HE PUT A camera in a carcass and waited for the wolves to come.

That, says Whitney Johnson, director of visuals and immersive experiences, is the kind of effort that makes for a standout National Geographic photo.

How does she choose 100 photos from 106 photographers, 121 stories, and more than two million images taken over the course of a year?

I count on my great photo editors, says Johnson.

One of her favourite images is the lead photo of the Mona Lisa because it reflects what Johnson calls the magic of what makes photography hardshowing something familiar in a new way. It also speaks to what happens behind the scenesthe photo editor getting access while the museum was closedand behind the lens, that charmed combination of luck, accident, and a photographer really seeing the moment.

There are many such moments here, from military exercises in a warming Arctic and Rwandan schoolgirls flexing their muscles to Alex Honnold climbing El Capitans sheer face without ropes. Johnson calls that particular photo run a whole stretch of strength across space and time.

With Californias Yosemite Valley far beneath him, Alex Honnold free soloswhich means climbing without ropes or safety gearup a crack on the 914-metre southwest face of El Capitan. Before he accomplished the feat on June 3, 2017, Honnold spent nearly a decade thinking about the climb and more than a year and a half planning and training for it.PHOTOGRAPH BY JIMMY CHIN

Time is reflected in other ways too. Theres the frozen body of Susan Potter, a woman determined to donate her body to medical education, a story carefully shepherded for 17 years by photo editor Kurt Mutchler. And theres the heartbreaking photo of Sudan, the last male northern white rhinoceros, as he lay dying.

But there is also so much joy: captive songbirds released to the sky and Japans obsession with all things kawaii (cute and cuddly). And so much strangeness.

The image that speaks most to me is that of an orphaned young giraffe, its long neck draped over its human caregiver in what looks to be a loving hug. The giraffe now runs free with a wild herd. When exploring these pictures, we all might hear from our own internal photo editor, the voice inside us that tells us to pause, asking us to take a closer look.

An orphaned giraffe nuzzles a caregiver at Sarara Camp in northern Kenya. Samburu cattle herders found the abandoned calf and alerted Sararaknown for raising orphaned mammals and returning them to their habitat. The young giraffe now lives with a wild herd.PHOTOGRAPH BY AMI VITALE

Petronella Chigumbura, a member of the Akashingaa nonprofit, all-female anti-poaching unitpractices reconnaissance techniques in the Zimbabwean bush.PHOTOGRAPH BY BRENT STIRTON

A male elephant grabs an evening snack in Mozambiques Gorongosa National Park. Most of the parks elephants were killed for their ivory, used to buy weapons during the nations 15-year civil war, which ended in 1992. With poaching controlled, the population is recovering.PHOTOGRAPH BY CHARLIE HAMILTON JAMES

Issa Diakite, 50, built both his barbell and his home, one of dozens of chabolas clustered near an Andalusian agricultural region in Spain. Originally from Mali, he settled in as a regular fieldworker and now helps other migrants build shacks.PHOTOGRAPH BY AITOR LARA

Cynthia Ikirezi (centre) beams with her fellow prefects, student leaders, at Gashora Girls Academy in Rwanda. Educating girls and preparing them for leadership roles are government priorities to empower women.PHOTOGRAPH BY YAGAZIE EMEZI

Marines have to be able to carry one another if necessary. USMC Cpl. Gabrielle Green hefts a fellow marine as they ready for deployment on a Navy ship at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina. Of the 38,000 recruits who enter the corps each year, about 3,500 are womenor, in USMC phrasing, female marines.PHOTOGRAPH BY LYNSEY ADDARIO

Encased in polyvinyl alcohol, Susan Potters body awaits freezing after she donated her body to science. It was frozen, sawed into four blocks, sliced 27,000 times, and photographed after each cut. The result: a virtual cadaver that will speak to medical students from the grave.PHOTOGRAPH BY LYNN JOHNSON

Canadian soldiers climb on the wreckage of a plane, roughly 1600 kilometres south of the North Pole, to scout the area during an Arctic survival course on Cornwallis Island. As the Arctic warms and tensions over its future rise, the Canadian and U.S. militaries have stepped up operations in the region.PHOTOGRAPH BY LOUIE PALUPHOTOGRAPHY FOR THIS ARTICLE WAS SUPPORTED BY GRANTS FROM THE JOHN SIMON GUGGENHEIM MEMORIAL FOUNDATION AND THE PULITZER CENTER.

Some 400 U.S. soldiers practice parachute jumps near Alaskas Fort Greely. The multinational exercise, which includes Canadian forces, prepares troops for the rigors of large, coordinated operations in extreme cold conditions.PHOTOGRAPH BY LOUIE PALUPHOTOGRAPHY FOR THIS ARTICLE WAS SUPPORTED BY GRANTS FROM THE JOHN SIMON GUGGENHEIM MEMORIAL FOUNDATION AND THE PULITZER CENTER.

Canadian soldiers build an igloo during the high Arctic phase of their training to become Arctic operations advisers. In this part of the program, they learn to travel, survive, and build shelters when they reach the high Arctic.PHOTOGRAPH BY LOUIE PALUPHOTOGRAPHY FOR THIS ARTICLE WAS SUPPORTED BY GRANTS FROM THE JOHN SIMON GUGGENHEIM MEMORIAL FOUNDATION AND THE PULITZER CENTER.

Buyers choose animals at the livestock market and send them to this slaughterhouse in Agadez, Niger, where camels, goats, sheep, and other animals are killed and then sent to butchers who sell the meat.PHOTOGRAPH BY PASCAL MAITRE

In Agadez, Niger, an Izala school educates about 1,300 students. Izala is a back-to-basics Islamic reformist movement that adheres to conservative practices, such as women covering their faces, but also prizes education.PHOTOGRAPH BY PASCAL MAITRE

A teenager is dusted with sand from toiling in a mine. He is one of many Nigeriens who joined the rush for gold in the north, the last hope for jobless men after tourism plunged, uranium mining declined, and a law made transporting migrants a crime.PHOTOGRAPH BY PASCAL MAITRE

Stuck in the desert beyond Agadez, Niger, after their truck broke down, these migrants who are hoping to make it to Libya burn a tire to keep warm.PHOTOGRAPH BY PASCAL MAITRE

Kurdish fighters surround a surrendering woman as ISIS abandons the town of Baghouz, Syria in March. Women who joined or were forced into ISIS need guidance away from an oppressive version of Islam, a Kurdish female fighter says. They understand the religion in the wrong way.PHOTOGRAPH BY LYNSEY ADDARIO

Knight Mai (left) and Florence Stima (right), who are South Sudanese, work at a salon in Uganda's Bidibidi refugee camp. Each makes less than five dollars a week. Small businesses have filled out market areas, but few private companies have tapped into the labour potential of the camp.PHOTOGRAPH BY NORA LOREK

In Tinun, Mexico, Beatriz, 18, combs her son Andrs hair after a bath. Beatriz is a beekeeper and learned the craft from her grandfather Anastacio Balan Osalde, who passed away two days earlier.PHOTOGRAPH BY NADIA SHIRA COHEN

Feeling dizzy and weak six months after giving birth, Zamzam Yousuf, 35, came into a clinic in the village of Habasweyn in Somaliland run by the Edna Adan University Hospital. Her blood pressure was extremely high. Yousuf was treated by student midwife Farduus Mubarak, 22, under the watchful eye of the hospitals founder, Edna Adan Ismail, 81.PHOTOGRAPH BY LYNSEY ADDARIO

Aisha Barka and her daughter, Mariam, hadnt eaten in days when they arrived in an Eritrean refugee camp in 2008, driven from their home by drought, which killed all their animals. After the Eritrean military began abducting young men, people fled for safety across the border into Ethiopia.PHOTOGRAPH BY JOHN STANMEYER

Children nap at a kindergarten in Mongolias Bayanzurkh District. Each room is equipped with an air purifier, in an attempt to lower the level of indoor air pollution. Children are especially vulnerable to poor air quality.PHOTOGRAPH BY MATTHIEU PALEY

Pedestrians, shoppers, and people-watchers stroll on Chuo-dori in Ginza, one of Tokyos busiest destinations. Cars travel on the street during weekdays, but on weekend afternoons a one-mile strip is closed to traffic and becomes a promenade. Cafs, high-end boutiques, and street performers attract local residents and visitors.PHOTOGRAPH BY DAVID GUTTENFELDER

Young men from Niger and elsewhere wait in a migrant ghetto in Agadez, Niger, for a caravan to Libya. With low life expectancy, limited educational opportunities, and a high poverty rate, Niger ranks at the bottom of the UNs Human Development Index.PHOTOGRAPH BY PASCAL MAITRE

Sal Thegal dressed like a hot dog at the Minnesota State Fair on Friday, August 23, 2019.PHOTOGRAPH BY ACKERMAN + GRUBER

Jorge Castellon, an employee at the Saguaro Hotel in Palm Springs, California, poses with a fan (used for dancing) in May 2019. When not working at the Saguaro, Castellon is a professional dancer and dance instructor. Palm Springs is like a paradiseits heaven on earth, says Castellon. The people who come here are unique and visit with a purpose, to have fun. Were just here to play!PHOTOGRAPH BY JENNIFER EMERLING

Patricia Frazier carries the flag of Benin, the modern nation once ruled by the king of Dahomey, who sold 110 captives to the captain of the Clotildathe last known ship to bring enslaved Africans to American shores. If they find that ship, I think it will make people more aware of our history, says Frazier before the vessel was found. Sometimes you need something tangible to spur those memories.PHOTOGRAPH BY ELIAS WILLIAMS

Malaysia, 40, poses for a story about the Stonewall riots of 1969 that sparked riots and 50 years of a national LGBTQ civil rights movement. In life things tend to show you not your wants but your needs. And, transitioning into Malaysia ... has opened up a world of acceptance for me. Because now I am comfortable, and I've never been this comfortable in my life.PHOTOGRAPH BY ROBIN HAMMOND

Joseph Wachira, a keeper at the Ol Pejeta Conservancy in Kenya, says goodbye to Sudan, the last male northern white rhinoceros. Sudan died in 2018. Two females of the subspecies remain.PHOTOGRAPH BY AMI VITALE

A hunter from a village in Indonesia says he delivers pangolins to the city of Surabaya on a weekly basis. Pangolins are protected by national laws in the countries where theyre found, and international commercial trade in them is banned. Even so, poaching and trafficking are major threats to pangolins survival.PHOTOGRAPH BY BRENT STIRTON

A Temmincks ground pangolin named Tamuda searches for a meal of ants or termites at a rehabilitation center in Zimbabwe. He was rescued from illegal wildlife traders, who likely would have smuggled his scales to Asia for use in traditional remedies.PHOTOGRAPH BY BRENT STIRTON

Late in the dry season, a remnant pool in the Mussicadzi River channel attracts a mob of hungry birds, including storks, egrets, and hammerkops, along with a couple of thirsty waterbuck in Mozambique's Gorongosa National Park. Gorongosas avian richness swells further in the wet season, when nomads arrive to feed.PHOTOGRAPH BY CHARLIE HAMILTON JAMES

A crocodile rests in Mozambiques Gorongosa National Park, where wildlifes future depends on humans livelihoods.PHOTOGRAPH BY CHARLIE HAMILTON JAMES

Once or twice a month during Costa Ricas rainy season, female olive ridley sea turtles come ashore by the tens of thousands and lay eggs in a mass nesting event known as an arribada. Hatchlings begin emerging about 45 days later.PHOTOGRAPH BY THOMAS P. PESCHAK

Wolves in the Canadian Arctic pick at the remains of a muskox. To get this image, photographer Ronan Donovan placed a camera trap inside the carcass. The pack returned to feed on and off for a month.PHOTOGRAPH BY RONAN DONOVAN

All clear? A New York City rat peeks out from a stormwater catch basin.PHOTOGRAPH BY CHARLIE HAMILTON JAMES

Two rats at India's Karni Mata Temple box to determine which is dominant. Rats are social animals that take good care of their offspring. Studies show they will free a fellow rat from a small cageeven if it means giving up a treat. This suggests to some researchers that rats feel empathy.PHOTOGRAPH BY CHARLIE HAMILTON JAMES

Behind netting, a polar bear dances at the Circus on Ice in Kazan, Russia. Performing polar bears are extremely rare. The shows four bears wear metal muzzles, and their trainer, Yulia Denisenko, carries a metal rod. Between tricks, the bears lie down and rub themselves on the ice.PHOTOGRAPH BY KIRSTEN LUCE

Confiscated songbirds that were seized from illegal owners are released after weeks in a rehab aviary where they strengthened their wings and learned to fly again.PHOTOGRAPH BY KARINE AIGNER

Inmates at the San Francisco Gotera prison who have renounced their gang ties pray together. Prison-based evangelical churches in El Salvador are growing.PHOTOGRAPH BY MOISES SAMAN

Thousands of migratory songbirds are caught around Florida each year to supply a thriving illegal market. Before seized birds are released back into the wild by law enforcement, they are put in an aviary for several weeks where they learn how to fly again as well as how to find new food.PHOTOGRAPH BY KARINE AIGNER

Clay, Daniel, and Enzo, three of 39 tigers rescued from an animal park in Oklahoma, gather at a pool at the Wild Animal Sanctuary in Keenesburg, Colorado. These cats will live out their lives here, with proper nutrition and vet care.PHOTOGRAPH BY STEVE WINTER

Nine of 24 lions are darted and flown from Tembe and Mkuze game reserves in Kwazulu Natal, South Africa, to Mozambique in June 2018. The wild lions will be released into the Zambeze Delta there. The move is the largest conservation transport of wild lions across an international boundary in history. A hundred years ago, there were over 200,000 wild lions living in Africa.PHOTOGRAPH BY AMI VITALE

Lions that were released and collared in a remote region of the 4,500-square-kilometer Zambeze Delta area of Mozambique lounge in the early morning mist. Mozambiques wildlife was decimated by the countrys civil war and subsequent poaching in the past 20 years. Today, leading researchers estimate Africa's lion population to be 20,000 or less, with lions now extinct in 26 African countries. Mozambique's ecosystem has made a remarkable recoveryexcept for its lions.PHOTOGRAPH BY AMI VITALE

Shadows form over the Deser-est Motor Lodge in Ely, Nevada. Before it was known as the Loneliest Road in America, Route 50 was a thruway during the 1850s gold rush.PHOTOGRAPH BY MATHIAS SVOLD

In northwestern Colombia, hunters have long employed their own form of camouflage: masks made of broad, sturdy leaves known as hojancha. These masks are used in order to sneak up on turtles and other game animals such as wading and migratory birds. Hunting is still a vital activity for subsistence farmers in the region.PHOTOGRAPH BY GENA STEFFENS

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