Another Finalist in This Year’s Smithsonian Magazine Photo Contest… 

According to the photographer (Irina Denisova), this photograph was influenced by paintings from Pablo Picasso’s Blue Period. Textures developed using artificial intelligence were used in processing.

A finalist in this year’s Smithsonian Magazine photo contest, this photo by Frederic Aranda shows costume/set designer John Macfarlane at work on set cloths for the Valencia Opera’s production of Tchaikovsky’s The Queen of Spades in a studio in Cardiff, Wales.

“The 25 Most Beautiful Beaches in the World”

There is no such thing as “The World’s 10 Most Scenic Villages,” just as there is no such thing as “The World’s 15 Most Beautiful Men (or Women).” But that has never stopped me from clicking on such teasers – like this one from the Thrillist website.

The photo above shows one of the 25 beaches on Thrillist’s list – Anse Source d’Argent, located on a remote island in the Seychelles.

An Entry in Smithsonian Magazine’s Annual Photo Contest: 
Longfin Bannerfish Nibbling at a Jellyfish Near Qaruh Island (Kuwait) 

America’s 20 Most Beautiful Skylines

Pictured above: Chicago’s skyline. See all 20 here.

A Fisherman Walking Across the Dry Bed of the Amazon River 

In 2023, parts of the Amazon experienced an extreme drought, the worst in over a century. Communities affected by the drought lost access to drinking water, transportation, and other necessities of daily life.

This was a Regional Winner (South America) from the World Press Photo Contest.

“This image encapsulates the undeniable reality of the environmental crisis and drought in the Amazon,” wrote the jury. “Organic and captured at the perfect moment, its composition powerfully conveys the gravity of the situation. Standing alone, it serves as a powerful representation of the challenges facing the Amazon and their global effects.”

Prize Winners from the 24th Annual Hampton Beach Sand Sculpture Classic 

First prize of $6,000 went to David Ducharme for this sculpture – “Sofia’s Cradle” – depicting the Greek goddess of wisdom. The cradle beneath her resembles a nest, “a space,” Ducharme explained, “where wisdom gets nurtured.”

Click here to see and read about all of the winners.

“Earthrise” 1968 

You’ve no doubt seen this photo before. It was recently included in a New York Times feature titled “25 Photos That Defined the Modern Age.” Here’s the copy that went along with it:

On Christmas Eve 1968, aboard Apollo 8 during its pioneering orbit of the moon, William A. Anders photographed the Earth “rising” above the lunar horizon. The picture was the first of its kind – and it was also unplanned. Anders, the youngest of the three astronauts on the spacecraft, had been tasked with taking photographs of the moon’s craters, mountains and other geological features. He spontaneously decided, however, to include Earth in the frame when he noticed how beautiful it was. “Here was this orb looking like a Christmas tree ornament, very fragile,” Anders would recall in a NASA oral history. “And yet it was our home.” His first shot was in black and white. For the next, he switched to color, which emphasized the contrast between the moon’s gray surface and the planet’s blue-green vibrancy. “Earthrise” was the first image most of humanity saw of the planet we live on, a nature photo like none before it and a reminder of how small our world really is, in comparison with the rest of the universe.…”

“Flamingone” 

The real photo of a real flamingo that won an AI photography competition.

Read the story here.

A Lenticular Cloud Over the Merapi Volcano in Java, Indonesia 

Lenticular (stationary, lens-shaped) clouds often appear above mountains. Click here to watch how they’re formed.