Photographer Page

George Steinmetz

Elephants wade through grass near a lake in Kenya’s Amboseli National Park, leaving trails in their wake. This photograph, which appeared in the magazine in September 2005, was taken after a worldwide ban on ivory trade had boosted Kenya’s elephant numbers.

Elephants kick up ash from a wildfire in South Sudan’s Sudd wetland in a previously unpublished image taken in 2012. Pastoralists often set these fires, adding the threat of habitat loss to the ever present risk of ivory poaching.

Villagers gather brackish drinking water from shallow wells within a hundred yards of the ocean on Pate Island, in the Lamu archipelago, Kenya. Freshwater is a limited resource for the rapidly growing population. A desalination plant, which began operation in 2018, has brought welcome, if pricey, relief.

The 992-feet-high Kingdom Centre reflects its city: Riyadh, capital of Saudi Arabia, a kingdom built on abundant cheap oil. The tallest skyscraper in the country when it was completed in 2002, it's now fifth on the list.

The Uro people of Peru’s Lake Titicaca have rooted their communities overtime, gradually connecting their reed boathouses and bringing in soil from the mainland to build strings of arable islands.

Pools of evaporating salt water produce slurries of different colors in Niger.

Workers harvest celery from a farm in California's Salinas Valley. The region is famous for agriculture.

A large colony of Cape fur seals covers a beach near Cape Fria, Namibia. The seals are hunted en masse in Namibia for their oil and fur.

On the rear wall of the temple dedicated to the goddess Hathor, in Dendera, Cleopatra VII had herself depicted as a queen, alongside Caesarion, the son she had with Julius Caesar.

A couple enjoy afternoon tea at a luxury hotel in Shanghai with a view of the new financial district. As the Chinese become wealthier, their tastes are becoming more Western. The country is consuming more meat, dairy, and processed foods.