“Pay attention,” Your Shot member Fran Virues Avila was told by the diver seen here. “My jump will be worthy of observing.” Avila visits La Caleta Beach in Cádiz, Spain, every year to see people take the plunge when the tide is high. Perhaps this particular diver trains during the year or has natural athletic abilities, Avila ponders. In any case, he writes, the result did not disappoint, displaying “a mixture [of] freedom and courage.”
Photograph by Fran Virues Avila, National Geographic Your Shot

Photo of the Day: Best of August

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

ByAlexa Keefe
September 04, 2015
7 min read

“Pay attention,” Your Shot member Fran Virues Avila was told by the diver seen above, before he leapt into the waters off La Caleta Beach in Cádiz, Spain. “My jump will be worthy of observing.” This feels like an apt point of departure for this month’s roundup of Photo of the Day favorites. Each frame contains a moment that beckons us to pay attention, whether it be to the composition, the story being told, or the energy of life in motion.

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A woman harvests rice from a field in Thailand
In the Frame

Photograph by Sarawut Intarob, National Geographic Your Shot

A woman harvests rice from a field in Thailand in this picture by Your Shot member Sarawut Intarob. The photo was included in the final story for the recent Your Shot assignment What’s in a Frame? “This picture comes together so well,” says National Geographic photographer Stephen Alvarez, who curated the assignment. Alvarez praised the light, the woman’s expression, and the way Intarob shot through the bundled rice plants to provide a low view.

Aerial of the Dubai desert
Sand Waves

Photograph by Mark Seabury, National Geographic Your Shot

As we floated over the Dubai desert in a hot-air balloon at sunrise, I was captivated by the plays of light from the morning rays of sun over the repeating patterns of undulating dunes,” writes Your Shot member Mark Seabury. “It was like the desert was alive with motion, with sand waves mimicking the swell of the sea, extending as far as the eye could see into the distant horizon. This single tree appeared in the arid earth as a steadfast symbol of life in impossible conditions—a lone survivor in a vast ocean.”

A dancer poses for a photograph
The Dancer

Photograph by Giulia Pesarin, National Geographic Your Shot

“This picture was taken in the attic of an old house in Ferrara, Italy,” writes Your Shot member Giulia Pesarin. “The protagonist is the Italian dancer Elisa Mucchi.” Pesarin says that the shot is a continuation of a study that begins with an image in which the position of the dancer is similar. “The purpose is to represent a human body while moving and entering in relationship with the environment,” she writes. “But specifically I hide a part of [the] body … amplifying the imaginative power of the beholder.” Hiding, she says, is a catalyst for opening up new possibilities for the human imagination.

A young boy scavenges in a garbage dump in Cambodia
Window on Poverty

Photograph by Yap Kh, National Geographic Your Shot

Amid the haze of toxic fumes from burning refuse in a garbage dump in Cambodia, a young garbage scavenger searches for scraps of recyclables in newly dumped loads of rubbish. “Covered in filthy rags, they were scruffy, sickly, and sad. They earned 4,000 riel ($1) a day—if they were lucky,” writes Your Shot member Yap Kh.

A tornado travels across farmland in Colorado
Storming Away

Photograph by Cristiano Xavier, National Geographic Your Shot

“This was the last picture [from] an incredible day,” writes Your Shot member Cristiano Xavier. “We saw more than 15 tornadoes.” Xavier captured this image in Simla, Colorado, stopping briefly after outrunning the storm.

A little girl plays hide and seek
Moments From Above

Photograph by Juan Carlos Osorio, National Geographic Your Shot

Sophia’s favorite game is hide-and-seek,” writes Your Shot member Juan Carlos Osorio, who captured this picture of his daughter in Verona, New Jersey. “It was a very cloudy afternoon, but when the sun came up, I saw my wife’s shadow next to my daughter [as she asked] her to start counting so she could hide. We had a lot of fun.”

Alexa Keefe is the editor of Photo of the Day, a curated look at photography from around National Geographic. Korena Di Roma writes the captions and titles.
See which pictures were featured in our last roundup, Photo of the Day: Best of July.

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