National Geographic: Around The World in 125 Years

These stunning shots are from National Geographic’s Around The World in 125 Years – published by TASCHEN – a three-volume collection of its iconic photogr

by Cathy Adams

Nestled in British Columbia’s verdant rainforest, a “spirit bear” devours a salmon. Really a variety of black bear – a recessive gene is responsible for its white pelage – the spirit bear, or Kermode, was revered by the province’s once numerous indigenous inhabitants. Credit: Paul Nicklin, Canada, 2011.

Coming from the darkness of the Wawona Tunnel, tourists always scramble out or their cars to take in the first stupendous view of Yosemite Valley. El Capitan soars in granite majesty to the left, distant Half Dome peeks over the shoulder of a rounded ridge, and the right Bridalveil Fall tumbles in spray for 620 feet beneath Cathedral Rocks. Credit: B Anthony Stewart, California, 1965

A strange sight to encounter in a Mexican dugout canoe: two captive jaguars sprawled out, greeting the photographer with a growl. Credit: Steve Winter, Mexico, 2001

Galápagos tortoises congregate in the caldera of Isabela Island’s Alcedo Volcano, which usually harbors several thousand of the lumbering reptiles. Though such numbers are impressive, the Alcedo subspecies lacks the genetic diversity found in other Galápagos tortoises, each subspecies of which occupies its own island in the archipelago. Some scientists believe that might be the result of a catastrophic eruption on Alcedo some 100,000 years ago. Credit: Frans Lanting, Ecuador, 2008

Leaving a contrail of air bubbles in its wake, an emperor penguin rockets through the water, gaining the needed momentum to launch itself clear of a hole in the Ross Sea pack ice. The birds are famous for their spectacular leaps – one thing that helps them elude leopard seals –but only recently has it been discovered that the air bubbles act like a lubricant, cutting excess drag and improving speed. Credit: Paul Nicklen, Antarctica, 2012

Setting his tripod upon a ledge at Toroweap Overlook, photographer Michael Nichols prepares to photograph the Grand Canyon. His challenge was to depict something as iconic—or overly familiar—as the Grand Canyon in an entirely new way, to work through the clichés so that you can get to the good stuff,” he said. “It’s incredibly difficult technically, but I don’t want anybody to see the technical when they see the picture. It’s supposed to be spiritual.” Credit: John Burcham, Arizona, 2005

A walking stick on one shoulder, a hunting bow slung over the other, a Bushman watches relatives stride across the dunes near the boundary of Kalahari Gemsbok National Park. Although their ancestors have hunted in these deserts for thousands of years, the Bushmen, or San, have had to fight for continued access to this sanctuary – established in 1931 to protect migrating gemsbok and other herbivores – and to the contiguous Gemsbok National Park in Botswana as well. Credit: Chris Johns, South Africa, 1995

Baghdad’s split-domed al-Shaheed Monument, or Martyr’s Memorial, an eternal flame blazing at its heart, ostensibly commemorates the Arab victory over the Persians at al-Qādisiyyah in a.d. 637. That was the battle Saddam Hussein invoked in 1980 before invading the modern Persia, Iran. Eight years later, when he ended the Iran-Iraq War (1980–1988), the monument also came to honor the nearly half million Iraqis killed in that conflict (a million Iranian dead did not count)—all in vain, as not an inch of territory changed hands. Credit: Steve McCurry, Iraq, 1984

Perched on wooden stilts, Sinhalese men fish for spotted herring in the monsoon-lashed surf pounding Sri Lanka’s south coast. When the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami crashed over same beaches, it took the lives of 35,000 Sinhalese with it. Credit: Steve McCurry, Sri Lanka, 1995

Even ghosts and other terrifying spirits deserve an occasional respite at the annual sing-song, or tribal festival, near the village of Garong. These Asaro mud men daub themselves with river clay and don ferocious masks in imitation of those ancestors who first assumed the spine chilling disguises in order to frighten off their enemies. Credit: Jodie Cobb, New Guinea, 2000

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Published: Friday 21st February 2014

Inspiration

These stunning shots are from National Geographic’s Around The World in 125 Years – published by TASCHEN – a three-volume collection of its iconic photography from across the globe. It presents some of the magazine’s most impressive, images from nature, conservation and travel.

£349, available exclusively at taschen.com

Inspiration

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