The Year in Pictures: Part I

The year in Pictures: Part II The second collection of images from 2011 once again brought us nature at its full force with floods, drought, wild fires, tornadoes and spectacular images of volcanic eruptions. The death of Osama bin Laden, the attack on an island in Norway by a lone gunman, continued fighting in Libya, and protests around the globe were a few of the news events dominating the headlines. -- Lloyd Young Please see part 1 from Monday and watch for part 3 Friday. (45 photos total) A cloud of ash billowing from Puyehue volcano near Osorno in southern Chile, 870 km south of Santiago, on June 5. Puyehue volcano erupted for the first time in half a century on June 4, 2011, prompting evacuations for 3,500 people as it sent a cloud of ash that reached Argentina. The National Service of Geology and Mining said the explosion that sparked the eruption also produced a column of gas 10 kilometers (six miles) high, hours after warning of strong seismic activity in the area. (Claudio Santana/AFP/Getty Images) )

Kung Fu Photo – China Picture March 12, 2011 Photograph by Fritz Hoffmann, National Geographic This Month in Photo of the Day: National Geographic Magazine Features Boys at the Tagou school limber up before practicing a kung fu form called Chang Hu Xin Yi Men. See more photographs from the March 2011 feature story "Battle for the Soul of Kung Fu". 50 years of the Rolling Stones in 50 photographs They have rocked the world for 50 years and the Mirror’s photographers have captured all the ups and downs On Thursday July 12, 1962 six young lads took to the stage of the Marquee Club and a legend was born. They have rocked the world for 50 years and the Mirror’s photographers have captured all the ups and downs. So when the Rolling Stones decided to release a book to mark the milestone, they knew where to come to find the best images. The Rolling Stones: 50 is crammed with amazing snaps hand-picked by Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Charlie Watts and Ronnie Wood, many from our extensive archive. “This is our story of 50 fantastic years,” the rock ’n’ rollers said of the official book yesterday. “We started out as a blues band playing the clubs and more recently we’ve filled the largest stadiums in the world with the kind of show that none of us could have imagined all those years ago. “Curated by us, it features the very best photographs and ephemera from and beyond our archives.” View gallery

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The Top 50 'Pictures of the Day' for 2011 Every day at 5pm the Sifter posts the Picture of the Day. Below you will find a collection of the Sifter’s Top 50 from 2011. It’s hard to imagine the year is almost over, time seems to fly faster each successive year so it’s fun to take a moment and look back at the year that was. Click any of the pictures below to be taken to the individual post to learn more about the photographer and picture taken. Enjoy and stay sifty my friends! Time-Lapse GIFs Show Earth Transforming Over 25 Years Starting in the 1980s, Alaska’s Columbia Glacier began retreating, shrinking from 41 miles long (its originally documented length in 1794) to 36 miles long in 1995. This is what that change actually looks like from space. The images are part of the Timelapse project from Google and TIME, what Google calls “the most comprehensive picture of our changing planet ever made available to the public.” It comes from a collection of images taken between 1984 and 2012 as part of the Landsat program, a joint satellite mission between NASA and U.S. Geological Survey that has been snapping pics of Earth’s surface since the early ’70s. Google Earth sifted through more than 2 million images to find the clearest photos of every place on Earth, and created a browsable HTML5 animation for the whole world, with one image for every year since 1984. Here’s how the Amazon rainforest has changed over the last 28 years: [Google via Gizmodo]

28 Examples of Excellent Animal Photography Shots November 24th, 2009 at 1:19 pm - Animal photography is one of the most challenging and rewarding form of photography. Stalking wildlife animal to take pictures of them is quite difficult, because in any moment your subject could run or worst attack you. You need patience and time when photographing animals, especially if you are want a particular position and scene. Even as animal images can be taken using basic equipment, excellent animal photography needs special equipment, such as macro lenses for insects, underwater cameras for marine life and long focal length lenses for birds. Source Source Source Source Source Source Source Source Source Source Source Source Source Source Source Source Source Source Source Source Source Source Source Source Source Source Source Source

25 Most Beautiful Animals Photography on StumbleUpon I think the most beautiful pictures are those made in nature. Nothing compares with the expression of a tiger, the majestic flight of an eagle or the strength of a white bear. Below you can see 25 the most beautiful animal photographs that will capture your attention, and were stumbled on StumbleUpon. 25 Stunning HDR Wallpapers - StumbleUpon Credits (not in order): Trey Ratcliff, Others remain Unknown. If you are the owner or know the owner of any of theses HDR wallpapers, Please let us know. You are free to download these photos and enjoy them but you may not use them commercially. The copyright belongs to the respective photographers.

National Geographic Photo Contest 2011 - Alan Taylor - In Focus - The Atlantic - StumbleUpon National Geographic is currently holding its annual photo contest, with the deadline for submissions coming up on November 30. For the past nine weeks, the society has been gathering and presenting galleries of submissions, encouraging readers to vote for them as well. National Geographic was kind enough to let me choose among its entries from 2011 for display here on In Focus. Gathered below are 45 images from the three categories of People, Places, and Nature, with captions written by the individual photographers. [45 photos] Use j/k keys or ←/→ to navigate Choose: Many people pilgrimage to Uluru, but what is seen there often depends on where you've come from. Eruption of the Cordon del Caulle. Beluga whales in the arctic having fun. This is a streetcar in New Orleans traveling back towards The Quarter on St. This image captures almost 6 hours of climbing parties on Rainier going for the summit under starry skies. Russia, polar region of West Siberia, Tazovsky Peninsula.

Top 20 Real Pictures Made Famous by the Internet - StumbleUpon Pop Culture With the current expansion of Photoshop, it can be difficult to determine if a picture posted online is real or fake. Every year hundreds of photographs become viral on the Internet, and in most cases we have an opinion over their authenticity. This article will examine 20 real pictures that were made famous by the Internet. In most cases, the photos have caused an Internet debate over their origin. The Mwanza Flat-headed Agama (Agama mwanzae) is a lizard in the family Agamidae. Anjana is a chimpanzee that lives at TIGERS: The Institute of Greatly Endangered and Rare Species in South Carolina, U.S. A solar eclipse occurs when the Moon passes between the Earth and Sun, thereby totally or partially obscuring the image of the Sun. In 2004, a collection of strange pictures surfaced on the Internet of a deer that was discovered atop a 25 foot (7.6 m) tall communications pole. Moose up a Pole The history of the Internet is full of viral images that show giant animals.