Photo of the Day: March 2021
Mahouts pose with their elephants in the Mahaweli River in Sri Lanka—known as Ceylon when this picture was published in March 1921. To work as a mahout—a caretaker and trainer of elephants—is often a family tradition, but in recent years the practice has been met with controversy.
A widow in Bangladesh stands in her family's home, which she paid for with money from a special bank for the poor. Her story was told in the October 1998 issue, and explained that the loan allowed her the freedom to start a business to provide for her family—without resorting to another marriage.
Women take a break from their work at a salmon-canning factory in Poronaysk, Sakhalin Island, Russia. The July 1990 issue told the story of salmon, from catch to can.
A scholar peeks through the doors of a college at Oxford University. The January 1999 issue told the story of Lawrence of Arabia, who walked a thousand miles through Syria and Palestine in 1909 to study castles built by crusaders, as part of his honours thesis.
A starry night gleams above Owachomo Bridge in Natural Bridges National Monument, Utah. At its crest, Owachomo Bridge is only nine feet thick, meaning it could potentially collapse in the not-so-distant future.
A grandmother plays with her grandchildren in a dera in Kolkata, India. Behind her are extra wheels for repairing rickshaws, a mode of transportation fading from practice.
U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower places a Medal of Honour on the coffin of an unknown soldier during a ceremony on May 30, 1958, at Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia. Two unknown soldiers were honoured and buried that day—one from World War II and one from the Korean War. They represent all those who died in combat but could not be identified.
Sisters play in a river after church in Grantsville, Maryland. The March 1998 story followed the path of the United States' first highway.
A man serenades his neighbours in the town of Juazeiro do Norte in northeastern Brazil. When this picture was published in March 1987, the impoverished area had a per capita income of half the national average.
In northern Kenya, Gabra women spend five hours a day hauling water in heavy jerry cans. The entire April 2010 issue was dedicated to water, with this specific story focusing on what women could achieve in their communities if they had easy and immediate access to water.
A November 2008 story looked at the destruction of Borneo's forests for the palm oil industry. This photo shows some of the lush greenery under threat, with liana vines growing up and around trees that are more than 150 feet tall.
At the 2008 Iowa State Fair, 8,400 fairgoers made history when they participated in the first Corn Dog Chomp—setting the Guinness World Record for the most people simultaneously eating corn dogs.
Tangled strands of the Rapa River flow below the slopes of Sarek National Park, one of six reserves that make up Sweden's Laponian Area World Heritage site.
An October 2007 story examined the industry of biofuels. This photo shows bags of algae hanging outside of a power plant near Phoenix, Arizona. At the time, researchers planned for the green scum, fed by power plant exhaust, to soak up carbon dioxide while cranking out thousands of gallons of biodiesel each year.
The September 1974 issue featured a profile on Boston, including this festive photograph of a St. Patrick's Day parade.
A captive panda enjoys some bamboo in the afternoon sun at the Wolong Nature Reserve in China. Giant pandas are endangered, and a Chinese national program raises captive-born pandas that will one day be released into nature reserves and other protected areas.
In this picture from the February 1984 issue, the Royal Jordanian Falcons perform an air show above Wadi Rum. Pilots for the Falcons are all members of the Royal Jordanian Air Force, and compete for four-year postings on the team.
Quartzsite, Arizona, is a hot spot for RVers in the winter, welcoming some 1.5 million every year. The camp is full of vendors, like this baked-potato-and-pies stand.
The cover story of the June 2014 issue was "The Dogs of War," detailing combat canines and their handlers in the U.S. Armed Forces. In this photo, a Belgian Malinois named Dino and his handler practice how to carry a wounded dog.
In this photo from the February 1984 issue, workers tend to cucumbers in a plastic hothouse in the Jordan River Valley. At the time, the valley—only 10 percent of the nation's cultivated land—was producing 75 percent of the nation's crops.
In this image from 1909, two women chat at a market in La Paz, Bolivia. Writer and photographer Harriet Chalmers Adams wrote in the accompanying story, "If La Paz is a peacock, the market place is its tail."
A story in the July 2006 issue celebrated different forms of dance. Here, members of the Alayo Dance Company in San Francisco perform "A Piece of White Cloth," which combines modern, Cuban, and African styles.
The moon, lit by the coming sunrise, reflects in the icy waters around Antarctica. The continent is the coldest, windiest, driest, and darkest place on Earth.
Doves, lions, and elephants compete for space at a watering hole during the dry season in Chobe National Park, Botswana. Normally, elephants would avoid such proximity to lions, but as the March 2000 story stated, "water is more vital than caution."
Whilst waiting for opening time, a man reads a newspaper on the front stoop of a barbershop in Steelton, Pennsylvania.
A man sits in front of the Great Sphinx in Giza, Egypt. This photograph in the March 1921 issue accompanied Sir Ross Smith's first-person narrative of travelling "from London to Australia by aeroplane."
