch dark, foggy, altitude of 1,800m (5,000ft) I wanted no more than 60sec of exposure, max to avoid digital noise. But a car takes a few minutes to climb or descend this section of the road. The fog was dense and blocking the view! Suddenly the fog cleared, a few cars went down, others went up, they met in the middle in under 60sec ... Painting done! ( Photo and caption by Kostadin Luchansky)

25. A Llama stands at the crest of a hill as the sun sets behind it at ChavÃn de Huá ntar, Peru (Photo and caption by John Palmer Gregg)

26. Fallen Angel. A legionnaire from the French Foreign Legion 's 2REP (Foreign Parachute Regiment) sits in an armored personnel carrier en route to an operation near Badpash Kusa Kala, Afghanistan on June 16, 2010. (Photo and caption by Steven Greaves)

27. Foot and Thistle, Mountain Gorilla of Rwanda. I was fortunate to visit the rare and endangered Mountain Gorillas in Rwanda, February of 2010. This young gorilla had fallen asleep with a thistle grasped in his foot. The thistle is one of their food sources. They learn to extract the pith from the spine-defended inedible stem. This particular gorilla demonstrates syndactyly of the third and fourth toes, a common congenital malformation also found in humans (Photo and caption by Jim Edwards)

28. Lightning Crashes. A lightning bolt strikes the antenna of The Center building in Central Hong Kong during a storm on September 13, 2009. (Photo and caption by Michael Siward)
 29. Oasis (Photo and caption by Nam In Geun)

30. Me'enit Boy, Southwestern Ethiopia. One of our neighborhood friends, Sintiyu, looking on. A rare opportunity to see him undistracted by the camera, and absorbed in his family. (Photo and caption by Stephen Murdoch)


31. Moths to Light. Moths attracted to a light in front of my home (Photo and caption by Steve Irvine)


32. Surva, the International Festival of the Masquerade Games held in the town of Pernik, Bulgaria is the biggest event of this type not only in Bulgaria but on the Balkan Peninsula as well. It promotes variations of ancient Bulgarian customs that are still alive today. ​​These are an important part of the Bulgarian folklore tradition and are meant to be performed by single men and women. With its competitive nature, the festival is not only a venue but also a contest for the living vessels of this tradition, namely the Kukeri and Survakari (Photo and caption by Orlin Ognyanov)

33. Ki Gompa. This picture was taken when I visited the Buddhist Monastery of Ki. Ki is a tiny village in the middle of the Himalayas, and next to it is Ki Gompa (Ki Monastery) I lived with the monks for about a week, and this picture reflects the peaceful, almost heavenly atmosphere that characterizes this place. The Monastery is almost 4,000 meters high, and I had to climb almost 500 meters more to get this panorama. This place is a touch of heaven (Photo and caption by Natalia Luzuriaga)


34. Haunting Glimpse. An encounter with an elusive Canada Lynx is said to be a rare privilege. I am honored to have had the opportunity to see a Lynx up close and personal. As I photographed this beautiful cat, I felt transfixed by its wild, untamed , haunting eyes. This is a once in a lifetime chance that I will cherish forever (Photo and caption by Janet Chester)


35. Suradita Village, West Java, Indonesia. Children playing with their roosters. Actually it was not a rea​​l cockfight because the roosters did not wear blades on their feet. Children like to play this game because they almost never have toys in their life. ( Photo and caption by Ario Wibisono)


36. Silhouetted against the headlights of their engine, Firemen attempt to put out a blaze caused by a gigantic natural gas line explosion near San Francisco in September of 2010. The fire destroyed 37 homes, and resulted in seven fatalities (Photo and caption by Josh Edelson )

37. Power of childhood. City : Lençois; Estate : Bahia; Country : Brazil (Photo and caption by Rodrigo West de Magalhaes)

38. North Atlantic seals enduring winter storm. It was already -1 and with a strong wind it was colder still, Had to position myself so as to shield the camera from the wind to keep the image sharp the snow was being blown horizo​​ntally away from me. (Photo and caption by Eric Garnett)

39. Great Blue Heron with fish. The largest and most widespread heron in North America. When foraging, they stand silently along riverbanks, lake shores, or in wet meadows, waiting for prey to come by, which they then strike with their bills (Photo and caption by Linh Dinh)

40. A walk along the river bank. This photo was taken in Zhenyuan, Guizhou Province, China this summer. I was taking a walk along the river bank of Wuyang in the mist of a late afternoon shower. Refreshing smell after rain was mixed with the aroma from nearby food stands. In the distance, kids were playing and laughing. The tranquil and harmonious life of the local people reminds me of the joyful time I grew up in a similar small town in Southwest China (Photo and caption by Fred Wang)


41. Heavy load. One morning in August, I was on my way to pick up the newspaper. Everything was moist and wet, and I spotted this little fly on a small white flower, just outside my bedroom window. Two hours after I shot this picture I went outside again, and the fly was still sitting on the same flower - still not able to fly (Photo and caption by Audun Wigen)

42. Table Mountain. I took this picture in June 2009 while I was just outside of Cape Town, South Afr​​ica. I was working at a kids camp and took a quick shot of the sun setting over Table Mountain as we were headed in for dinner. I was in such a rush to capture the sunset while trying to keep an eye on a bunch of kids on the playground that I did not even notice the boy in the right edge of my viewfinder. It was not until I was back home in Tennessee that I discovered the huge impact of this picture. The duality of the not-quite-teenage boy and the 260-million-year-old mountain in the same shot absolutely amazed me (Photo and caption by Quinn Ballard)

43. Herring Gull with Guillemot Chick. Taken on the Farne Islands, Northumberland, UK, the herring gull circled around the guillemot colony three or four times before dropping in and picking up this chick with the guillemot colony watching (Photo and caption by Ron McCombe)

44. Pyramid mountain. Maelifellssandur volcanic dust desert in Iceland (Photo and caption by Sukru Mehmet Omur)


45. Giraffes at Savannah. Unusual perspective shot depicting two giraffes and a tree in Masai Mara, Kenya (Photo and caption by Niko Saunio)

46. After the Crash. My dear friend, Laura, fell from the sky. The helicopter she was traveling in crashed into an open, dry field and burst info flames, killing three of the six passengers on board, including the pilot. Laura survived, but barely. She was burned, crushed, and near death. She broke 45 bones. She was pulled from the burning wreckage by her hair. To this day, she still can not walk. While there was not a part of her body that was unharmed , her spirit and determination to live a full, happy life remains stronger than ever. This image taken in a lush, green field is meant to signify her rebirth (Photo and caption by Judy Starkman)


47. Cloud and ship. Ukraine, Crimea, Black sea, view from Ai-Petri mountain (Photo and caption by Yevgen Timashov)

 1. NATUREâ € ™ S ART (Nature) - Dried up delta of the Kimberly region, NW Australia. Creates the most sophisticated patterns only appreciated from above (Photo and caption by Ted Grambeau / National Geographic Photo Contest)

2. SNOW IN ROME (Places) - Piazza Navona at night, stricken by an unusual blizzard (Photo and caption by luigi vaccarella / National Geographic Photo Contest)

3. MARIA AND RAUL (People) - Raul and Maria were married in 1959, the year of the revolution. They have lived for most of their lives in this tiny apartment in Central Havana. Raul is now blind and Marie spends much of her time looking after his needs. It is now late afternoon and Marie takes a siesta while Raul sits in his rocking chair waiting for her to wake up (Photo and caption by David Creedon / National Geographic Photo Contest)

 4. YOUNG GIRL DRINKING MARES MILK (People) - Fermented mares milk (Airag) is the traditional national beverage of Mongolia. The amount of milk produced by one mare averages about two litres when milked six times per day, so in order to make enough Airag for the family and any visitors, it is necessary to have at least a dozen mares. To get good quality Airag, it is necessary to stir the milk mix no less than 1,000 times each day! Produced during the summer months in a specially made hide skin bag, fresh Airag is quite mild, but if kept for long enough turns sour and acidic which is how many Mongolian 's prefer it. (Photo and caption by Andrew Newey / National Geographic Photo Contest)
5. LONELY HUT (Places) - Lonely hut on a slash and burn farm in northern Thailand (Photo and caption by Pattavee Kaewnoo / National Geographic Photo Contest)

6. LOST SOUL (Nature) - A male Humpback whale dies on its annual migration. The carcass washes ashore on Sydney 's Northern Beaches. (Photo and caption by Jack Murphy / National Geographic Photo Contest)
7. GREAT WHITE, SUN LIGHT (Nature) - As I am sitting on top of a suspended submersible cage 30 feet below the surface, a 15 foot Great White Shark swims overhead just starting to block out the sun. I took the shot right after I had released a breath though my respirator (Photo and caption by Kirk Nielsen / National Geographic Photo Contest)

8. HOME ALONE (Nature) - The progeny, a solitary chick, amidst the adult Great Crested Terns, taken from a prone position, with a wide-angle lens, at a breeding site on a Sri Lankan island off northwestern seas (Photo and caption by Lalith Ekanayake / National Geographic Photo Contest)

9. PREDATION UP CLOSE AND PERSONAL (Nature) - I was surrounded by thousands of fish that moved in synchrony because of the predation that was happening. It was an incredible experience (Photo and caption by Fransisca Harlijanto / National Geographic Photo Contest)

10. HANGING LIFE (People) - I saw this hanging kid along with a hanging bag while walking on the streets of Chennai (Photo and caption by Sudharshun Gopalan / National Geographic Photo Contest)

 12. DOGâ € ™ S LIFE (People) - Two children watch as the dogs get weighed in at the Lismore Greyhound Track (Photo and caption by Marc Stapelberg / National Geographic Photo Contest)
13. CITY BIRDS (Places) - Strolling through downtown San Francisco during our vacation, the birds sitting on the wires and skyscrapers in the foggy background caught my attention. A lucky shot! (Photo and caption by Matthias Luetolf / National Geographic Photo Contest)
14. PELICAN, WALVIS BAY, NAMIBIA (Nature) - A marine cruise in Walvis Bay, Namibia, is a memorable experience. I remember watching dolphins, seals, mola molas, cormorants ... and having the privilege of picturing that one pelican at the exact moment he grabbed a bite thrown from the boat (Photo and caption by Romulo Rejon / National Geographic Photo Contest)

15. SECLUDED PIER AT LAKE BRUNNER (Places) - I was on my 170 km solo cycling trip around West Coast, New Zealand and one of the destinations was famous Lake Brunner. I reached this pier one foggy morning and I found this moment was â € œlike no otherâ € (Photo and caption by Mohd Nadly Aizat Mohd / National Geographic Photo Contest)

16. ENDEAVOUR FLIES OVER GRIFFITH OBSERVATORY (Places) - The Space Shuttle Endeavour flies over Griffith Park Observatory and the Hollywood Sign before heading to Los Angeles International Airport where it will be prepared to be moved to its new permanent home at the California Science Center in downtown Los Angeles (Photo and caption by Axelle Woussen / National Geographic Photo Contest)

17. HEAVENLY VIEW (Places) - The sea of​​ clouds covered the city making a spectacular heavenly view while the photographer is absorbed in taking photo from the top of Mt.Yangbaeksan, South Korea (Photo and caption by Sungjin Kim / National Geographic Photo Contest)
18. THE GODFATHER (Nature) - He is big - 4 meters tall and over 4 tons in weight, he is the "Godfather"I have visualized this scene many times. I have checked and rechecked my equipment and decided upon the camera and lens combination . I now relax and control my breathing as they come into view. The next ten minutes are bliss of forgetfulness as I zone in to the task at hand; only one moment stands out. He stands still before me in all his magnificence, raising his trunk filled with the red Kalahari dust. In one fluid movement he sprays his forehead and for one brief moment he is covered in the magic of dust and light (Photo and caption by Peter Delaney / National Geographic Photo Contest)
19. CRATER LAKE STORM AT SUNSET (Places) - A thunderstorm swirls across the water at Crater Lake National Park, as the setting sun creates a rare double rainbow. Taken from Rim Village, approximately 1,000 feet above the lake 's surface, providing a straight-on vantage point of the storm (Photo and caption by Duke Miller / National Geographic Photo Contest)
20. AN EXPEDITION AMUNDSEN (People) - A race that follows in the path of the famous explorer Roald Amundsen brings the contestants to the Hardangervidda Mountainplateu, Norway. 100km across the plateau, the exact same route Amundsen used to prepare for his South Pole expedition in 1911 , is still used by explorers today. ​​Amundsen did not manage to cross the plateau and had to turn back because of bad weather. He allegedly said that the attempt to cross Hardangervidda was just as dangerous and hard as conquering of the South Pole. The group in the picture used the race as preparation for an attempt to cross Greenland (Photo and caption by Kai-Otto Melau / National Geographic Photo Contest)
21. GLACIER (Places) - The other-worldly experience! ((Photo and caption by Rafael Urrutia / National Geographic Photo Contest)
22. REFLECTING VANCOUVER (Places) - Walking near the waterfront in Vancouver, I was struck by the beautiful reflection of the nearby buildings in the glass of the Convention Center (Photo and caption by Martha Katko / National Geographic Photo Contest)
23. ADRIFT (Nature) - Penguins adrift on iceberg during a heavy snow storm in Antarctica (Photo and Caption by Joshua Holko / National Geographic Photo Contest)

 24. DANCE (People) - A female dancer practicing her movements for a performance in the Turbine Hall of Tate Modern, London (Photo and caption by Tom Radenz / National Geographic Photo Contest)

25. BUTTERFLY AT SUNSET (Nature) - Macro shot of a butterfly with the sunset in the background (Photo and caption by Toni Guetta / National Geographic Photo Contest)

26. GOLDEN ROAD (Nature) - A glorious road of gold through the aspen woods of Snowmass, Colorado (Photo and caption by Chih-Hung Kao / National Geographic Photo Contest)

27. HAMER GIRL, ETHIOPIA (People) - The Hamers are a people of East Africa living in southwestern Ethiopia, in a fertile area of​​ the Omo Valley. The gracious Hamer women, freeing pride and dignity even in the midst of the bustling weekly market, are easily spotted with their characteristic outfits. They take pride in their dress and accessories and win the prize as the most decorated of the Omo people. The traditional dress code for unmarried Hamar girls includes elegant cowrie-shell collars, seeded or glass-beaded necklaces and decorated goatskin clothing (Photo and caption by Pascal Mannaerts / National Geographic Photo Contest)

28. THROUGH THE DUNES (Nature) - Oryx captured in Namib-Naukluft National Park in Namibia just after sunset. Heading through the dunes in search of food and water (Photo and caption by Mikael Stiller / National Geographic Photo Contest)

29. WINDSWEPT LADY (Nature) - One of the times visiting Monument Valley, Arizona, I was in a box canyon when a severe dust storm came through. This is a photo of an aged, old juniper tree. Its weather-torn skeleton has lasted sun , heat, snow, wind, and nature 's elements. It 's shape and outline looks as if it 's an old windswept and aged lady still standing in a harsh desert climate (Photo and caption by Dave Drost / National Geographic Photo Contest)

30. THE EDGE (People) - Looking just over the edge, just enough to see what is ahead, not enough to know the whole, just getting the gist (Photo and caption by Mei Ratz / National Geographic Photo Contest)

31. TOUR de FORCE (Places) - The vibrancy and complexity of civilization especially manifested within the architectural themes of cities never ceases to amaze me. It seems that cities undergo a gradual metamorphosis, as they seem to redefine themselves in their own unique way. The sculptors that provide the energy behind this change are the various people throughout history, and indeed the present, that len​​d their various influences as determined by the period of history and cultural forces at play (Photo and caption by Konstantine Eleftheria / National Geographic Photo Contest)
32. BOYS TO MEN (People) - Masai boys who had just undergone the cultural rite of passage (Photo and caption by Amy Sacka / National Geographic Photo Contest)
33. SKUGAFOSS - It took me a few tries to take this long exposure of SkÃ> gafoss, the massive southern Icelandic waterfall, between the small groups of tourists slowly making their way to its base. While a person certainly would have added some scale to how large the waterfall really is, I wanted the silky sheen of the flowing water to be unobstructed and people-free (Photo and caption by Catherine Cole / National Geographic Photo Contest)

34. BATHERS (People) - This mother and two children take a bath in this little puddle which is in a secluded place in the middle of one beech forest in Transylvania. The puddle contains sludge with petroleum (crude oil) The boy, continuously asked his mother, why do we bath here in this very stinky puddle? There was no answer, just a severe look ... The mother and the other boy believe fanatically in the mystic healing power of this little very stinky puddle (Photo and caption by M. Istvan Kerekes / National Geographic Photo Contest)
35. DELICATE ARCH AT NIGHT (Places) - I wanted to do something different than usual on my first visit to Arches National Park, so instead of sunset where the crowds usually gather, I made the hike to Delicate Arch at night. I had m​​y girlfriend stand with the spotlight we brought and took a few shots. This was the best (Photo and caption by Benjamin Cooper / National Geographic Photo Contest)

36. BELIEVERS (People) - A group of devotees performs a sacred ritual and celebrate Chinese gods during Phuket Vegetarian Festival. Millions of firecrackers are ignited each year during the celebration. It is an annual event held during the ninth lunar month of the Chinese calendar : Local residents of Chinese ancestry strictly observe a 10-day vegetarian diet for spiritual cleansing and merit making (Photo and caption by Peerakit Jirachetthakun / National Geographic Photo Contest)



source: National Geographic Photo Contest 2012