Photos: National Geographic's Best Photos

Best of the best

national geographic best photos

(Image credit: Thomas J. Abercrombie | National Geographic)

National Geographic has published innumerable photos taken by its on-assignment photographers the world over. Now, the society is putting 50 of its best shots on display in a traveling exhibit. Here are nine of the 50 that are on display, including photos of wildlife, aviation and shipwrecks.

[Read the Full Story on the Nat Geo Photo Exhibit]

Seven pears

national geographic best photos

(Image credit: Sam Abell | National Geographic)

This photo, taken by Sam Abell in Moscow in 1983, shows the afternoon light falling on a windowsill filled with pears.

Windswept lion

national geographic best photos

(Image credit: Chris Johns | National Geographic)

In this 1996 photo, a lion patrols the dry Nossob riverbed in the Kalahari Gemsbok National Park, a wildlife refuge in South Africa.

City of lights

national geographic best photos

(Image credit: Thomas J. Abercrombie | National Geographic)

Every year, Muslim pilgrims visit Islam's holiest site, the Haram Mosque, in the city of Mecca. This photo captures the mosque surrounded by blue and yellow lights in 1965.

[Read the Full Story on the Nat Geo Photo Exhibit]

Titanic endeavor

national geographic best photos

(Image credit: Emory Kristof)

The Titanic rests beneath 2.5 miles (4 kilometers) of water, but photographer Emory Kristof illuminated it with 10,000 watts of light that were carried on two submersibles in this stunning photo.

Rainy Big Apple

national geographic best photos

(Image credit: Jodi Cobb)

New York City's Broadway is thoroughly soaked with rain as steam billows upward in this photo, taken near Times Square in 1988.

Long exposure

national geographic best photos

(Image credit: Bruce Dale)

Bruce Dale, who worked for National Geographic for 25 years, mounted a remote- controlled camera on the tail of this jumbo jet, then took a 25-second-long exposure to capture this 1977 photo.

[Read the Full Story on the Nat Geo Photo Exhibit]

Sandy nap

national geographic best photos

(Image credit: Joanna B. Pinneo)

Photographer Joanna B. Pinneo took this picture of sand clinging to an 8-month-old baby sleeping next to its mother in sub-Saharan Mali in 1997.

Balancing act

national geographic best photos

(Image credit: Thomas J. Abercrombie)

An Afghan woman wearing a traditional chadri balances a cage with goldfinches on her head in Kabul.

Afghan girl

Afghan Girl

(Image credit: Steve McCurry | National Geographic)

The iconic photo of the Afghan girl, taken in 1984 by photographer Steve McCurry.

[Read the Full Story on the Nat Geo Photo Exhibit]

Reaching out

national geographic best photos

(Image credit: Michael Nichols)

A chimpanzee reaches out to touch primatologist Jane Goodall in this 1991 photo. The chimp was behind bars in a cage at a zoo in the Republic of Congo.

[Read the Full Story on the Nat Geo Photo Exhibit]

Laura Geggel
Editor

Laura is the archaeology and Life's Little Mysteries editor at Live Science. She also reports on general science, including paleontology. Her work has appeared in The New York Times, Scholastic, Popular Science and Spectrum, a site on autism research. She has won multiple awards from the Society of Professional Journalists and the Washington Newspaper Publishers Association for her reporting at a weekly newspaper near Seattle. Laura holds a bachelor's degree in English literature and psychology from Washington University in St. Louis and a master's degree in science writing from NYU.