Photo Of The Day

In this June 18, 2011 photo, a farmer's pig rests in a puddle on main street near the train station in central Namie, Japan less then six miles from the crippled nuclear reactor. Farmers across the area had to hastily leave their homes and were unable to evacuate livestock, or return to the irradiated zone to care for them. (AP Photographer David Guttenfelder on assignment for National Geographic Magazine)

“I remember clearly that it was about 5 p.m. on November 25. I was just finishing an assignment photographing retired military soldiers bidding farewell to their comrades at the train station. On my way out, I heard someone yelling from a corner and soon after lots of people gathered around. I ran towards the sound and made my way to the front of the crowd, only to find an old man dead on the bench. As I raised my camera, a Buddhist monk walked out of the crowd and went directly towards the dead man. The monk bent down to hold the old man’s hand and started to chant scriptures. I began to take pictures immediately. One minute later, police came over and cordoned off the area. After the monk finished the ceremony, he bowed to the old man and quickly disappeared among the other busy passengers.”

Nikon D3, lens 52mm, f3.5, 1/160, ISO 4000

Caption: A monk prays for a dead man in the station hall of the Shanxi Taiyuan Train Station in Shanxi, November 25, 2011. A monk who was waiting for the train performed a religious ceremony for the man, who was found dead, Xinhua News Agency reported. Picture taken November 25, 2011. REUTERS/Asianewsphoto

“After the intersection of the first 35.41 mile long tube of the Gotthard Base Tunnel on October 15, 2010 the final break-through in the second parallel single track tunnel took place on March 23 this year. More than twenty years of planning and construction work at the world’s longest railway tunnel crossing the Swiss Alps took a crucial hurdle.

Together with miners and a group of journalists I was shuttled from the Alptransit construction camp in the southern Swiss town of Faido by bus through a side access tunnel to the station of a mining railroad deep in the mountains. It took us 45 minutes by train to reach the venue of the intersection ceremony underneath the St. Gotthard massif.

A sound and light show accompanied the noise and heavy vibrations of the giant 4,500 horsepower strong boring machine ‘Heidi’, with a diameter of nine yards, on its way through the last meters of granite. As the machine had finished its job a miner climbed over the fallen rocks to welcome his colleagues from the other side of the intersection.”

Canon EOS 1D Mark IV, lens 24-70mm at 40mm, f6.3, 1/250sec, ISO 2500

Caption: A miner climbs on excavated rocks after a giant drill machine broke through at the final section Sedrun-Faido, at the construction site of the NEAT Gotthard Base Tunnel March 23, 2011. Crossing the Alps, the world's longest train tunnel should become operational at the end of 2016. The project consists of two parallel single track tunnels, each of a length of 57 km (35 miles). REUTERS/Arnd Wiegmann

“After days of excitement and lots of rare pictures in the provinces, I came back to Pyongyang without big plans for shooting in the capital. All I wanted were some moody general views of the city. This is probably the easiest big picture I shot for a long time - it was taken from the window of my hotel room in Pyongyang early morning, just before the sunrise. I knew that portrait was there and I insisted with our hosts to get a room on a very high floor facing that direction. So, all I had to do is to wake up early in the morning, make a coffee, light a cigarette and make sure I exposed well. The scene has this eerie look for maybe 5 to 10 minutes, then the revolutionary songs and propaganda speeches from loudspeakers wake the city up.”

Canon 5D Mark II, lens 70-200mm, f4, 1/60, ISO 800

Caption: A picture of North Korea's founder Kim Il-sung decorates a building in the capital Pyongyang early October 5, 2011. REUTERS/Damir Sagolj

“When the tsunami hit Japan, I was on vacation in my hometown of Bariloche, in Patagonia, literally on the other side of the planet. A few days later, I began my 36-hour journey back to Shanghai, where I’m based, and I arrived in Japan a week after the tsunami. One day, during a reporting trip to a coastal town, I saw a white pole sticking out of the water next to a white form near the surface. I asked my colleagues to stop for a while. After a closer look, I realized it was a vehicle completely submerged and I wondered if someone had marked the spot with the white stick. I climbed a tree to get a better view, and I saw two ducks swimming towards the spot. I shot a couple of pictures and paused. It seemed to me I had been waiting for something living to cross the frame, which made the picture a sad one for me.”

Canon Mark II, lens 135mm, f2, 1/320

Caption: Ducks swim past a submerged vehicle after the earthquake and tsunami in Yamada town, Iwate Prefecture in northern Japan, March 24, 2011. REUTERS/Carlos Barria

For those of you who missed this on Wired. Very cool

http://www.wired.com/rawfile/2012/01/famous-photogs-pose-with-their-most-iconic-images/

I enjoyed that immensely. Thanks for posting.

+1 indeed

This is from my recent trip to Thailand where I was commissioned to photograph Asian Elephants, centering around those at Boon Lott's Elephant Sanctuary in Baan Tuek. This beautiful elephant looks on as her mahout cuddles baby Noah. She had recently lost her calf who was struck by lightening. - Traer Scott

just unreal!

Not so much; that could easily be just 6-8 inches of snowfall coupled with high winds. I remember going to my cousin's place in the country when I was a kid and seeing that a tunnel had been dug through a drift so that they could drive into and out of their garage.

Just coz.

garage envy

I like workshop/garage photos. Make me want my own work space even more.

You have to wonder what kind of desperation leads a BMW to seek refuge in a scooter shop.

Scalped by a Leopard.

fffffffffffffffffffuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuccccccccccccccccccccccccck

This thread gives. Nice bike related touch.

That photo needs some context. Anything to read about it?

Image is clickable or

http://www.theatlantic.com/infocus/2012/01/animals-in-the-news/100225/

I can haz scalp?

Mmmm the aftermath photo is a little gruesome, possibly too gruesome to imbed the photo (not sure what the etiquette is) so here's the linky... http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/slideshow/ALeqM5jbJl6MyXwAl93A2R_P3uQC3VhTEA?docId=CNG.9dc247f2b90b418e41bb42471f7a4695.591&index=1
ouch.

Oh Lord. Like telling people not to look down.

Yes, sorry about that.