Best of April 2019

Morning fog skims enormous sand dunes in Namibia's Naukluft National Park. Your Shot photographer Lola Biuckians captured this image from a helicopter. "An unusual occurrence in the desert, she says, "our pilot said he has not seen anything like this in his almost twenty years of flying this morning run."

In the Indian town of Shravanabelagola, a worshipper ceremoniously washes the feet of a statue of Bahubhali, which means 'One with Strong Arms,' who is a much revered figure among Jains religion. The statue is 57 feet tall and carved from a single piece of stone.

Your Shot photographer Adhi Prayoga takes up-close pictures of fish larvae in various stages of their development. "I take pictures starting on the 3rd day, when the tail starts to appear," he says.

People living near the Bruarfoss waterfalls in Iceland were so tired of tourists crowding the area that they closed it off to traffic. Now, to see the site and get a photo, you have to walk about an hour from an official parking lot. "It is a blessing really," says Your Shot photographer Kai Hornung, "as it lets you enjoy the natural beauty without being tackled by other people."

The architecture of the transportation hub in Kuala Lumpur lends the effect of an optical illusion. "The capital city of Malaysia has definitely been urbanised and the architecture has evolved since decades ago," says Your Shot photographer Raymond Tang.

"Bubble net feeding is a unique technique employed by humpback whales, in which a group of whales swim in a shrinking circle blowing bubbles below a school of fish," says Your Shot photographer Vadim Balakin, who got this aerial shot off the coast of Antarctica. "This shrinking column of bubbles surrounds the school of fish forcing them upward."

Women dressed as brides celebrate the day of St. Agatha in Sicily. "They bring with them a red flower, because it has a strong meaning: the love," says Your Shot photographer Antonella Platania.

Shortly after a snowfall, Your Shot photographer got an opportune photograph at Horsetail Falls in Yosemite National Park. "Every year for a few days in February," she says, "the sun sets at a certain angle and illuminates the waterfall in luminescent orange and red, making it look like a molten lava."

A school of barracudas circles a diver in the waters off French Polynesia. It's likely that the school is full of young fish, as barracudas become more solitary as they get older.

Night falls at Japanese style public housing in one of Tokyo's outer suburbs. "Known collectively as 'Danchi,' these old apartments typically follow a particular monotonous design and aesthetic," says Your Shot photographer Peter Stewart.`

"A parent king penguin returns from feeding at sea to be greeted by its hungry youngster, pestering for some regurgitated food," says Your Shot photographer Rosie Leaney, who captured this moment on the Falkland Islands. "King penguins are so dignified they even make regurgitation look graceful!"

"The party was finished when suddenly they tried to throw the brother of the bride into the water," says Your Shot photographer Mateo Boffano. "I took the camera out of my bag and made just 3 shots."

Patricia Lake's perfectly calm surface reflects the mountains of Jasper National Park in Alberta, Canada. The park is the largest Canadian national park in the Rockies.

"Early morning, several fishermen work together to recover a large net alongside the south central coast of Vietnam," says Your Shot photographer Olivier Apicella. "Within the next few hours all the catches fish will be sold in the local market."

A boy goes for a night swim in Charleston, West Virginia. "The only light I use at night to photograph my son is the one inside the pool," says Your Shot photographer Tessie Wallace.

After reading a promising forecast, Your Shot photographer Plamen Petkov drove 3.5 hours to get this view in Bulgaria. "I just have no words to describe what I saw. The sea was drowning and boiling," he remembers. "The waves furiously crashed into the rocks and tried to break down the lighthouse. It was hard to hold the camera while the wind was trying to knock me off."

A baby elephant enjoys a watering hole in Botswana. Don't let the perspective fool you-- baby elephants can weigh 200 pounds at birth.

"On June 6th, 2018, I watched this beautiful supercell slowly begin to die out in the Gooseberry Badlands near Grass Creek, Wyoming" says Your Shot photographer Sebastian Hobbs. "This small mothership of a storm slowly spun over these small canyons as it trailed into the distance, growing smaller and smaller in size with every passing minute, soon becoming nothing more than a small rain cloud."

A snowboarder checks equipment after being dropped off by a helicopter in Revelstoke, British Columbia. "It is amazing how heli pilots operate their machine," says Your Shot photographer C. Kahn."After a drop off, as they are off to pick up the next group, they just dive into the valley to take advantage of gravity and maximise fuel efficiency."

A woman does a backflip as part of a synchronized swimming routine. The practice occurred on a chilly evening in California, resulting in the dramatic steam above the water.

Your Shot photographer Peter Coskun and his friends got permits to camp at the Grand Canyon some sixty miles from a paved road. "As we arrived, the clouds darkened and the thunder began rumbling," he remembers. "I set up on the edge with a lightning trigger hoping to capture some strikes in the distance. When I heard the shutter click when these two bolts struck, I knew I had something special."

In Blagoevgrad, Bulgaria, people celebrate the day of St. Charalambos, protector of beekeepers. Tables in the formation of a cross are covered in jars of honey waiting to be blessed. It is thought that honey blessed during this festival becomes a powerful cure.

In Yasugi, Shimane, Japan, swans take flight in a rice paddy, where they spent the night protected. "In the morning the swans fly towards the feed station," says Your Shot photographer Masahiro Hiroike."To reproduce the dynamic scene, I took them with a slow shutter of 0.1 second."

"A perfectly circular ice disk formed in Westbrook, Maine, this winter," says Your Shot photographer Tina Radel. "This angle gives a perspective that really shows the massive size in proportion to the surrounding buildings."

Fishermen prepare extraordinary amounts of nets in the early morning in Bình Thuận, Vietnam. The area, off the coast of Vietnam, is popular for yielding shrimp, tuna, and squid.

A pair of red-crowned cranes participate in a courtship ritual in Hokkaido, Japan. It's said that the birds mate for life, and as such they serve as a symbol of luck and longevity in Japanese culture.

A great white shark breaches in the ocean. This behavior is intended to catch the shark's prey more quickly; they can easily launch themselves at speeds of 40 miles per hour.