Photo of the Day

A formation known as "Castle Iceberg" rises 100 feet in the air on Cape Evans, Antarctica, in this image from the March 1924 issue. Photographer Herbert G. Ponting was the official documentarian of Robert F. Scott's expedition from 1910-1913.

Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., delivers his “I Have a Dream” speech on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial on August 28, 1963. Today is Martin Luther King Jr. Day in the United States, a federal holiday celebrating the birthday of Dr. King.

In this photo from the December 1950 issue, monks flank the Patriarch of the Cathedral of St. James, the Armenian Church in Jerusalem. The ornate service was held on Maundy Thursday, which remembers the day Jesus Christ washed his disciples' feet the day before his crucifixion.

The February 1988 issue celebrated Australia's bicentennial. One story covered Kakadu National Park, protected land leased to the government by Aboriginal people. This photo shows cave paintings in the park thought to be 20,000 years old.

A herd of reindeer travels through a valley in Siberia. This photo originally appeared in the August 1977 issue, in which photographer Dean Conger wrote about his career documenting the Soviet Union.

In Isfahan, Iran, a betrothed couple—and their chaperone—relax on a bridge. This photo originally appeared in the July 1999 issue, documenting Iran under President Mohammad Khatami, who advocated for a more open society.

An oak tree stands tall in Delaware Park, Buffalo, New York. The March 2005 issue featured a story about famed urban park designer Frederick Law Olmsted.

The air is 20 degrees below zero, but an overflowing thermal spring near Gardiner, Montana, makes this portion of the Yellowstone River a delightful place for a winter dip.

A monk hoists prayer flags during Losar, the Tibetan New Year, in Lhasa, Tibet. During the 15-day celebration, observers participate in a series of rituals to set the course for the year ahead.

A cattle farmer closes the barn door after tending to his herd in a snowstorm in McGregor, North Dakota. This particular blizzard in January 1985 saw windchills as cold as 80 degrees below zero Fahrenheit.

While this scene of a hostess checking a nightclub-goer's temperature in Singapore seems eerily familiar now, it first appeared in a January 2010 story about the swine flu epidemic.

In Svalbard, Norway, a polar bear roams the ice hunting for bearded seals. The polar bear's metabolism requires a large amount of fat, so the bear will often consume more than four pounds of seal fat a day.

In this picture from the March 1966 issue, a woman lights a candle in a Russian Orthodox church in Moscow. At the time, atheism was state-mandated, and membership to a religious organisation could disqualify you from jobs.

Women walk through the snow to St. Basil's Cathedral in Moscow, Russia. One of the most iconic symbols of Russia, construction for the cathedral began in 1555 under Ivan the Terrible.

Photographer Des Bartlett photographs snow and blue geese from the back of a station wagon in the Arizona desert. For the December 1973 issue, Bartlett and his wife Jen studied geese as they flew from the Canadian subarctic to the Gulf of Mexico.

In this picture from the September 1949 issue, visually impaired boys at the Minnesota Braille and Sight Saving School arrange a toy farm in an exercise to improve their sense of touch.

Steaming volcanic rock in the South Sandwich Islands sets the dramatic background for a 65-foot yacht by the name Golden Fleece. The islands are so remote that it took this crew six days to reach them after leaving the southernmost tip of South America.

Mongolian children play chess in this image from the March 1962 issue. Red patches on their sleeves indicate the children's affiliation with the Young Pioneers, an organisation run by the Communist Party.

In Laos, the new year is celebrated in mid-April. In this photo from the April 2010 special issue on water, a woman sets a fiery offering on the Mekong River, known to Laotians as "the mother of waters."