exploration

Photos of an Abandoned Underground Ammo Factory in Albania

In the 1960s and ‘70s, the town of Poliçan was one of the largest and most important armaments centers in Albania. For security reasons, most information about the site was top secret and the town itself was closed to foreigners.

Photographer Uncovers the Soviet Underworld Below Tbilisi, Georgia

Beneath the streets of Tbilisi lies a network of tunnels, bomb shelters, and Soviet-era chambers that many locals know nothing about. Over the past several months, photographer David Tabagari has been exploring this silent underworld with extraordinary results.

A Closer Look at the Mars Perseverance Rover’s Incredible Cameras

The Mars Perseverance Rover, which already has sent back some incredible images from the Red Planet, is equipped with 23 cameras designed for a host of tasks. Its main camera array is particularly impressive, able to see details as small as a tip of a pencil close by, and the size of an almond from a football field away in 3D.

New Photos Show Water Ice on Mars

The European Space Agency (ESA) has released an eye-opening pair of new photos that show a massive crater of water ice on Mars. The crater measures 51 miles (83km) across and contains a 1.1-mile-thick (1.8km) mound of water ice all year round.

This Photo Shows an Ice Cave Being Lit by a Flare

Here's a beautiful and mind-bending photo captured by photographer Daniel Kordan. While at first glance it might look like some kind of Photoshopped composite showing a river under a sunset with unusual clouds, it's actually a photo of an ice cave being illuminated by a flare.

15 Photos of Abandoned Bedrooms I Found While Exploring

The bedroom is one of the most personal spaces in a house, hotel, or any other kind of building. It’s a place where my imagination can go wild. When I stand in an abandoned bedroom I’d like to think, "What happened here?."

Photographer Sneaks Into Radioactive Ghost Towns in Fukushima

After the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant was devastated by the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami, the nuclear disaster caused a major evacuation and the creation of an exclusion zone around the old plant. Five years later, a photographer has ventured into the zone to deliver photos to the outside world.

The History and Explosion of Lens Flare

Lens flare was once considered a problem in filmmaking and something that should be prevented with well designed lenses and special coatings, but now it's something that's embraced and seemingly in every movie that hits the silver screen. How and why did this change happen?

Photog Documented Being Stranded in the Antarctic Nearly 100 Years Ago

If you ever need some encouragement for sticking with photography when times get tough, you should read about the adventures of Frank Hurley. Born in Australia in 1885, he took up photography as a young man and eventually became skilled enough to be selected as the official photographer for multiple expeditions to Antarctica and for the Australian military in both world wars. Among his many photographic escapades, one stands out from among the rest: being stranded in the Antarctic for nearly two years.