10 Beautiful Photos from National Geographic's Your Shot Community

Over its 125 year history, National Geographic has published a number of beautiful and iconic photographs (a few of which can be seen in this post we ran last month). Now, the magazine has launched a new photo-sharing platform called Your Shot that allows photography lovers to fulfill virtual assignments with the help of NatGeo photographers and editors. The first assignment, "Explore our Changing World," ends October 22. Here are 10 beautiful images that have been submitted so far; head over to the gallery for the first assignment (curated by NatGeo photographer Cory Richards and editor Sadie Quarrier) to see more.

Photos and captions courtesy of National Geographic and the photographers.

1. Best Shelter Ever

Photograph and caption by Arati Rao, National Geographic Your Shot

"A baby shelters under its mother one late afternoon in Sri Lanka."

2. The File on You Complete

Photograph and caption by Kathryn Nee, National Geographic Your Shot

"A stack of beautiful file cabinets found inside an abandoned factory in Georgia."

3. Weightless

Photograph and caption by Dimitris Maroulakis, National Geographic Your Shot

"Freediver slides peacefully over sea bed in the blue hole area of Vouliagmeni."

4. Ki Monastery, Spiti Valley, India

Photograph and caption by Stuart Edwards, National Geographic Your Shot

"The Ki Monastery is situated high in India's Himalayan region in the remote Spiti Valley. A few hundred Buddhist monks live here permanently, studying and worshiping in probably one of the most serene places I've ever seen."

5. Seagull

Photograph and caption by Junichi Saito, National Geographic Your Shot

"Feeding a seagull."

6. Night of Lightning at Grand Canyon

Photograph and caption by Rolf Maeder, National Geographic Your Shot

"It was such a wonderful experience to witness this beautiful thunderstorm far across the Grand Canyon!"

7. Kabul Balloons

Photograph and caption by Allen Rooke, National Geographic Your Shot

"Whilst on mission in Afghanistan for the World Food Programme, I had to travel the 10kms or so every day from the office to the warehouse complex. Winter in Kabul is cold, wet and usually shrouded in a heavy fog. These lads were walking along the road early in the morning and they made my day."

8. Cloud of Tadpoles

Photograph and caption by Eiko Jones, National Geographic Your Shot

"While photographing lilies in a local swamp a cloud of tadpoles swam by numbering in the thousands, all following along in a trail."

9. People at Prayer

Photograph and caption by Junaid Ahmed, National Geographic Your Shot

"Ijtema is the second largest muslim gatherings in the world after Hazz.The gatherings is so huge that people did not get place at the field to pray jumma prayer and sited themselves at road."

10. Meteorite

Photograph and caption by Noel Kerns, National Geographic Your Shot

"Abandoned farmhouse near Sanger, Texas. 3-minute exposure under a 3/4 moon, f/5.6, ISO 200. Interior of house light-painted with X2000 flashlights."