Turkey tail mushrooms, a type of bracket fungi, are spied on a fall day in Belcarra, British Columbia, Canada. Known particularly in Chinese medicine for its healing properties, the mushroom is believed to strengthen the immune system against disease and infection.
Photograph by Lance Isackson, National Geographic Your Shot

Photo of the Day: Best of November

Every day, we feature an image chosen from thousands around National Geographic. Here are some highlights from November.

ByAlexa Keefe
December 08, 2014
7 min read

Worlds right under our noses, majestic landscapes, sublime moments, and a dose of everyday humor: all figure into this month’s round-up of Photo of the Day images. Each of these extends an invitation to pause for a moment, take a breath, and maybe get lost for a minute or two. We start at the macro level, with the above photograph taken by Your Shot member Lance Isackson of turkey tail mushrooms in British Columbia. Can photos have a smell? If so, this one would be of damp woods—fresh and pungent.

Thiksey Gompa, a Tibetan Buddhist monastery known for its resemblance to Lhasa’s Potala Palace, sits at 11,800 feet in the northern Himalayan region of Ladakh, India. The 12-story complex houses temples, a nunnery, and Buddhist artwork, including a 40-foot statue of Maitreya, or the future Buddha.
Spiritual Scale

Photograph by Kavya Reddy, National Geographic Your Shot

Thiksey Gompa, a Tibetan Buddhist monastery, sits at 11,800 feet in the northern Himalayan region of Ladakh, India. “I love this picture for a reason that it gives one a perspective on the size of the mountain ranges,” writes Your Shot photographer Kavya Reddy.

I love the soft color palette and the warm light.

A maple tree provides a perfect swing for a playful Barbary macaque in Morocco’s Middle Atlas mountains. Illegal logging threatens forests where the endangered monkeys live, and overgrazing damages the area’s food-rich underbrush.
Tree Swing

Photograph by Francesco Mingorance

Photographer Francesco Mingorance had many amazing photographs of Barbary macaques in the November National Geographic feature story, “The Monkeys of Morocco.” But this is my favorite. I interpret this moment for the macaque, mid-swing from the branch of a maple tree, snow delicately falling, as bliss.

In the wilds of Patagonia, cowboys called bagualeros pit themselves against the meanest livestock on the planet. Here, bagueleros pause in their search for cattle on Antonio Varas Peninsula, in Chilean Patagonia. Few choose the bagualero way. “It’s a beautiful life but a tough one,” says Sebastián García Iglesias (at far left).
The Bagaulero Way

Photograph by Tomas Munita

Tomas Munita’s photographs of cowboys (called bagualeros) in Chilean Patagonia remind me of oil paintings, timeless and rich. This frame of bagualeros taking a pause from the tough work of capturing feral cattle on steep mountain slopes is a treat: bringing the eye first to the cowboys in their berets and then out into the rugged beauty of the landscape. If you want to see more, Munita’s images are featured in the December feature story, “Cowboys on the Edge,” and you can follow along with Munita as he keeps up with the fearless bagualeros in a behind-the-scenes video.

South Carolina’s ACE Basin harbors a wealth of wildlife and history. Here, a moss-hung cypress keeps watch over the placid waters of the Lowcountry basin, named for three rivers that run through it: the Ashepoo, Combahee, and Edisto.
River Lady

Photograph by Vincent J. Musi

What I like most about Vincent J. Musi’s photographs of South Carolina’s ACE Basin in the November issue of National Geographic are that they show the sublime beauty of the Lowcountry landscape in an intimate way. In this classic shot of a cypress-draped in spanish moss, I feel I am sitting there in quiet stillness, maybe in a kayak or a john boat, breathing in the perfume of the marsh grasses. As a side note, this story was on the calendar for eight years before being published, a possible National Geographic record. Why in the world would this be when Musi actually lives in the South Carolina Lowcountry? He shared the story with Proof a little while back. It is pretty funny.

“The gaye holud is a traditional Bengali wedding ceremony in which the bride and groom are presented with fish dressed as the couple,” writes Your Shot member Brian Callaway, who captured this photo in the town of Mamallapuram, on the east coast of India.
Funny Face

Photograph by Brian Callaway, National Geographic Your Shot

This photograph of a Bengali bride hamming for the camera was so playful I couldn’t resist. While this is a departure from what one might expect as a Photo of the Day, the snapshot feel of it is precisely what drew me in. Sometimes a little variety—and surprise— is a good thing.

Musicians relax after a daylong photo shoot near the town of Renazzo in Emilia-Romagna, Italy.
Guaranteed to Raise a Smile

Photograph by Mirco Balboni, National Geographic Your Shot

“My intention was to capture the joy that these guys have making music together,” writes Mirco Balboni, a member of our Your Shot community. “The members of the band kept playing and joking as they entered the field. At that point, I saw that the situation was perfect—the evening light was great and they were carefree in the field, as if they were still children. I saw the happiness in their faces and the joy of playing together.” Taking in this photograph of musicians taking a break in the Emilia-Romagna region of Italy, I couldn’t have said it better myself.

*****

Alexa Keefe is the editor of Photo of the Day, a curated look at photography from around National Geographic. The full archive is accessible here.
See which pictures were featured in last month’s round-up, Photo of the Day: Best of October.

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