Reach For The Sky
Ever since the dawn of time (well, the dawn of the internet at least), the interaction between animals and our technology has been an endless source of amusement and wonder. Just think of cats running up and down computer keyboards and dogs watching their favorite TV shows. The way they react is funny not just because it's adorable, but because in their minds, they have no idea what this strange human thing is.
This shot almost perfectly sums it up, with this giraffe looking on and wondering what on earth this giant metal bird could be, and what on earth it's doing out there in the savanna. What makes it better is the split-second perfection of the shot, so the giraffe actually looks like it's gone over to nuzzle the plane and find out what it's all about. Either that or it really is a 50ft giraffe and we should all be very, very afraid.
Breaking Free
As far as recent advancements have taken us, we still really don't understand the brain and how it works. Take optical illusions, for example. It doesn't matter how rational we are - our eyes and brains can still trick us into believing something that we know, deep down, can't possibly be right. When you're a kid and you can fit a far-off mountain between your thumb and forefinger, all sensible sense of scale goes right out the window.
The same goes for this astonishing photo, where the photographer has just managed to line up the far-off boat in foggy San Fran through the gap in the chain-link fence. Now, we know that that boat is not a tiny bath toy. And if we look to the bridge for comparison, we can just about convince ourselves of that fact. But here, just for a second, through the hole in the fence, it looks like a boat made for ants.
Triple Axel With A Surprise Twist
Lots of us have been glued to the Winter Olympics every four years, so we know just how difficult it is to perform out there on the ice. Figure-skating ranks right up there as one of the hardest sports around, and even without wardrobe malfunctions like Yura Min's, there's the potential for so many slips, spills, and red-faced embarrassments.
That's not even mentioning when they get it right, and perform moves that are so sexy, and so incredibly awkward, that you'd be laughed right out of the bedroom if you tried them at home. Combine that with a deeply unfortunate angle, like in this photo, and you've got a recipe for hilarious moments. Let's not ignore the look of sheer surprise on her face, either.
Striking Beauty
Living in a such a modernized world as we do, it's so easy to forget the sheer beauty and raw power of unbridled nature. Sure, we get the odd hurricane and earthquake, but they're over in a couple of days and forgotten by the world a week later. Part of it, of course, is that it's so difficult to really capture true natural phenomenon at its peak.
David Attenborough and his film crew might make it look like the easiest thing in the world, but a photo like this, showing the brutal fury of a lightning strike right as it happens, is incredibly rare. For the photographer to be in the right place and the right time to get this kind of shot is nothing short of astounding.
Blending In
Okay, so this one's not exactly a "right time, right place" kind of deal. It's a little bit more posed than that. But still, it does need a certain kind of skill (and plenty of patience) to be able to set up a shot like this. Not to mention it's gotta line up with that fickle surf at the beach. Do you know hard that is to do?
The result is nothing short of stunning, of course. If you squint really hard, it looks like it's just her head emerging from the waves. It also raises an interesting question, which you may have overlooked. Are the clothes she's wearing blue and gold, or are they white and black? Just kidding. We're not starting that madness all over again.
Dragon Dog
Dogs, as they say, are man's best friend. But if you think about it, is that really true? What do they really do but poop everywhere, bring stinky dead animals into the house, sit around licking their nether regions, and look at you with those eyes, expecting nothing but praise? Let's face it - dogs are pretty useless. It's a one-way friendship, and they've been coasting on our unconditional love for far too long.
We could easily think of a few ways that dogs could start lifting their weight in the relationship. Do our dishes, for example, and not just when we leave them lying around on the floor. Change the TV channel for us. Open our beers. Give us a back rub after a hard day at the office. Light our barbecues for us. Well, at least this dog has taken some initiative on that last one.
The Mysterious Sky Egg
History books will all claim that it was the Wright brothers that basically invented heavier-than-air flight. The history books are all wrong. Humans really aren't that clever. Aircraft weren't created - they were discovered. In fact, we have no idea how planes work. They just hatch from giant sky eggs, laid by bigger mommy planes, and we have to tame them before we can put them into regular service.
Didn't find that joke funny? Well, how about some actual facts then. This picture isn't, in fact, an FA-18 Hornet just emerging from its egg. The cloud is actually what happens when an aircraft reaches supersonic speed (i.e. faster than the speed of sound), and the expanding supersonic boom it leaves in its wake compresses the moist air, forming a spherical cloud. There you go. The first explanation was way more fun, wasn't it?
Golden Goal
Some photos, while well timed, you can just pass off as a funny joke. Others - like this one - transcend the boundary of mere gimmick and become something almost iconic. Anyone can make a shot, through some perspective trickery, where the person is bigger than something in the background. You've all seen people "holding up" the Eiffel Tower - yawn. This is something better.
It's the combination of the low burning sun, the pure red background, and the balance of the figure in front that does. This is football, but not as you know it, and it wouldn't look out of place in a World Cup advertisement. It's especially poignant when you consider the relatively poor backgrounds of many of football's brightest stars. They really are juggling heaven and earth to make it to the big league.
Across The Moon
Pure fake, you say. PHOTOSHOP, you scream. And yeah, at first glance this looks like something a 13-year-old kid did on the school computer. But we're here to tell you that it's not. This outrageous shot is 100% genuine - just pure luck and a hot little shutter finger. Just think about it. How many planes pass us by overhead, every day?
The answer to that is "a lot". But then how many of those are only at night? And how many of those are twin prop? And how many of those will cross directly over the face of the moon? And many of those will do so in a way that they're only showing the underside of the fuselage? And how many people in the world are right there with a telephoto lens zoomed in, ready to capture that exact moment?
When Birds Attack
Alfred Hitchcock really tried, but even despite his 1963 thriller The Birds, no-one really finds our feathered friends all that scary. Maybe an enraged swan could do some damage, but anything smaller than that is never going to pose a threat for us big humans. What are they going to do, peck us to death? Beat us about the face with their tiny wings?
Nope, birds aren't scary. That is, unless they decide to band together and form a creature much bigger than themselves. One that strikes terror into the hearts of us puny mortals. Like a tyrannosaurus rex. Like a jaguar. Like... a dolphin? Come on guys, that's still not even close to being scary. You're going to have to do way better than that.
Putting On The Afterburners
Now this is more like it. If you're a bird and you want to terrify, forget about arranging your flock into animal shapes. All you have to do is upgrade your flight gear. Nothing says ferocious raptor like wing decals, a new nose cone, or even titanium alloy feathers. Or you could just be like this bird and install supersonic jet turbines to your very talons.
All jokes aside, the sheer coincidence of this photo is incredible. To have that eagle line up exactly with not one, but two aircraft contrails is almost unbelievable. This is one of those photos where you're sure they just wanted to take a photo of a bird, but this somehow happened. It's all just boiled down to pure dumb luck.
Open Wide
A friend of ours used to live on the outskirts of a small Canadian town. Quite often she would leave for work with her door unlocked, because she more or less knew everybody and knew that it was a safe and crime-free place. She didn't have to worry. One day, though, she returned to find her place completely trashed. Her front door had been opened, everything torn apart, her fridge ripped open and everything eaten, and a big old bear poo in the middle of her living room.
The moral of the story? Bears are just like humans. They know how to turn a door handle, and they sure as hell know a ripe opportunity when they see one. Sure, out in the wild, they'll hunt that salmon with all of their keen senses and whip-sharp reflexes. But if a salmon just jumps out and lands straight in their mouth? Well, just like us they're not going to say no to a free lunch.
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