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Whooper Swans, Japan
Photograph by Stefano Unterthiner, National Geographic
Innocence, purity, peace. The color white evokes images of everything from brides to blizzards, from cleanliness to a blank canvas. Its meaning in culture and custom throughout history is as varied as its range of shades. See how white shows up in the unexpected and the everyday in this gallery.
Here, whooper swans take flight above a frozen landscape in Japan. The swans take off mostly on water, but can also do so on solid ground, using a short run and beating their massive wings to achieve liftoff.
(For more pictures of the amazing colors of our world, buy the National Geographic book Life in Color.)
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Churchgoers, French Polynesia
Photograph by Jodi Cobb, National Geographic
Women wear white dresses and hats during a Sunday sermon in Papeete, Tahiti, French Polynesia's steamy capital. Worshipers sit in same-sex groups, blending their voices in rousing himenes—Tahitian-style hymns.
(For more pictures of the amazing colors of our world, buy the National Geographic book Life in Color.)
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Laundry, Armenia
Photograph by Jodi Cobb
Laundry dries on a line outside a house in Armenia. The mountainous and landlocked country is the smallest of the former Soviet republics.
(For more pictures of the amazing colors of our world, buy the National Geographic book Life in Color.)
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Horses, Montana
Photograph by William Albert Allard, National Geographic
A saddle leaves an impression on a white horse in Montana. Horses are an iconic symbol of the American West.
(For more pictures of the amazing colors of our world, buy the National Geographic book Life in Color.)
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Whirling Dervishes, Turkey
Photograph by James L. Stanfield, National Geographic
A ritual dance of the Sufi sect, a mystical branch of Islam, is performed in Istanbul to commemorate the death of 13th-century poet and philosopher Jalal ad-Din Rumi. Practitioners of the dance, a Sufi form of prayer, were dubbed "whirling dervishes" by early European travelers.
(For more pictures of the amazing colors of our world, buy the National Geographic book Life in Color.)
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Canada Glacier, Antarctica
Photograph by George Steinmetz
The Canada Glacier looms at the edge of Lake Fryxell in Antarctica. The glacier is in a region of the continent known as the McMurdo Dry Valleys.
(For more pictures of the amazing colors of our world, buy the National Geographic book Life in Color.)
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Fashion Show, New York
Photograph by William Albert Allard, National Geographic
Sheer white fabric trails a model as she walks the runway during the year-end show at New York’s Fashion Institute of Technology. The annual springtime show presents the work of fourth-year students of fashion design.
(For more pictures of the amazing colors of our world, buy the National Geographic book Life in Color.)
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Flowering Dogwood, California
Photograph by Michael Melford, National Geographic
A flowering dogwood’s white blossoms create a veil over California’s Merced River. Since 1987 more than 115 miles of the river have been protected under the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act.
(For more pictures of the amazing colors of our world, buy the National Geographic book Life in Color.)
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Asaro Mudmen, Papua New Guinea
Photograph by Jodi Cobb, National Geographic
Asaro Mudmen gather at an annual tribal sing-sing at Garoka in Papua New Guinea. The island country is home to some 700 Papuan and Melanesian tribes, each with its own language.
(For more pictures of the amazing colors of our world, buy the National Geographic book Life in Color.)
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King Cobra Eggs, India
Photograph by Steve Winter, National Geographic
A shadow falls over a cache of king cobra eggs seized from poachers by guards at India’s Kaziranga National Park. The park was established in 1908 primarily to protect rhinos and now shelters an array of threatened wildlife.
(For more pictures of the amazing colors of our world, buy the National Geographic book Life in Color.)
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Solar Panels, Spain
Photograph by Michael Melford, National Geographic
Mirrors catch sunlight at a solar field in southern Spain. Known as heliostats, the panels track the sun and reflect sunlight onto receivers at the top of a solar power tower.
(For more pictures of the amazing colors of our world, buy the National Geographic book Life in Color.)
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Portrait, Japan
Photograph by Karen Kasmauski, National Geographic
A woman wears traditional bridal attire in Japan. Many ancient customs endure in the island nation.
(For more pictures of the amazing colors of our world, buy the National Geographic book Life in Color.)
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Photograph by Michael Melford, National Geographic
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