A tumblr dedicated to the beautiful images from the National Geographic. Personal blog: www.goldensunshowers.tumblr.comTumblr (3.0; @ourinfinteiridescence)http://ourinfinteiridescence.tumblr.com/<img src="http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m6dfzpYpUg1rzmstho1_500.jpg"/><br/><br/><p class="credit">Photograph by Rémi Bénali, Lightmediation</p> <p><strong>January 2008</strong></p> <p><strong>Azerbaijan</strong>—The carcass of an abandoned amusement park ride is a diving platform for teens on a Caspian Sea beach near Baku. Despite the nation’s oil and gas boom, almost half of Azerbaijanis live in poverty.</p>http://ourinfinteiridescence.tumblr.com/post/26133023068http://ourinfinteiridescence.tumblr.com/post/26133023068Fri, 29 Jun 2012 19:07:01 +1000photographyazerbaijangoldensunshowers<img src="http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m6dfyu6hXn1rzmstho1_500.jpg"/><br/><br/><p class="credit">Photograph by Tomas Munita, AP Images</p> <p><strong>February 2008</strong></p> <p><strong>Afghanistan</strong>—Good luck and centripetal force help driver Mohammed Jawed keep circling the shuddering wood-plank <em>Wall of Death</em> during his traveling stunt show’s stop in Kabul.</p>http://ourinfinteiridescence.tumblr.com/post/26133011556http://ourinfinteiridescence.tumblr.com/post/26133011556Fri, 29 Jun 2012 19:06:29 +1000kabulculturephotographygoldensunshowers<img src="http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m6dfxtt0Br1rzmstho1_500.jpg"/><br/><br/><p class="credit">Photograph by Viktor Sykora, Charles University, Prague</p> <p><strong>January 2008</strong></p> <p><strong>Czech Republic</strong>—It takes a microscope to make a handful of carrot seeds look like a swarm of bristling space invaders. There are about 450,000 of these <em>Daucus carota</em> seeds in a single pound.</p>http://ourinfinteiridescence.tumblr.com/post/26132997676http://ourinfinteiridescence.tumblr.com/post/26132997676Fri, 29 Jun 2012 19:05:53 +1000carrotmicroscopesciencenational geographicgoldensunshowers<img src="http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m6dfwmz0nt1rzmstho1_500.jpg"/><br/><br/><p class="credit">Photograph by Annie Griffiths Belt, National Geographic Image Collection</p> <p><strong>February 2008</strong></p> <p><strong>Zambia</strong>—The 355-foot (108 meter) drop of Victoria Falls just inches away, a swimmer stands at the lip of a hidden pool—an eight-foot-deep (2 meter) divot in the riverbed rock—accessible only when the Zambezi River runs low.</p>http://ourinfinteiridescence.tumblr.com/post/26132982332http://ourinfinteiridescence.tumblr.com/post/26132982332Fri, 29 Jun 2012 19:05:10 +1000africawaterfalllandscapephotographygoldensunshowers<img src="http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m6dfvce18S1rzmstho1_500.jpg"/><br/><br/><p class="credit">Photograph by Magnus Elander</p> <p><strong>February 2008</strong></p> <p><strong>Sweden</strong>—The facial disk of feathers circling this great gray owl’s eyes channel forest-floor sounds back to its ears, helping the bird pounce on a vole and carry it away.</p>http://ourinfinteiridescence.tumblr.com/post/26132965317http://ourinfinteiridescence.tumblr.com/post/26132965317Fri, 29 Jun 2012 19:04:24 +1000owlhuntnaturephotographygoldensunshowers<img src="http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m6dfu96DqR1rzmstho1_500.jpg"/><br/><br/><p class="credit">Photograph by K. C. Alfred, <em>San Diego Union-Tribune</em>/Zuma Press</p> <p><strong>March 2008</strong></p> <p><strong>California</strong>—As his mother scatters his ashes from a lifeguard boat, friends of Emery Kauanui, Jr., gather in a memorial paddle-out off La Jolla’s Windansea Beach on June 9, 2007. The pro surfer, 24, died the previous month.</p>http://ourinfinteiridescence.tumblr.com/post/26132950489http://ourinfinteiridescence.tumblr.com/post/26132950489Fri, 29 Jun 2012 19:03:45 +1000national geographicfuneralphotographygoldensunshowers<img src="http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m6dfsxOiSr1rzmstho1_500.jpg"/><br/><br/><p class="credit">Photograph by Christine and Michel Denis-Huot</p> <p><strong>March 2008</strong></p> <p><strong>Kenya</strong>—Hungry lions in a Masai Mara pride leave little of a wildebeest. “The animals were so involved eating that I was able to drive very close and take a picture standing on my car’s roof,” says photographer Michel Denis-Huot.</p>http://ourinfinteiridescence.tumblr.com/post/26132932732http://ourinfinteiridescence.tumblr.com/post/26132932732Fri, 29 Jun 2012 19:02:57 +1000kenyaafricalionsnaturegoldensunshowers<img src="http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m6dfrqjaje1rzmstho1_500.jpg"/><br/><br/><p class="credit">Photograph by Sol Neelman</p> <p><strong>April 2008</strong></p> <p><strong>United States</strong>—A red-clay spray showers spectators at the mud-pit belly flop, highlight of the annual Summer Redneck Games in East Dublin, Georgia. Other events include a hubcap-discus throw and bobbing for pigs’ feet.</p>http://ourinfinteiridescence.tumblr.com/post/26132917196http://ourinfinteiridescence.tumblr.com/post/26132917196Fri, 29 Jun 2012 19:02:13 +1000gamesusarednecknational geographicphotographygoldensunshowers<img src="http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m6dfptoxiD1rzmstho1_500.jpg"/><br/><br/><p class="credit">Photograph by Heidi and Hans-Jürgen Koch</p> <p><strong>April 2008</strong></p> <p><strong>Germany</strong>—The see-through skin of an inch-long glass frog reveals her eggs. Native to Venezuela, the frogs lay eggs in bushes and trees overhanging streams. Tadpoles hatch, then tumble into the current to be swept away.</p>http://ourinfinteiridescence.tumblr.com/post/26132887981http://ourinfinteiridescence.tumblr.com/post/26132887981Fri, 29 Jun 2012 19:01:04 +1000photographyamazingnaturefroggoldensunshowers<img src="http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m6dfou1eVf1rzmstho1_500.jpg"/><br/><br/><p class="credit">Photograph by John B. Weller</p> <p><strong>April 2008</strong></p> <p><strong>Antarctica</strong>—Not far from its Franklin Island colony, a lone Adélie punctuates the looping scrawl of penguin tracks across plates of Ross Sea pack ice. Some 2.7 million of the birds populate the Ross Sea region.</p>http://ourinfinteiridescence.tumblr.com/post/26132873917http://ourinfinteiridescence.tumblr.com/post/26132873917Fri, 29 Jun 2012 19:00:30 +1000photographynational geographicantarcticagoldensunshowers<img src="http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m6dfnqNzjv1rzmstho1_500.jpg"/><br/><br/><p class="credit">Photograph by George Steinmetz</p> <p><strong>May 2008</strong></p> <p><strong>Xinjiang</strong>—A column of dunes could provide geologic data for sand-sampling scientists, whose trucks scratch tracks across the wind-scoured Kumtag Desert.</p>http://ourinfinteiridescence.tumblr.com/post/26132858684http://ourinfinteiridescence.tumblr.com/post/26132858684Fri, 29 Jun 2012 18:59:49 +1000chinadesertphotographylandscapegoldensunshowers<img src="http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m6dflj6W4c1rzmstho1_500.jpg"/><br/><br/><p class="credit">Photograph by George Steinmetz</p> <p><strong>May 2008</strong></p> <p><strong>Yunnan</strong>—Blooming rapeseed plants weave around hills near Luoping. China grows more of the crop—some 14 million tons in 2006—than any other country; officials hope a biodiesel boom will increase demand even more.</p>http://ourinfinteiridescence.tumblr.com/post/26132829436http://ourinfinteiridescence.tumblr.com/post/26132829436Fri, 29 Jun 2012 18:58:31 +1000yunanchinalandscapephotographynational geographicgoldensunshowers<img src="http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m6dfkuYA0x1rzmstho1_500.jpg"/><br/><br/><p class="credit">Photograph by Penny de los Santos</p> <p><strong>June 2008</strong></p> <p><strong>Weslaco, Texas</strong>—Ruffled, tiaraed, and manicured, twins Vanessa and Veronica Del Toro wait to leave for their <em>quinceañera</em> reception—the 15th-birthday party that, in Latino culture, marks their coming of age.</p>http://ourinfinteiridescence.tumblr.com/post/26132820550http://ourinfinteiridescence.tumblr.com/post/26132820550Fri, 29 Jun 2012 18:58:06 +1000texasculturehispanicgoldensunshowers<img src="http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m6dfjwlD2q1rzmstho1_500.jpg"/><br/><br/><p class="credit">Photograph by Paul Nicklen, National Geographic Image Collection</p> <p><strong>June 2008</strong></p> <p><strong>Arctic Ocean</strong>—The 22-ton stainless steel propellers on the icebreaker <em>Louis S. St-Laurent</em> pause in their work pushing the Canadian vessel through frozen waters—allowing a diver to venture near.</p>http://ourinfinteiridescence.tumblr.com/post/26132807675http://ourinfinteiridescence.tumblr.com/post/26132807675Fri, 29 Jun 2012 18:57:31 +1000wrecksicebreakershipsphotographygoldensunshowers<img src="http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m6dfitRiwl1rzmstho1_500.jpg"/><br/><br/><p class="credit">Photograph by Vincent Laforet</p> <p><strong>June 2008</strong></p> <p><strong>New York City</strong>—Secret prize on the urban game board, a miniature garden brightens a Rockefeller Center rooftop seven stories above midtown traffic. Four gardeners labor eight hours a week to keep its lawn and hedges trim.</p>http://ourinfinteiridescence.tumblr.com/post/26132792542http://ourinfinteiridescence.tumblr.com/post/26132792542Fri, 29 Jun 2012 18:56:53 +1000nycurbanphotographygoldensunshowers<img src="http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m6dfhgQOoG1rzmstho1_500.jpg"/><br/><br/><p class="credit">Photograph by Magnus Lundgren</p> <p><strong>July 2008</strong></p> <p><strong>Gulf of Aqaba</strong>—Surrounded by thousands of golden sweepers, photographer Magnus Lundgren spun his camera to capture this shifting school off Elat, Israel. After 200 tries he got it: a whirlpool of four-inch fish.</p>http://ourinfinteiridescence.tumblr.com/post/26132774046http://ourinfinteiridescence.tumblr.com/post/26132774046Fri, 29 Jun 2012 18:56:04 +1000fishseaphotographynational geographicgoldensunshowers<img src="http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m6dfgjMxkc1rzmstho1_500.jpg"/><br/><br/><p class="credit">Photograph by Franck Fife, AFP/Getty Images</p> <p><strong>July 2008</strong></p> <p><strong>Qatar</strong>—Tour of Qatar cyclists sprint in a quick burst of color past a pipe storage yard outside Umm Said. The flat desert terrain makes for an easy ride, but headwinds can be punishing.</p>http://ourinfinteiridescence.tumblr.com/post/26132760771http://ourinfinteiridescence.tumblr.com/post/26132760771Fri, 29 Jun 2012 18:55:30 +1000national geographicqatarphotographygoldensunshowers<img src="http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m6dfflhYhT1rzmstho1_500.jpg"/><br/><br/><p class="credit">Photograph by Yukihiro Fukuda</p> <p><strong>July 2008</strong></p> <p><strong>Shodo Shima, Japan</strong>—Huddled for warmth, macaques press their bodies into a vast ball of fur. The monkeys’ relaxed social hierarchy allows high- and low-ranking individuals to share the same tight space.</p>http://ourinfinteiridescence.tumblr.com/post/26132747559http://ourinfinteiridescence.tumblr.com/post/26132747559Fri, 29 Jun 2012 18:54:57 +1000naturephotographyjapangoldensunshowers<img src="http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m6dfeogiNh1rzmstho1_500.jpg"/><br/><br/><p class="credit">Photograph by Abid Katib, Getty Images</p> <p><strong>August 2008</strong></p> <p><strong>Gaza City</strong>—Missing her claws, a few teeth, and the tip of her tail, a lion stolen as a cub from the Gaza Zoo is returned—two years later—in an SUV. Hamas police provide armed escort.</p>http://ourinfinteiridescence.tumblr.com/post/26132735153http://ourinfinteiridescence.tumblr.com/post/26132735153Fri, 29 Jun 2012 18:54:23 +1000gazaphotographygoldensunshowers<img src="http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m6dfd6EU1x1rzmstho1_500.jpg"/><br/><br/><p class="credit">Photograph by Palani Mohan, Reportage by Getty Images</p> <p><strong>August 2008</strong></p> <p><strong>India</strong>—Decorated in pink powder, a bull dives through a crowd of men who hope to hang on to the animal long enough to win a prize. The sport,<em>jallikattu,</em> is part of harvest celebrations in the Tamil Nadu town of Alanganallur.</p>http://ourinfinteiridescence.tumblr.com/post/26132714736http://ourinfinteiridescence.tumblr.com/post/26132714736Fri, 29 Jun 2012 18:53:29 +1000indiaculturecelebrationsgoldensunshowers