Alan Taylor

A pair of images of the same person - an armed bodyguard wearing uniquely modded protective gear, including a row of spikes across his helmet and shoulders, radios attached to his helmet, two pairs of sunglasses, four flashlights, a gas mask, machete, and a rope hanging from his vest, and much more.

Remember that amazing Malawian bodyguard from 2019? He's still around, and has further accessorized. New: two helmet walkie-talkies, & other bedazzlement - and on the body armor: handcuffs, a machete, a rope, & added armor plating. (2019: Amos Gumulira / AFP / Getty - 2025: Eldson Chagara / Reuters)

Roseate spoonbills will splash their wings through the water as part of their beauty routine. Here's one doing so mid-splash, facing straight ahead towards the camera. I really love this shot. #birds

A competitive kayaker, seen during a race, with water flowing across their face and body. (Darrian Traynor / Getty)

A group of costumed people carrying torches march in a parade procession. (Samuel De Roman / Anadolu / Getty)

Tourist ride on a raft through a forest with evenly-planted rows of trees. (CFoto / Future Publishing / Getty)

A young soccer fan wearing a blue-white-and-red wig makes a face at the camera. (Matias Delacroix / AP)

Photos of the Week: Polar Bears, Sports Fans, Water Forest - 28 images from the past sevendays, including a golfing cholita in Bolivia, a 90-minute “space out” competition in Japan, a wildfire in Namibia, soapbox racing in Colombia, and much more. Gift link: www.theatlantic.com/photography/...

A motorcyclist rides on a two-lane highway past trees with fall colors. (Charles Krupa / AP)

A stag stands in silhouette in a park. (Michael Probst / AP)

A man pushes a wheelbarrow through a pumpkin patch, carrying two small boys and several pumpkins. (Danny Lawson / PA Images / Getty)

A close view of a bird with a long thin beak and long thin legs. (Alper Tuydes / Anadolu / Getty)

Photos: The Colors of Fall - 20 images: As the days grow shorter and the nights become a bit chillier, animals are migrating and leaves are changing colors. Gathered below are some colorful early-autumn images from across the northern hemisphere. Gift link: www.theatlantic.com/photography/...

A black-and-white photo of one apparently large bird flying overhead, with dozens of smaller birds flying around above. (© Jannik Jansons / Bird Photographer of the Year)

A bird stands on rocky ground, peeking out from the feathers of its chest that have been ruffled out, covering part of its head. (© Chen Ein-Dor / Bird Photographer of the Year)

A motion-blurred image of a swan landing among many other swans. (© Andreas Hemb / Bird Photographer of the Year)

An eagle stands on top of a deer carcass in a forest. (© Francesco Guffanti / Bird Photographer of the Year)

Winners of the Bird Photographer of the Year 2025. The winning entries in this year’s bird-photography contest were just revealed. Competition organizers were kind enough to share some of the winners, selected from a field of more than 25,000 entries. Gift link: www.theatlantic.com/photography/...

Age yourself with a film you saw in cinemas as a kid.

An astronaut aboard the International Space Station looks through a round window toward the eye of a vast storm below.

And I think this one, taken by NASA astronaut Jonny Kim at about the same time, shows Yui looking through the cupola toward the eye of the storm far below.

The eye of a huge cyclone, seen from a couple hundred miles above, aboard the International Space Station.

The eye of Super Typhoon Ragasa, photographed last week, 9/22, as it approached the coast of China, by JAXA astronaut Kimiya Yui, aboard the International Space Station.

A large art installation, looking like a small, two-story brick dwelling that appears to be floating about 50 feet above a city square, with thick roots hanging beneath the structure. (Luis Acosta / AFP / Getty)

A heron takes flight during a misty sunrise. (Toby Melville / Reuters)

A rocket lifts off from the deck of a ship, seen from a distance with a lighthouse in the foreground. (Zheng Peibo / VCG / Getty)

Celebrants carry erupting fireworks on sticks in a plaza. (Charlie Perez / NurPhoto / Getty)

Photos of the Week: Rainy Games, Police Pups, Beard Championship - 28 images from the past seven days, including the reopening of Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris, autumn colors in New Hampshire, the start of the Oktoberfest in Munich, and much more. Gift link: www.theatlantic.com/photography/...

In the Moment: 40 Years of Reuters Photojournalism Surveying forty years of news photography at Reuters, this publication captures the very best of photojournalism, bringing together pictures and texts to tell the stories behind iconic news imagery.

Reuters is releasing a book featuring 40 years of their photojournalism. The video interviews in this announcement post are remarkable stories told by the photojournalists themselves, spanning decades of worldwide coverage. www.reuters.com/world/moment...

Sunlight streams through gaps in a forest filled with twisted and moss-covered trees, ferns, and large stones. (David Shaw / Natural Landscape Photography Awards)

A landscape view of many mountains and mist-filled valleys. (Joshua Cripps / Natural Landscape Photography Awards)

A herd of reindeer rests on a snow-covered hillside, surrounded by blowing snow. (Hanneke Van Camp / Natural Landscape Photography Awards)

Circular shapes, formed into ice on a frozen body of water (Magnus Reneflot / Natural Landscape Photography Awards)

Winners of the 2025 Natural Landscape Photography Awards - Winning & honored images from this year’s contest, designed to “promote the very best landscape photography by digital and film photographers who value realism and authenticity in their work.” Gift link: www.theatlantic.com/photography/...

A person works in chest-deep water, planting mangrove shoots. (Dasril Roszandi / Anadolu / Getty)

A satellite view showing a cluster of houses surrounded by roads, paths, and farm fields on the left side in 2003, and the same village, now flooded by seawater, on the right side, in 2025. (© Google, Inc.)

An elevated view of a cluster of houses surrounded by seawater, connected by boardwalks. (Bay Ismoyo / AFP / Getty)

A person pushes a loaded motorcycle on a road submerged by seawater. (Bay Ismoyo / AFP / Getty)

Portrait of a Village Lost to the Sea - 18 images of some of the coastal villages in Indonesia’s Central Java province that have been largely abandoned in recent years, as rising seas, sinking land, & erosion have left communities & farms underwater. Gift link: www.theatlantic.com/photography/...

A drone display creates an image of the late Pope Francis while flying over St Peter's Square. (Alessandra Benedetti / Corbis / Getty)

A close view of a baby walrus. (Chen Jimin / China News Service / VCG / Getty)

A trio of musicians wearing medieval clothing performs on a hilltop. (Danny Lawson / PA Images / Getty)

Several people walk along a path through a salt lake filled with bright green water. (Hao Jihong / VCG / Getty)

Photos of the Week: Adventure Pyramid, Albino Alligator, Emerald Lake - 28 images from the past 7 days, including the World Tramdriver Championships in Austria, the World Athletics Championships in Tokyo, a shrinking glacier in Switzerland, & much more. Gift link: www.theatlantic.com/photography/...

Two humpback whales, seen underwater, swimming side-by-side in very similar postures, surrounded by many rays of sunlight reaching into the darker water beyond. (© Yuka Takahashi / Ocean Photographer of the Year)

Two small crustaceans, looking a little bit like ladybugs, perched on a piece of coral (© Yury Ivanov / Ocean Photographer of the Year)

A stingray stirs up a cloud of sand as it swims away from the seafloor. (© Ysabela Coll / Ocean Photographer of the Year)

A small pink crab, perched on pink coral (© Jade Hoksbergen / Ocean Photographer of the Year)

Winners of the Ocean Photographer of the Year 2025 - The winning and commended images from this year’s Ocean Photographer of the Year competition, featuring some of the best coastal, drone, and underwater photographs chosen from thousands of entries. Gift link: www.theatlantic.com/photography/...

A tight view of two ravens standing close together. (Jake Hillygus / 2025 Audubon Photography Awards)

An owl flies above tall grass. (Parham Pourahmad / 2025 Audubon Photography Awards)

A bird flaps and splashes as it takes off from the water's surface. (Felipe Esteban Toledo Alarcon / 2025 Audubon Photography Awards)

A group of birds soar overhead, seen silhouetted by the sun above. (Liron Gertsman / 2025 Audubon Photography Awards)

The 2025 Audubon Photography Awards - Winners and honorable mentions from the Audubon Society’s 16th-annual competition featuring amazing images of bird life from around the world. Gift link: www.theatlantic.com/photography/...

Another image from this surreal sunset last month in Greenland…

A Maxar satellite image of Mt Fuji. The satellite was only 3 degrees above the horizon at the time, so the capture angle is almost directly side on instead of top down.

Just spent some time digging through old Maxar/DigitalGlobe blogs to find a reference image and found this incredible capture of Mt Fuji. Incredible.

The satellite was only three degrees above the horizon when it captured this image.

blog.maxar.com/earth-intell...

A man carrying more than 30 full beer mugs spills one or two. (Angelika Warmuth / Reuters)

A person shouts as a calf steps on their foot. (Finnbarr Webster / Getty)

A fighter jet flies low, close to buildings, during a festival. (Dan Peled / Getty)

Several dogs ride on a surfboard. (Patrick T. Fallon / AFP / Getty)

Photos of the Week: Lunar Eclipse, Sandbar Cricket, Horn Dance - A cattle drive in Germany, anti-government protests in France and Nepal, the U.S. Open Tennis Championships in New York, surfing Chihuahuas in California, and much more. Gift link: www.theatlantic.com/photography/...

Happy for you! Looks like you got some great weather there.

A line of pyrotechnic displays and fireworks erupt as stunt planes fly overhead. (Andreea Alexandru / AP)

A person wearing a frightening clown mask poses in front of a fiery background. (Jose Cabezas / Reuters)

Several lines of soldiers march in unison during a parade. (Andy Wong / AP)

A sea lion lurches through shallow surf toward the beach, with a person visible in the foreground. (Mike Blake / Reuters)

Photos of the Week: Humanoid Olympiad, Finger Wrestling, Haystack Rock - Sea lions in San Diego, a slippery-pole contest in Malta, the Balls of Fire festival in El Salvador, the World Tango Championship in Argentina, and much more. Gift link: www.theatlantic.com/photography/...

Testing animated gifs, part 2 - this is another view of lightning striking, seen from Earth orbit. This series of images, also by astronaut Nichole Ayers aboard the ISS, shows lightning flashing inside a storm alongside the city of Milan, photographed from 259 miles above, on 8/27/25.

Testing animated gifs, part 1 - this is a remarkable view of a lightning strike, seen from Earth orbit. This series of images taken by astronaut Nichole Ayers aboard the ISS, shows a growing lightning bolt and flashes in a storm cloud above Indonesia, photographed from 258 miles above, on 6/29/25.

A boy carrying a backpack sprints gleefully from his mother's arms. (Jack Vincent Picone / Fairfax Media / Getty)

Two lines of people stand on either side of a path, clapping and welcoming young students into a school. (Andrew Craft / USA Today Network / Reuters)

Students in a classroom pet a cat that is sitting on one of their desks. (Evren Atalay / Anadolu / Getty)

Young students wearing school uniforms smile and run along a hallway. (Li Haotu / VCG / Getty)

Photos: Back to School - Students, parents, and teachers greeting the new school year, seen in images from recent years, and from the archives. Gift link: www.theatlantic.com/photography/...

I enjoyed this. And what an infectious laugh. ❤️

"Reporter left speechless after witnessing Japan's new $70 million Maglev train in action at 310 mph"

A tiny half-moon, seen in the sky above a small tree-lined reservoir and small dam.

The sublime sky above the Charles, looking up.

A heron, seen in profile, standing below a small dam with water cascading over the dam. Some dappled reflections of moonlight beside the heron.

Lovely evening. Heron, moonlight reflection, Charles River, cascading water over a small dam. Massachusetts burbs.

People stand on a hillside watching as a jet fighter flies past very closely. (Vadim Ghirda / AP)

A corgi wearing an airplane-shaped costume walks on Astroturf. (Petras Malukas / AFP / Getty)

An enormous rolling cloud of dust approaches a residential area. (Ross D. Franklin / AP)

A grizzly bear walks through tall grass. (Jim Urquhart / Reuters)

Photos of the Week: Night Surfing, Load Testing, Tomato Fight - 28 images from the past seven days, including the Little League World Series in Pennsylvania, a huge dust storm in Phoenix, a grape harvest in France, an apple spill in Germany & much more. Gift link: www.theatlantic.com/photography/...

A red deer stag lifts its head up and gives a bellow. (© Jamie Smart / Wildlife Photographer of the Year)

A close view of a flamingo's head and its foot reaching up to scratch. (© Leana Kuster / Wildlife Photographer of the Year)

A sloth clings tightly to a barbed wire fence post beside a dirt road. (© Emmanuel Tardy / Wildlife Photographer of the Year)

The face of a coyote, framed by the curled tail of a closer coyote. (© Parham Pourahmad / Wildlife Photographer of the Year)

Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2025: Highly Commended - A collection of some of the honored images from this year's wildlife photo competition. Winners to be announced in October. Gift link: www.theatlantic.com/photography/...

A view from orbit of many tall clouds casting long shadows at dawn, and the full moon in the distance. (Kimiya Yui / JAXA / NASA)

A few weeks ago, as the ISS passed over the Pacific Ocean, JAXA astronaut Kimiya Yui captured this sublime image of long shadows cast by towering clouds, with the horizon still in darkness, and the full moon beyond.

That is an awesome little car!