Photo of the Day: Best of September 2009

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Iowa Derby Car Jump

Photograph by Joel Sartore

Iowa's derby stunts are always a blast: Gregory "Dr. Danger" Carpenter performed the Suicide Car Jump—a 50-foot, 60 mile-an-hour leap from a flaming ramp into a four-stack of junked cars—38 times last year, with three hospital trips and no life or health insurance. Despite cracked bones and burns, "I squeak by each time," he says.

See more photographs from the July 2009 National Geographic feature story "Top Ten State Fair Joys."

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Northern Spotted Owl

Photograph by Michael Nichols, National Geographic

A tagged northern spotted owl swoops toward a researcher’s lure in a young redwood forest.

See more photographs from the October 2009 National Geographic feature story "Redwoods."

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Candle Spruces at Night, Finland

Photograph by Peter Essick

Candle spruces stand frozen before a backdrop of the northern lights, shimmering above Oulanka, one of Finland's best loved national parks.

See more photographs from the June 2009 National Geographic feature story "Northern Light."

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Manta Rays, Hanifaru Bay, Maldives

Photograph by Thomas Peshak

Graceful and efficient, 2,000-pound mantas feed on Indian Ocean krill as silversides swirl around them in Hanifaru Bay in the Maldives.

See more photographs from the July 2009 National Geographic feature story "Feeding Frenzy."

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Cavern Explorer, Tennessee

Photograph by Stephen Alvarez

Underground you can still be the first person on Earth to take the small step, or the giant leap. This Tennessee cavern, christened Indianapolis by its premiere explorer, was only discovered last year.

See more photographs from the June 2009 National Geographic feature story "Deep South."

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King Penguins in Moonlight

Photograph by Stefano Unterthiner

As sure as moonrise over Possession Island, king penguins gather each year for "ecstatic display." Puffing their chests, lifting their heads, and belting out calls, birds of both sexes advertise themselves. Before long, pairs form and join a crowd, and breeding season is on.

See more photographs from the September 2009 feature story "Every Bird a King."

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King Spider Orchid

Photograph by Christian Ziegler

Following a perfume trail to its source, male wasps in Australia ravish a king spider orchid. Sure the red "lip" is a mate, they rub against it; one will take away the plant's pollen. Every orchid has a petal modified for pollination, some theatrically so.

See more photographs from the September 2009 National Geographic feature story "Love and Lies."

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Freshwater Dolphin, Amazon

Photograph by Kevin Schafer

Imagined lords of a golden underwater city—the Encante—Amazon dolphins, or botos, may have been shielded from exploitation by their mythical status.

See more photographs from the June 2009 feature story "River Spirits."

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Iron Hoop Cave, Alabama

Photograph by Stephen Alvarez

Millennia in the making, fantastical chambers like this are decorated by the infinitely slow accumulation of minerals (chiefly calcite) deposited by water dripping through rock. Encounters with such rare and fragile beauty are highly prized.

See more photographs from the June 2009 National Geographic feature story "Deep South."

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