Editor's Choice Picture of the Day - January 9, 2013

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In this Jan. 4, 2013, photo provided by the Holmes family, Tammy Holmes, second from left, and her grandchildren, two-year-old Charlotte Walker, left, four-year-old Esther Walker, third from left, nine-year-old Liam Walker, eleven-year-old Matilda, second from right, and six-year-old Caleb Walker, right, take refuge under a jetty as a wildfire rages near-by  in the Tasmanian town of Dunalley, east of the state capital of Hobart, Australia. The family credits God with their survival from the fire that destroyed around 90 homes in Dunalley. Record temperatures across southern Australia cooled Wednesday, Jan. 9, 2013, reducing the danger from scores of raging wildfires but likely bringing only a brief reprieve from the summer’s extreme heat and fire risk. (AP Photo/Holmes Family, Tim Holmes)

Editor's Choice Picture of the Day - January 05, 2013

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THE CANADIAN PRESS/Nathan Denette

Canada forward Boone Jenner cries after losing to Russia during overtime bronze medal hockey action at the IIHF World Junior Championships in Ufa, Russia, on Saturday, Jan. 5, 2013.  

 

 

 

Editor's Choice Pictures of the Day - National Geographic Contest Winners - January 4, 2013

As a leader in capturing our world through brilliant imagery, National Geographic sets the standard for photographic excellence. More than 22,000 entries were submitted from over 150 countries, with professional photographers and amateur photo enthusiasts across the globe participating. Photographs were submitted in three categories: people, places and nature. The competition was judged on creativity and photographic quality by a panel of experts comprised of natural history photographer Christian Zeiglerand documentary photographers Gerd Ludwig and Debbie Fleming Caffery. Here are some of the winning images and honorable mentions–plus the Viewers' Choice winners.

The Grand Prize Winner will receive $10,000 and a trip to National Geographic headquarters in Washington, D.C., to participate in the annual National Geographic Photography Seminar in January 2013.

 

First Place for People:  Amongst the Scavengers
Photo and caption by Micah Albert/National Geographic Photo Contest

At the end of the day women are allowed to pick through the dumpsite.

 

 

Honorable Mention: East of Iceland
Photo and caption by Eric Guth/National Geographic Photo Contest

Glacial ice washes ashore after calving off the Breiamerkurjˆkull glacier on Iceland's eastern coast. During the waning light of summer this image was created over the course of a 4 minute exposure while the photographer backlit the grounded glacial ice with a headlamp for 2 of those 4 minutes.

 

Honorable Mention: Chinese traditional dragon boat racing
Photo and caption by关嘉城/National Geographic Photo Contest

Dragon boating is a chinese traditional entertainment. As an acquatic sport to memorise qu yuan, a patriotic poet in ancient china, it is usually held in festivals, which can be traced back to two thousands years ago.

 

 

Honorable Mention: Captive
Photo and caption by Wendell Phillips/National Geographic Photo Contest

Yayasan Galuh Rehabilitation Center is and impoverished mental health facility based in Bekasi, Indonesia that hosts over 250 patients.  Most come from poor families no longer interested in managing their condition, or are unable. Some patients are homeless, deposited after being taken off streets by police The only medical treatment received is for skin conditions. No assessments, psychotherapy or psychiatric medications is available. Over one third of the patients are shackled in chains. These measures are implemented to those thought to be violent, uncontrolable and dangerous.

 

 

Honorable Mention: Eerie Eiffel
Photo and caption by Indra Swari Wonowidjojo/National Geographic Photo Contest

The winter gloomy day worked to my advantage to create this eerie feeling of the famous landmark Eiffel tower.

 

 

Viewers’ Choice for People:  Expedition Amundsen
Photo and caption by Kai-Otto Melau/National Geographic Photo Contest

A race that follows in the path of the famous explorer Roald Amundsen brings the contestants to the Hardangervidda Mountainplateu, Norway. 100km across the plateau, the exact same route Amundsen used to prepare for his South Pole expedition in 1911 is still used by explorers today. Amundsen did not manage to cross the plateau and had to turn back because of bad weather. He allegedly said that the attempt to cross Hardangervidda was just as dangerous and hard as the conquering of the South Pole. The group in the picture used the race as preparations for an attempt to cross Greenland.

 

 

Viewers’ Choice for Places:  Iceberg Hunters
Photo and caption by Adam Coish/National Geographic Photo Contest

Chipping ice off an iceberg is a common way for the Inuit community to retrieve fresh drinking water while on the land. During a weekend long hunting trip, we came upon this majestic iceberg frozen in place. It was a perfect opportunity to grab enough ice and drinking water for the remainder of the trip.

 

 

Honorable Mention: Stilt Fishing
Photo and caption by Ulrich Lambert/National Geographic Photo Contest

Stilt fishing is a typical fishing technique only seen in Sri Lanka. The fishermen sit on a cross bar called a petta tied to a vertical pole planted into the coral reef. This long exposure shot shows how unstable their position is.

 

 

Grand-Prize:  The Explosion!
Photo and caption by Ashley Vincent/National Geographic Photo Contest

The subject's name is Busaba, a well cared for Indochinese Tigress whose home is at Khao Kheow Open Zoo, Thailand. I had taken many portraits of Busaba previously and it was becoming more and more difficult to come up with an image that appeared any different to the others. Which is why I took to observing her more carefully during my visits in the hope of capturing something of a behavioural shot. The opportunity finally presented itself while watching Busaba enjoying her private pool then shaking herself dry. In all humility I have to say that Mother Nature smiled favourably on me that day!

 

For more winning images in the Nature category, please visit the Daily Beast blog.

David Guttenfelder's Hasselblad panoramas from North Korea - Editor's Choice - Pictures of the Day - December 21, 2012

Associated Press photographer David Guttenfelder's access to North Korea is enviable, and a photographer's dream. His many photos of the country depict an endlessly fascinating, visually surreal place. He's made 17 trips to the reclusive nation since 2000 — including six since The Associated Press bureau in Pyongyang opened in January 2012.

From a photo editor's perspective, it's always a pleasure to see his photos rolling over the wires, and today was like an early Christmas present when I saw these 34 frames of daily North Korean life, all shot on a Hasselblad XPAN from his visits this year.

 

Some words from him on how he photographed these remarkable images:

For this project, I used a Hasselblad XPAN, a panoramic-view film camera that is no longer manufactured. Throughout the year, I wore it around my neck and shot several dozen rolls of colour negative film in between my normal coverage of news and daily life with my AP-issued digital cameras.

The XPAN is quiet, discreet, manual and simple. Because it has a wide panoramic format, it literally gives me a different view of North Korea. The film also reflects how I feel when I'm in North Korea, wandering among the muted or gritty colours, and the fashions and styles that often seem to come from a past generation.

In my photography, I try to maintain a personal point of view, a critical eye, and shoot with a style that I think of as sometimes-whimsical and sometimes-melancholy. My aim is to open a window for the world on a place that is widely misunderstood and that would otherwise rarely be seen by outsiders.

I hope these images help people to develop their own understanding of the country, one that goes beyond the point-counterpoint presented by Pyongyang and Washington.And maybe they can help create some sort of bridge between the people of North Korea and the rest of the world.

The full 34 photo set continues after the jump.

—@canice

 

 

North Koreans try to rebuild the banks of a washed out riverbed near their corn fields which were damaged by July flooding, in Songchon County.

 

Pedestrians walk along a street past apartment blocks in central Pyongyang.

 

North Korean men watch others play basketball at a public court in Pyongyang.

 

Men study in desks beneath portraits of the country's late leaders, Kim Il Sung, left, and Kim Jong Il, at the Grand People's Study House in Pyongyang.

 

North Koreans gather along the banks of the Taedong River in Pyongyang to watch a fireworks display to celebrate 100 years since the birth of the late North Korean founder Kim Il Sung.

 

The sun sets over Pyongyang, North Korea, behind the curtained window of a downtown hotel room.

Tony Lepore - The Dancing Cop of Providence Rhode Island

PROVIDENCE, R.I.

Rodrique Ngowi The Associated Press

AP Photos/Stephan Savoia

Ah, Christmas in Rhode Island. Exquisitely decorated mansions in Newport. A red nose on the giant termite that sits atop a Providence exterminator's building. And a traffic cop, doing disco and salsa moves in the middle of rush-hour traffic.

Officer Tony Lepore is as much a holiday tradition as anything else in the state that issued the first jail sentence for speeding 108 years ago. Since 1984, he has entertained drivers, pedestrians and gawkers with dance moves in downtown Providence — all while directing traffic.

"He is a Rhode Island landmark, more or less. He's an icon, he's like a littlemini celebrity," says Michelle Peterson, of Warwick. She's an emergency medical technician and the mother of three boys who was introduced to the "dancing cop" years ago by her partner in their ambulance.

This year, she took her boys to see Lepore, 65, perform and got him to pose for pictures with them.

"It feels good to see him out here; it definitely brings the holiday spirit. I think people come out here just to see him and I think it brings some people to shop so they can see him."

The routine, Lepore says, was born in the month of May of the boredom and aggravation that officers typically experience while directing rushing drivers and jaywalking pedestrians. He was inspired by classic "Candid Camera" television footage he saw a day earlier that showed police officers elsewhere directing traffic with flair.

"I didn't know if my bosses were going to like it, so a lot of times if I saw a boss come down, I'd be doing my fancy stuff, then I'd go back and do it the old-fashioned way so I don't get caught," Lepore says.

 

His secret didn't last long. City residents began calling the police station and raving about Lepore's moves. A few days later, The Providence Journal, the state's largest newspaper, came out with a story on the sensation.

The positive publicity encouraged officials to endorse the dancing cop, who continued to perform until he left the job in 1988, when he went into business with his brother with a food and vending service.

In 1992, Lepore says, he got a call from city officials asking him to rejoin the force to dance and direct traffic around Christmastime as they pushed to redefine the city's image and bring visitors downtown.

He signed a $1,200, 10-day contract as a reserve police officer and says he has frozen the value of the contract at the 1992 rate to encourage city officials to recall his services every year.

Standing in traffic, he adjusts his cap, shakes his hip, raises and twists one leg and spins. In one of the more unusual moves, he bends his knees, leans far back and quickly alternates support for his body by keeping one hand on the ground while motioning to the traffic with the free hand.

In one move, he goes down on his knees in homage to John Travolta's character in "Saturday Night Fever."

 

He says his body takes a pounding and that he has had knee surgery, pulled some muscles and even suffered stress fractures.

"This is ridiculous! Oh, man, this guy is the best," an incredulous Vik Jay, a medical student at Brown University, says after seeing the "Dancing Cop" in action for the first time. "I'm from San Francisco. I used to go to Castro Street, and this is far more entertaining than anything I saw there."

Karen DeAngelis, of Pawtucket, was on a bus when she saw Lepore perform while directing traffic. She got out to watch him before continuing her journey.

"I would come down here every year to see him if I were able to," she says. "I'm not able to, and I just so happened to be here today. He's that good and he's that entertaining, and he really cheers people up."

Lepore says his dance moves are planned to send specific directions to drivers to avoid causing confusion at the intersection.

"I do it in such a way that even the people in the cars know what I mean, 'cause every dance move means something to the driver, and I make sure that he knows or she knows what I want them to do," Lepore says.

The dancing is not a distraction and has never caused incredulous drivers to crash, he says.

"I think it would be more of a distraction if I was in a different town and they didn't know I was out there, but most of Providence, they even know me by the sound of my whistle," he said. "It's more of a spectacle where people love to just come down here and see me do it around Christmastime, and they enjoy it ... and I enjoy it."othing says Christmas in Rhode Island like Providence's dancing cop!

 

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Editor's Choice Picture of the Day - December 15, 2012

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A forerunner is seen in silhouette as he soars through the air during the ski jumping FIS World Cup competition on December 15, 2012 in Engelberg, central Switzerland. AFP PHOTO / FABRICE COFFRINI

Editor's Choice Picture of the Day - December 9, 2012

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AP Photo/The Philadelphia Inquirer, Ron Cortes

Philadelphia Eagles defensive back Nnamdi Asomugha (24) goes airborne after knocking the ball away from Tampa Bay Buccaneer's Dallas Clark (44) during the second half of their NFL football game, Sunday, Dec. 9, 2012, in Tampa, Fla. The Eagles won 23-21.

Editor's Choice - Picture of the Day - December 2, 2012

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Jamie Squire/Getty Images

Players huddle in prayer following the Kansas City Chiefs 27-21 victory over the Carolina Panthers at Arrowhead Stadium on December 2, 2012 in Kansas City, Missouri. 

Editor's Choice Picture of the Day - November 23, 2012

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REUTERS/Stephane Mahe

A French riot gendarme wipes his helmet with his glove after being covered with lime during clashes with demonstrators during an evacuation operation on land that will become the new airport in Notre-Dame-des-Landes, western France November 23, 2012. The new airport, some 30km (19 miles) from Nantes, is scheduled to be constructed for 2017. 

 

 

Editor's Choice Picture of the Day - November 22, 2012

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PHIL MOORE/AFP/Getty Images

Thousands of Congolese flee the town of Sake, 26km west of Goma, following fresh fighting in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo town on November 22, 2012. Fighting broke out this afternoon causing people to flee the town and head east, towards Goma, to the camps for the internally displaced in the village of Mugunga.