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Kalie Garrett

Kalie Garrett is a 19-year-old photographer who takes such vulnerable self-portraits, you can't help but get emotional when you look at them. Rather than describe them myself, here are some touching testimonials left on her Flickr page:

"You probably know by now how much I adore your work. I mean, your photography is like a drug to me. I can get lost in your stream so easily and just look for hours and hours on end. The kind of emotion you show in your photos is unique and different from any other photos I've seen."

"From the moment i first discovered your work, I was incredibly inspired. You were the one who showed me what emotion is. I look at a photo and listen to the song in the description.. I'll look at the picture for like ten minutes because it is so incredible how you can make me feel your emotion."

"They want to make me rip my heart out and tear it to shreds, yet at the same time put my hand to my chest and hear my heart beat. Because your photos make me feel alive. They flood my eyes with the most honest emotions that sometimes I can't even look, that or I can't pull my eyes away."

Alex Stoddard

Alex Stoddard is one of those talented teenage photographers who knows how to express themselves. His self-portraits are all incredibly unique and after viewing them you're left wondering where he's going to take you next.

What I enjoy most is that you can almost feel his passion come through. His commitment to not only executing on an idea but doing it well, is apparent to anyone who sees his photos.

I got in touch with Alex to ask him a few questions, including how his style evolved while taking on the 365 project. (That is, to shoot and share one picture each day.) Read that interview below after enjoying his very creative self-portraits.

Valerie Chiang

Though Raleigh, North Carolina-based Valerie Chiang is not a professional photographer (rather, she is a student at Oberlin Conservatory studying piano performance), her photos certainly speak volumes.

Just 18-years-old, Chiang tells us she's been taking pictures only for the last year and a half. "When people look at my photos, I want them to feel as though they are momentarily transported into a fantasy world. I try to create 'dreamscapes,' where people can use my photographs as a method of escapism."

Air shows 2013

In the effort to celebrate and marvel at our ability to fly and see new technological advances, air shows are held all over the world every year. Attendees get the chance to witness complex aerobatic performances and sometimes up-close access to the aircraft on the ground.


A Romanian boy plays with his toy plane while Jurgis Kairys, a Lithuanian aerobatic pilot and aeronautical engineer, performs a freestyle aerobatic maneuver with his modified Sukhoi SU 31, at the Bucharest International Air Show 2013, at Baneasa airport, in Bucharest, Romania, on July 27. (Robert Ghement/European Pressphoto Agency)

Cruel world --- the beginning

When you are with me I am feeling relaxed and free Your fresh blood Has taken me Out of freezing cold You are an awesome bud I have become bold So freak and weak That I was Always to sneak But your rosy cheeks And Lilly some lips Now no more flips No any trips Can you kiss my lips? We are friend for ever Never to depart, never You are my fragrance My souls flavour We will rise to sky Fly very high Play together Nothing to bother I am your love You are my dove This life of me A gift of thee Come on darling Let’s dance free The life will fade Nothing to be sad We are mingled souls free We will remain for ever As a fruit laden tree…………………

Olympics 2012: Opening ceremonies

Olympics 2012: Opening ceremonies


The Olympic caulmdron is lit during the opening ceremony of the London 2012 Olympic Games on July 27 at the Olympic stadium in London (Cameron Spencer/AFP/GettyImages)

Ramadan 2012 begins

All over the world Muslims have begun their holiest month of the year by fasting from dawn until dusk each day, broken each evening by large, communal meals. The start of Ramadan is earlier each year because it is calculated based on the sighting of the new moon, which begins the Muslim lunar month. Muslims use the time to reevaluate their lives through the scope of Islamic doctrine.


A Palestinian reads from the Koran during the dawn prayer on the first day of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan at a mosque in the West Bank city of Jenin on July 20. Muslims from Morocco to Afghanistan are steeling themselves for the toughest Ramadan in more than three decades with no food or drink, not even a sip of water, for 14 hours a day during the hottest time of the year. (Mohammed Ballas/Associated Press)

Wildfires in western US

The western United States continues to battle a ferocious wildfire season that has seen record-breaking fires in several states. The worst of the blazes is the Waldo Canyon fire in Colorado, blamed for two deaths, for forcing 35,000 residents to evacuate, and for the destruction of at lest 346 homes. The area around Colorado Springs has been declared a federal disaster area after the most destructive fire in state history. Wildfires have also destroyed property and forced evacuations in California, Wyoming, Idaho, Montana, and New Mexico. [Editors' note: There will be no Big Picture on the Wednesday, July 4 holiday.]


The Waldo Canyon fire burns an entire neighborhood near the foothills of Colorado Springs, Colo. on June 26, 2012. Colorado endured nearly a week of 100-plus-degree days and low humidity, sapping moisture from timber and grass, creating a devastating formula for volatile wildfires across the state and punishing conditions for firefighters. (Helen H. Richardson/The Denver Post/Associated Press)

Extraordinary Microscope Photographs

The Olympus BioScapes Digital Imaging Competition winners are currently on display at the New York Hall of Science. This competition, in its ninth year, is a dynamic international photo competition which honors the world's most extraordinary microscope images and videos of biological subjects. The Olympus BioScapes exhibit will be on display through August 31st. You can see the winners and many honorable mentions on the Olympus Bioscapes web site.


FIRST PLACE - Specimen: Rotifer Floscularia ringens feeding. Its rapidly beating cilia (hair-like structures) bring water-containing food to the rotifer. Technique: Differential interference contrast microscopy. (Charles Krebs/Issaquah, Washington, USA)

Euro 2012 Soccer Championship, Part 2: The action

It’s been an action-packed tournament, to soccer fans’ delight, with more than two dozen matches played in Poland and the Ukraine during the European 2012 Soccer Championship. It’s down to four teams from the sixteen that qualified, and the final match will be played July 1 at the Olympic Stadium in Kiev.


Ukrainian forward Andriy Voronin (right) vies with Swedish defender Andreas Granqvist during the Euro 2012 championships soccer match between Ukraine and Sweden on June 11 at the Olympic Stadium in Kiev. Ukraine won 2-1. (Sergei Supinsky/AFP/Getty Images)

LGBT Pride events

Events celebrating and protesting LGBT rights took place in many parts of the world in the last several months. Pride parades were met with violence or intimidation in Russia, Georgia, and Albania while other places saw wild street parties. Three million people celebrated on the streets of Sao Paulo, Brazil, often considered the biggest Pride event in the world. Activists in Uganda and Chile sought to change laws, while in the United States Barack Obama became the first American president to endorse same-sex marriage. Gathered here are pictures from events related to gay rights issues, LGBT Pride celebrations, and the International Day Against Homophobia and Transphobia.


Mark Wilson carries a rainbow flag during San Francisco's 42nd annual gay pride parade on June 24, 2012. Organizers said more than 200 floats, vehicles and groups of marchers took part in the parade. (Noah Berger/Associated Press)

National Geographic Traveler Magazine: 2012 Photo Contest

The 24th annual National Geographic Traveler Photo Contest is in full swing. The entry deadline has been extended until July 11. The four categories include: Travel Portraits; Outdoor Scenes; Sense of Place and Spontaneous Moments. Last year's contest drew nearly 13,000 images from all over the world. The pictures are as diverse as their authors, capturing an assortment of people, places and wildlife - everything that makes traveling so memorable, evoking a sense of delight and discovery. The following post includes a small sampling of the entrant's work, taken from the editor's picks in each of the categories. (The captions are written by the entrants, some slightly corrected for readability.) And for fun, take a look back at the winners from 2011 at National Geographic Traveler.


SPONTANEOUS MOMENTS - Marrakech Traveler: It was mid-morning and he must have wanted to ride into the light. I was shooting for the ABC TV show Born to Explore when I snapped this photo. (John Barnhardt/National Geographic Traveler Photo Contest)

Pedal power

For well over a hundred years, people have hopped on bicycles for transportation, recreation, competition, and more. In many parts of the world, spinning pedals moves goods and generates electricity. While usually attached to two wheels, pedal power takes many forms, adapting to a wide range of needs. Globally, over 100 million bicycles are produced every year - over 60% of them in China - easily doubling world production of automobiles. Efficient, clean, and cheap, pedal power in all its forms can solve modern problems with basic technology, and offers a health benefit to those cranking away. And it's hard to beat the simple joy of riding a bike. Gathered here are images of people around the world as we pedal for a reason, or just because.


A boy rides his bicycle near rice fields in Bago, Myanmar on February 20, 2012. (STR/AFP/Getty Images)


Team Spain competes in the men's team pursuit qualifying during the 2012 UCI Track Cycling World Championships at Hisense Arena on April 4, 2012 in Melbourne. (Mark Dadswell/Getty Images)


Men pedal a bicycle crank pump to refuel cars at the site of a gas station in the earthquake- and tsunami-destroyed town of Minamisanriku, Japan. (David Guttenfelder/Associated Press)


A rebel with a bicycle celebrates the liberation of al-Qawalish, Libya, after six hours of battle. Smoke rises from a power station shelled by retreating government soldiers. (Gaia Anderson/Associated Press)


Congolese boys push a Chikudu (wooden bicycle) as they transport goods to the market of Mushaki, Democratic Republic of Congo on December 4, 2011. Chikudus are as much a source of local pride as they are a part of the local economy. Formal jobs are rare here, and crafting chikudus is a skilled and prestigious occupation. Chikudus are the brainchild of desperate improvisation. Before they overtook the dusty foot paths and rocky roads of eastern Congo, men carried produce to market in wheelbarrows. No one is certain when chikudus were invented, or by whom, but locals agree they appeared after independence from colonial Belgium in 1960. By then bicycles and motorcycles had reached Congo, and chikudu makers tried to replicate their functionality. (Simon Maina/AFP/Getty Images)


A major snow storm brought blizzard conditions to the Boston area on January 12, 2011, but it didn't interrupt Marvin Wang's bike commute. (Dina Rudick/Globe Staff)


Indian schoolgirls ride on a bicycle rickshaw during a break in the monsoon rains near the Jama Masjid mosque in New Delhi on August 5, 2011. (Kevin Frayer/Associated Press)


Mechanical Engineer Daniel Ratner demonstrates the StreetView Trike used as a mapping resource by the StreetView team at Google in Mountain View, Calif. on April 12, 2011. Ratner created the prototype for the bicycle. (Marcio Jose Sanchez/Associated Press)


Dutch-speaking Leon Zoetebier (right) and French-speaking Franz Coquidor bicycle in opposite directions in the streets of Brussels on January 27, 2011 to highlight Belgium's problems bridging the gulf between the Dutch-speaking north and French-speaking south. (Georges Gobet/AFP/Getty Images)


Acrobats stack themselves up on a bicycle during a celebration for the new year in Beijing on December 31, 2011. (Liu Jin/AFP/Getty Images)


A woman rides on the handlebars of a bicycle as she takes part in May Day protests organized by the Occupy Toronto and the No One Is Illegal groups in Toronto on May 1, 2012. (Mark Blinch/Reuters)


A Thai man rides with his son on a custom-built tricycle designed for floodwaters in Bangkok on October 28, 2011 as the Chao Phraya river coursing through the capital swelled to record highs. (Aaron Favila/Associated Press)


Paul Reubens, in character as Pee-wee Herman, arrives via bicycle on water to receive the Visionary Award at the 2011 Scream Awards on October 15, 2011 in Los Angeles. (Chris Pizzello/Associated Press)


Biological analyst Alan Dowden of the Seattle Sperm Bank rides the Sperm Bike, a custom-designed, high-tech bicycle used to deliver donated sperm to fertility clinics in Seattle on November 8, 2011. (Anthony Bolante/Reuters)


One of many Velomobiles, recumbent bicycles with sleek, colorful outer shells, heads for the open road in Portland, Ore. on July 28, 2011. Twenty five riders rode to Washington D.C. to spread the message that sustainable, clean transportation can be fun. (Rick Bowmer/Associated Press)


An employee of Japan's Murata Manufacturing Co. presents the company's bicycle-riding robot "Murata Seisaku-kun" at an electronics show in Chiba, Japan on October 4, 2011. (Kim Kyung-Hoon/Reuters)


An elderly Chinese man rides his micro-bike in Beijing on October 22, 2011. (Mark Ralston/AFP/Getty Images)


Zhang Yali tests a giant bicycle designed and made by him and his friends in Jilin, China on December 25, 2011. The bike weighs over a ton. (China Daily/Reuters)


German bike designer Dieter "Didi" Senft, aka El Diabolo during the Tour de France, presents his latest bicycle invention, the so-called '111-twelve-teeth-rake-bicycle' in Storkow, Germany on March 12, 2012. The bicycle is made of 111 garden rakes. (Patrick Pleul/AFP/Getty Images)


A young visitor admires a model of a solar bicycle on display at the 2011 Taipei World Design Expo on October 22, 2011. (Patrick Lin/AFP/Getty Images)


A man lies on the ground surrounded by candles to symbolize cyclists being hit by vehicles during an annual cycling tour in honor of bikers killed in road accidents in Mexico City on May 18, 2011. 24,000 cyclists die in road accidents throughout Mexico each year. (Jorge Dan Lopez/Reuters)


Cyclists take part in the "World Naked Bike Ride" in Sao Paulo on March 10, 2012. The event aims to defend the right of cyclists to ride on the streets in safety. (Nacho Doce/Reuters)


Cyclists wear costumes on the 13th Tour of the Fireflies in suburban Pasig, Philippines on April 17, 2011. The event aimed to promote environmental awareness and push bicycle riding as a means to minimize pollution. (Aaron Favila/Associated Press)


Cyclists stand behind their foldable bicycles as they prepare to ride along Victoria Harbour in support of a new cycle path in Hong Kong on December 17, 2011. (Antony Dickson/AFP/Getty Images)


Pickwick Bicycle club members stand near Charles Dickens' birthplace on February 7, 2012 in Portsmouth, England to celebrate the bicentenary of his birth. (Peter Macdiarmid/Getty Images)


A man rides a bicycle carrying boxes of expanded polystyrene in downtown Shanghai on July 26, 2011. (Carlos Barria/Reuters)


A man rides his bike on the frozen river Elbe in Dresden on February 2, 2012. (Robert Michael/AFP/Getty Images)


A woman rides a bicycle in Amsterdam on February 3, 2012. Temperatures plunged to new lows in Europe where a week-long cold snap claimed more than 222 lives. (Robin Utrecht/AFP/Getty Images)


A fruit vendor on a bicycle travels next to people on motor scooters in Ho Chi Minh City on April 3, 2012. (Nick Ut/Associated Press)


A man admires an art work entitled "Forever Bicycles" by Chinese dissident artist Ai Weiwei at the Taipei Fine Art Museum on October 28, 2011. (Sam Yeh/AFP/Getty Images)


An employee looks out of a window of a bicycle shop and rental station, which has been decorated with some one hundred old bikes on April 6, 2011 in Altlandsberg, Germany. (Patrick Pleul/AFP/Getty Images)


South Africans light up a Baobab tree by riding bikes in Durban on November 30, 2011 as part of a renewable energies display. (Alexander Joe/AFP/Getty Images)


A girl cycles on a power generating bike at the Occupy camp in Finsbury Square on February 29, 2012 in London. (Peter Macdiarmid/Getty Images)


Students practice sight-reading while riding exercise bikes in the Conestoga Elementary school in Gillette, Wyo. on November 22, 2011. Students are free to take a turn doing their assignments on one of the six stationary bikes in the back of the room. (Reiley Wooten/Gillette News Record/Associated Press)


Tourists ride an ice sled as they visit Zizhuyuan Park in Beijing on January 3, 2012. (China Daily/Reuters)


Mike Montgomery falls from his bike during the best trick event at a winter games event on February 11, 2012 in Vail, Colo. (Daniel Petty/The Denver Post/Associated Press)#


Green Bay Packers players make their way to NFL football training camp on bikes on July 30, 2011 in Green Bay, Wis. The ride is a tradition with the team, as players borrow children's bikes and ride with the kids to practice. (Morry Gash/Associated Press)#


Felix Girola waves to people as he takes his self-made bicycle for a spin through downtown Havana on May 18, 2012. Girola says his bike measures 11 feet tall. (Franklin Reyes/Associated Press)#


Double amputee private Steve Richardson demonstrates his adapted bike as members of the Help For Heroes team of wounded service personnel who will compete in the Race Across America this June is announced at Tedworth House on April 20, 2012 in Tidworth, England. The team will cycle 3051 miles across 12 states and cover a distance which is 30 percent longer than the Tour de France, but complete it in roughly half the time. (Matt Cardy/Getty Images)#


100-year-old cyclist Robert Marchand of France gets on his bike to set a world record for cycling non-stop for one hour at the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) velodrome in Aigle, Switzerland on February 17, 2012. Marchand, born November 26, 1911, cycled 24.251 km (15 miles) around the 200 meter indoor track to set the record. (Denis Balibouse/Reuters)#


A competitor negotiates a wallride during the Valparaiso Cerro Abajo urban downhill mountain bike race in Valparaiso, Chile on February 19, 2012. (Eliseo Fernandez/Reuters)#


Riders battle in a chariot race at Chariot Wars during a three-day Mini Bike Winter Olympics on February 18, 2012, in Portland, Ore. Armed, variously, with all manner of foam-padded apparatus, teams battled for the “Ben Hurt” trophy. (Rick Bowmer/Associated Press)#


Canadian cyclist Ryder Hesjedal (right) and Spanish rider Joaquim Rodriguez ride on Passo dello Stelvio on the 20th stage of the Tour of Italy (Giro d'Italia) on May 26, 2012. Hesjedal became the first Canadian to win the Giro. (Daniele Badolato/AFP/GettyImages)#


A man dressed as the Easter Bunny rides a Velib public bicycle in Paris on April 5, 2012. (Benoit Tessier/Reuters)#


Models practice with their bicycles for London Fashion Week in London on February 17, 2012. (Leon Neal/AFP/Getty Images)#


A couple on a bicycle coast down a hill past farm fields outside the eastern coastal city of Wonsan, North Korea on October 6, 2011. (David Guttenfelder/Associated Press)#


A boy rides on the back of a bicycle amid dense fog on a cold morning in Lahore on January 18, 2012. (Mohsin Raza/Reuters)#


Children ride their bikes across Fishing Creek on April 3, 2012 in Rupert, Pa. (Jimmy May/Bloomsburg Press Enterprise/Associated Press)#


A cyclist rides his bike at a skateboard park on May 22, 2012 in Austin. (Eric Gay/Associated Press)#