This Wonderful World

Do yourself a huge favor and perform the following steps:

  1. Click here.
  2. Click on this button good-pictures-button in the upper right.
  3. Spend hours gawking.
    TIP: You can get another batch of photos by clicking more-button at the bottom.

You may have noticed that hardly a post on this blog goes by without some sort of beautiful nature photo being included. I’ve been doing this for years.

The source of most of my photos has been Wikimedia Commons, the media archive behind Wikipedia. Wikimedia Commons is a treasure trove of photographs and other media, organized into a hierarchical structure of categories, and all published under licenses that permit reuse. The instructions above send you to one of my favorite categories (Landscapes by Country) and show you one way of exploring all the riches there.

Here are some examples of what you might find on a journey through that and other categories:

Huangshan sea of clouds. By 颐园新居. CC-BY-SA 4.0.
Huangshan sea of clouds. By 颐园新居. CC-BY-SA 4.0.
Carpathian National Park, Ukraine. By Balkhovitin. CC-BY-SA 3.0.
Carpathian National Park, Ukraine. By Balkhovitin. CC-BY-SA 3.0.
View from Blassenstein mountain near Scheibbs, Austria. By Uoaei1. CC-BY-SA 3.0.
View from Blassenstein mountain near Scheibbs, Austria. By Uoaei1. CC-BY-SA 3.0.
Sand dunes in the Namib-Naukluft National Park, Namibia. Older dunes are reddish and larger, newer dunes are yellow-brown. By Yathin S. Krishnappa. CC-BY-SA 3.0.
Sand dunes in the Namib-Naukluft National Park, Namibia. Older dunes are reddish and larger, newer dunes are yellow-brown. By Yathin S. Krishnappa. CC-BY-SA 3.0.
Hopi Point, Grand Canyon. By Tuxyso. CC-BY-SA 3.0.
Hopi Point, Grand Canyon. By Tuxyso. CC-BY-SA 3.0.
Gorges du Tarn (canyon on the Tarn River in France). By Myrabella. CC-BY-SA 3.0.
Gorges du Tarn (canyon on the Tarn River in France). By Myrabella. CC-BY-SA 3.0.
Elakala Waterfalls, Blackwater Falls State Park, West Virginia. By Forest Wander. CC-BY-SA 2.0.
Elakala Waterfalls, Blackwater Falls State Park, West Virginia. By Forest Wander. CC-BY-SA 2.0.
Morning mist near Dülmen, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. By Dietmar Rabich. CC-BY-SA 4.0.
Morning mist near Dülmen, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. By Dietmar Rabich. CC-BY-SA 4.0.
Westward View from Mitterbach am Erlaufsee, Austria. By Uoaei1. CC-BY-SA 4.0.
Westward View from Mitterbach am Erlaufsee, Austria. By Uoaei1. CC-BY-SA 4.0.
View of the Qutang Gorge along the Yangtze River from Baidicheng. By Tan Wei Liang Byorn. CC-BY 3.0.
View of the Qutang Gorge along the Yangtze River from Baidicheng. By Tan Wei Liang Byorn. CC-BY 3.0.
A vicuña chills in front of Chimborazo volcano, Ecuador. By David Torres Costales. CC-BY-SA 3.0.
A vicuña chills in front of Chimborazo volcano, Ecuador. By David Torres Costales. CC-BY-SA 3.0.
Backwater in Kerala, India. By Thursday Next. CC-BY 2.0.
Backwater in Kerala, India. By Thursday Next. CC-BY 2.0.
A mountain massif on Flakstadøya island backgrounding the road to Nusfjord village, Lofoten, Nordland, Norway. By Ximonic (Simo Räsänen). GFDL 1.2.
The road to Nusfjord village, Lofoten, Nordland, Norway. By Ximonic (Simo Räsänen). GFDL 1.2.
The ocean after sunset near Cabo da Roca, Portugal. By Rnbc. GFDL 1.2.
The ocean after sunset near Cabo da Roca, Portugal. By Rnbc. GFDL 1.2.
Cow, below Fuorcla Sesvenna in Engadin Valley, Switzerland. By Daniel Schwen. GFDL 1.2.
Cow, below Fuorcla Sesvenna in Engadin Valley, Switzerland. By Daniel Schwen. GFDL 1.2.
View from the Angels Landing trail at Zion National Park. By Tobias Alt. CC-BY-SA 4.0.
View from the Angels Landing trail at Zion National Park. By Tobias Alt. CC-BY-SA 4.0.
West Mitten Butte Monument Valley, view northeastward from Arizona to Utah. By Huebi. CC-BY 2.0.
West Mitten Butte, Monument Valley. View northeastward from Arizona to Utah. By Huebi. CC-BY 2.0.

And last but not least, the featured image at top is a view of Mount Fuji from Mount Kita, photographed  by Alpsdake. It’s in the public domain.


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