Left: Polar Bear footprints. Right: Grand Paradiso in Italy
Photographs by Paul Nicklen and Stefano Unterthiner

Instants: Snowed In

ByJanna Dotschkal
February 05, 2015
6 min read

In our series Instants, the Proof staff brings you a snapshot of recent dispatches from the @natgeo Instagram feed. Follow us to experience more from National Geographic on Instagram.

Up here in the Northern Hemisphere, it’s the dead of winter. Winter can be both incredibly beautiful and simultaneously dangerous and dark. Here’s to the beauty of winter, and the photographers who brave the cold to remind us about its wonders.

Here’s a selection of pictures from Keith Ladzinski in Niagra Falls, Ian Nichols in Yellowstone, Shaul Schwarz in Brooklyn, Michael Yamashita in Japan and China, Ira Block in Manhattan, Marcus Bleasdale in Norway, and Matthieu Paley on Lake Baikal.

Standing at the frozen base of the thundering Niagara Falls in upstate New York is an incredible experience and one I won’t forget soon. 150,000 tons of water flowing over the crest every minute at speeds of nearly 70 MPH, the generated impact is equivalent to roughly 4,000 eighteen-wheel trucks hitting the ground at the same time. —Keith Ladzinski

Traveling to Yellowstone to visit Nick Nichols while he is working on a story with Drew Rush. I got off the airplane just in time for sunset on the Tetons. —Ian Nichols

Just another day in Brooklyn! Keep smiling. —Shaul Schwarz

A line of larch trees at sunset in Daisetsuzan National Park in Japan. —Michael Yamashita

Snow, light, and the iconic Flatiron Building evoke a time in New York when Instagrams could never have been imagined. —Ira Block

High tide, snow, and sea combine to create a magical world on Ormøya in Oslo, Norway. —Marcus Bleasdale

Visitors surrounded by a winter wonderland at Five Color Lake in Jiuzhaigou National Park in China. —Michael Yamashita

Detail of cracked ice on Lake Baikal. The layer of ice gets over a meter thick (40 inches) and even trucks cross the frozen lake in winter. Quite an unreal and slippery experience to walk on it. —Matthieu Paley

Follow Keith Ladzinski, Drew Rush, Ian Nichols, Shaul Schwarz, Michael Yamashita, Ira Block, Marcus Bleasdale, and Matthieu Paley on Instagram.

LIMITED TIME OFFER

Get a FREE tote featuring 1 of 7 ICONIC PLACES OF THE WORLD

Go Further