You’ve seen them. The images that make you stop scrolling and actually breathe for a second. Every year, National Geographic drops its curated selection of the absolute best photography on the planet, and honestly, the Nat Geo picture of the year for 2025 is less about "pretty shots" and more about high-stakes survival.
It's easy to look at a glossy photo and think, "Nice timing." But the reality? It usually involves a photographer shivering in a blind for three weeks or nearly getting eaten by a polar bear.
The Shot Everyone is Talking About
If we’re being real, the "winner" in the court of public opinion this year is Roie Galitz’s haunting drone shot from the Arctic. It’s a bit gruesome. A massive sperm whale carcass is floating in the Svalbard pack ice, and right on top of it, a female polar bear is tearing into the leathery skin.
Galitz described the smell as a "noxious gas," basically like a giant, rotting air cushion. Most people look at the Nat Geo picture of the year and see a nature documentary moment. What they don't see is the photographer on an icebreaker, fighting the wind to keep a drone steady while the air smells like death. It’s an epic, messy reality of a warming Arctic where sperm whales—usually found in warmer waters—are ending up as bear snacks in the north.
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Why this matters right now
- Climate shifts: Species are moving into territories they never used to touch.
- Survival: That bear got a lucky break, but the whale's presence there is a red flag for scientists.
- Technology: We’re seeing angles (thanks to drones) that were physically impossible ten years ago.
The Secret Technique of Stephen Wilkes
Then you have Stephen Wilkes. This guy doesn’t just "take a picture." He basically lives in one spot for 18 to 36 hours. For his contribution to the Nat Geo picture of the year collection, he set up in Botswana’s Okavango Delta during a brutal drought.
He takes about 1,500 individual photos from the exact same angle as the sun moves across the sky. Then, he layers the best 50 moments into one frame. You see elephants, zebras, and hippos all interacting in a way that looks like a Renaissance painting. It’s called the "Day to Night" technique. It’s not AI. It’s not a composite of different places. It’s the "compressed time" of one single location. Honestly, the level of patience required for that would drive most of us insane.
What Most People Get Wrong About the Selection
There's a common myth that the Nat Geo picture of the year is a single "first place" trophy. It’s actually more of a curated retrospective. For 2025, the editors whittled down over two million images to just 25 definitive shots.
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They aren't looking for the highest resolution or the most expensive camera gear. They want "arresting visual images" that stop you in your tracks. This year, that included things like:
- Brian Skerry’s Great White: The first underwater shot of a Great White shark in Maine. He was four feet away. Four. Feet.
- Anand Varma’s Embryo: A 12-day-old bird embryo where you can still see the egg yolk but the bird is clearly there. He actually incubated embryos in artificial shells to get this.
- The Great Green Wall: Miora Rajaonary’s shot of women in Senegal fighting desertification. It’s a human story about a 5,000-mile line of trees.
The Human Element You Probably Missed
We tend to focus on the animals, but the human narratives in the Nat Geo picture of the year 2025 are arguably more intense. Take Justin Cliffe’s grand prize-winning shot from the Traveller category. It’s a simple, intimate moment of a woman in Vietnam’s Lào Cai province embroidering with her great-granddaughter.
It’s not flashy. There are no exploding volcanoes or sharks. But the judges loved it because of the "warmth and connection." In a world where everything feels digital and fast, a photo of a generational skill being passed down feels... well, it feels heavy. In a good way.
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How to actually get your work noticed
If you’re a photographer hoping to make the cut someday, the judges (like the legendary Kathy Moran) are looking for ethics as much as aesthetics. You can't use drones to harass animals at their dens. You can't use artificial lights that blind the subjects. Basically, if you mess with the animal to get the shot, you’re disqualified.
Beyond the Frame: Actionable Insight
Looking at these photos shouldn't just be a passive "wow" moment. The Nat Geo picture of the year is designed to be a wake-up call. Whether it's the nuclear fusion breakthrough captured by Paolo Verzone (the "hottest entity in the solar system" for 43 seconds) or the gene-edited piglets designed for organ transplants, these images represent where we are as a species.
Your Next Steps
Study the metadata. If you want to improve your own photography, don't just look at the colors. Most of these images are published with "behind the lens" stories. Read them. Learn how many hours went into that three-second exposure.
Check the ethical guidelines. If you’re shooting wildlife, familiarize yourself with the "subject first" rule. National Geographic and the Natural History Museum have strict codes of conduct that define professional photography today.
Visit the exhibition. If you can, see these prints in person. A digital screen doesn't do justice to the scale of a Stephen Wilkes composite or the texture of a Red Dao embroidery. The 2025 collection is currently touring major museums—check your local listings for "Pictures of the Year" or "Wildlife Photographer of the Year" showcases.