31 serene photos from the Nat Geo archives that will bring you peace of mind
Published 8 Feb 2022, 13:58 GMT
The December 2012 issue contained the story of two men setting out to document all 39 species of birds of paradise. It took 9 years, 18 expeditions, and 39,000 photographs, but they did it. Pictured here is a greater bird of paradise performing a courtship display on a treetop on Wokam Island, south of New Guinea.
Hungarians relax in the waters of the Széchenyi baths in Budapest. The city is home to more than a dozen thermal spas, and Széchenyi welcomes more than a million visitors each year.
Photograph by Ami Vitale, Nat Geo Image CollectionMen dive into a swimming hole at the top of Victoria Falls in Zambia. The 8-foot pool is only accessible when the river runs low. Just a few feet away, the falls plummet 355 feet.
Photograph by Annie Griffiths, Nat Geo Image CollectionWildlife artist Keith Shackleton steers a boat around Elephant Island, Antarctica. The island was famously a temporary home to Keith's distant relative, explorer Sir Ernest Shackleton, after his ship was crushed by ice in 1916.
Photograph by Des & Jen Bartlett, Nat Geo Image CollectionA couple in Sevastopol, Crimea, shares a kiss at a party celebrating their 50th wedding anniversary. A story in the September 1994 issue documented the culture and tension of the Crimean peninsula, which is claimed by both Ukraine and Russia.
Photograph by Ed Kashi, Nat Geo Image CollectionA story in the July 2013 issue documented the rich hay meadows in Romania. Here, women fold laundry in front of giant stacks of alfalfa.
Photograph by Rena Effendi, Nat Geo Image CollectionA Sami herder kneels and sings to his reindeer to prevent them from spooking. A story in the November 2011 issue came out of photographer Erika Larsen spending 3 years with Sami people.
Photograph by Erika Larsen, Nat Geo Image CollectionA new convert to Christianity is baptized in a river on the island of Saint Vincent in the West Indies. This photo appeared in the September 1979 issue, in a story about Saint Vincent, Grenada, and the Grenadines after political turmoil and a volcanic eruption.
Photograph by Cotton Coulson, Nat Geo Image CollectionDestiny Buck, of the Wanapum tribe, rides her mare, Daisy, in the yearly Indian princess competition in Pendleton, Oregon. A March 2014 story documented the enduring relationship between Native Americans and horses.
Photograph by Erika Larsen, Nat Geo Image CollectionSisters sweep out sludge from a watering trough on their family sheep farm in Ivanhoe, New South Wales, Australia. This photo appeared in an April 2009 issue about an extreme drought, known as the Millennium drought, that affected Australia for about 15 years.
Photograph by Amy Toensing, Nat Geo Image CollectionA tour boat passes a boy and his horse swimming in the Nile River. This photo originally appeared in a May 1993 story about the critical importance of water in the Middle East.
Photograph by Ed Kashi, Nat Geo Image CollectionAn August 1962 story illustrated life on Cape Cod, Massachusetts. Here, school children learn about a deep-sea thermometer while on a boat in Nantucket Sound.
Photograph by Dean Conger, Nat Geo Image CollectionIn Antarctica, a gentoo penguin chick receives a meal of regurgitated krill and small fish from a parent penguin. Gentoo penguins choose nesting sites inland, away from ice.
Photograph by María Stenzel, Nat Geo Image CollectionIn this photo from 1935, National Geographic's first chief of the Cartographic Division, Albert H. Bumstead (standing), checks details on an atlas while other staff members operate a photo-typesetter that Bumstead invented. The Cartographic Division has innovated mapmaking for more than a century.
Photograph by Willard Culver, Nat Geo Image CollectionA Franciscan priest gazes at the tomb of Christ in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem. Christians believe this is where Jesus was buried after his crucifixion, before resurrecting from the dead.
Photograph by Lynn Johnson, Nat Geo Image CollectionA boab tree stands solitary in the bush near Wyndham, Australia. The tree is a close relative of Madagascar's baobab, and scientists believe baobab fruit maybe have floated its way to Australia's northwest coast some 75 million years ago.
Photograph by Sam Abell, Nat Geo Image CollectionChildren play on a hill overlooking Nazareth, Israel. A story called "Where Jesus Walked" ran in the December 1967 issue, showing places Jesus lived and traveled to, as mentioned in the Bible. Nazareth is the city where Jesus spent his childhood.
Photograph by Thomas Nebbia, Nat Geo Image CollectionIn India's Golden Temple of Amritsar, a Sikh reads a copy of the Guru Granth Sahib. The holy text contains prayers, wisdom from Sikh gurus, and writings of Hindu and Muslim saints.
Photograph by James P. Blair, Nat Geo Image CollectionA story in the May 2009 issue documented the worldwide phenomenon of green roofs, demonstrated here by a roof in New York City. Green roofs absorb rainfall, reduce runoff, and lower summer temperatures on the roof.
Photograph by Diane Cook and Len Jenshel, Nat Geo Image CollectionA novice shaman makes an offering of milk to the spirits at her initiation in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia. This picture originally appeared in a December 2012 story called "Masters of Ecstasy," about the increasing number of shamans in northeast Asia.
Photograph by Carolyn Drake, Nat Geo Image CollectionNuns ice skate on a rink overlooking Quebec City, with the foothills of the Laurentian Mountains in the distance. This photo appeared in a May 1967 story about the St. Lawrence River, as a part of a series of stories marking the centennial of Canada.
Photograph by John Launois, Nat Geo Image CollectionIn this picture from the December 1994 issue, people gaze out at the Manhattan skyline at sunrise while on the Staten Island ferry. The picture accompanied a story about the legacy of poet Walt Whitman.
Photograph by María Stenzel, Nat Geo Image CollectionSix-year-olds practice ski jumps on a slope in Lac-Beauport, Quebec, Canada. This picture appeared in the January 1958 issue, in a story about winter festivities in Quebec.
Photograph by Kathleen Revis, Nat Geo Image CollectionIn this picture from the January 1969 issue, a pharmacy student at Oregon State University gets hands-on learning at a model drug store at the university. The wide-ranging story covered the state of Oregon, with its diverse cities and stunning landscapes.
Photograph by Bates Littlehales, Nat Geo Image CollectionStanding on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial during the 1963 March on Washington, Dr. Martin Luther King holds his "I Have A Dream" speech while talking with a volunteer security guard who wears a Gandhi cap, a symbol of nonviolent resistance to segregation. Photographer James P. Blair took the day off of work from National Geographic to document the event on his own. His photos of the day, including this one, have rarely been published.
Photograph by James P. Blair, Nat Geo Image CollectionTo celebrate the Feast of the Epiphany, a Russian Orthodox man emerges from priest-blessed, frigid water through a cross-shaped hole in the ice—a ritual believed to protect the faithful from evil. This photo originally appeared in an April 2009 story documenting the growth of the Russian Orthodox church.
Kids play on a homemade swing at a 4,000 acre ranch in Pony Springs, Nevada. The ranch is home to members of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, a polygamous sect that was the subject of a story in the February 2010 issue.
Photograph by Stéphanie Sinclair, Nat Geo Image CollectionDebate over Scotland's wild lands was the subject of a May 2017 story called, "Whose Moors Are They?" Here, the man in charge of managing the deer population at Reraig Forest feeds stags to spur antler growth.
Photograph by Jim Richardson, Nat Geo Image CollectionTourists visit a scenic overlook called Oedolgae Rock on Jeju Island, South Korea. This picture originally appeared in a September 1975 story profiling South Korea and its response to external conflicts and internal pressures.
Photograph by H. Edward Kim, Nat Geo Image CollectionIchthyologist Eugenie Clark scuba dives in the Red Sea, looking for bioluminescent fish nicknamed "flashlight fish." Clark authored the November 1978 story this photo appeared in—one of a dozen articles she wrote to educate the public on underwater worlds.
Photograph by David Doubilet, Nat Geo Image CollectionIn this picture from the November 1992 issue, a pair of Southern American bald eaglets await food at the George Miksch Sutton Avian Research Center in Bartlesville, Oklahoma. Thanks in part to the work done by the center, bald eagles went from being an endangered species to one of "least concern" in the early 2000s.
Photograph by Joël Sartore, Nat Geo Image Collection