Kay Marshall

This photo was taken in Cape Town, South Africa on Dec. 10th during a march for human rights and support for HIV programs at the African AIDS Conference.

The conference started the day after Mr. Mandela died, and he was a palpable presence there. Activists from across Africa took part in the march and called for all of us to step up and follow in Madiba's footsteps to continue his fight for freedom, democracy and human rights. What you can't hear in this picture are the amazing songs and chants honoring Mandela that were a part of the day.

I went to Cape Town for an AIDS conference and became a small part of history.

Stephen O'Rourke

My friend Rick Kelly of Carmine Street guitars builds electric guitars from the rafters of demolished and renovated builds in lower Manhattan. This lumber is from buildings that are sometimes well over a hundred years old. I own three of Ricks custom electrics. This photo was taken in the back room of his shop I'm the West Village.

Beth

This is one of the giant clocks at Musèe d'Orsay, shot with my iphone 4s earlier this month. I was shocked by the detail this phone captured!

Aubrey Stimola Ryan

I always wanted to go go to Easter Island, a place of mystery that intrigued me from childhood. I never thought I'd have a chance to go... but, I did. This shot, at Rano Raraku, the "birthplace" of the Moai, was so ethereal, with statues--finished, unfinished, leaning, half to almost totally buried--standing silently on the hillside, sentinel. When I look at this one, I'm right back there.

George Kormendi

This is a view of the GW Bridge bus station (seen from Broadway just north of 178th street). I love the spooky almost David Lynch-ian quality to this photo. I just happened to look up and notice. I'm hoping someone else will know more about this, why it looks the way it does, and if it was done intentionally as street art (that you would only notice if you happen to look up).

Jon Sobel

A rainbow on a sunny day - captured in the mists of the Washington Square Park fountain.

Jon Sobel

A beach, a kayaker, the little-visited north shore of Coney Island...what more could a city explorer ask?

Jacqueline Miller

I took this photo in my front yard as I was waiting for my kids to get off the school bus. I'd been really excited to tell them I'd found an egg until I realized that it was broken. It was still beautiful, but a little sad.

Jessica Patton Pellegrino

Our vintage cake topper, via Etsy, turned out to be about 4 inches tall -- I hadn't read the description well enough -- so it had a ridiculous "Spinal Tap" Stonehenge element to it, even when intact. Then it had been not-so-carefully stored in the utility drawer for three years when I found it, decapitated and frayed, while looking for a tape measure a few months back. I couldn't find the groom's head at first. It was inside the bride's skirt. Thankfully, my marriage isn't diminutive, frayed, disassembled, or dwelling in a junk drawer. No comment on the head's hiding place.

dan heyman

dan heyman

I took this picture this summer at Douglas Lake in Northern Michigan, where my daughter spent the summer at the U. Mich BioStation. My wife and daughter were talking there for about a half hour and are embracing here. It was not posed. I took it on the iphone and it is better than several others I took on the digital point & shoot I use. What I like (besides my family) are the clouds (duh). Throughout our trip, the clouds in Michigan were awe inspiring. I assume it has something to do with proximity to the Great Lakes.

Jessica Patton Pellegrino

I like this because I didn't intentionally photograph her as a figurehead, but the angle (and of course position in the "ship") conjures that. (So, let's consider it a figurehead vs. a kid.) It was taken at Captain's Cove in Bridgeport, CT.

Bill Newman

Spring Lake, NJ footbridge. I just like it!

Kenny Chung

Graffiti in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil that I found apt in light of the past year's news.

Sarah McCoy

Brighton Beach last summer. I liked the composition, and the ease of the Russian ladies showing their flesh. I'll admit that its my kid too. I felt like it captured summer in Brooklyn, and it reminded me of some artist...Hopper?

Sheela Wolford

I took it while walking with my two grown daughters and they kept walking, not knowing I had stopped, mesmerized by the view and light on Fifth & 14th.

Margaret DeVico

I took this at the Brooklyn Aquarium, which my boyfriend and I visited two times this summer. This picture was from the second visit, where I insisted that we sit in the very front row. Even though they are still rebuilding after Sandy and not many exhibits are open, there were still massive crowds and tons of excited kids (and parents) enjoying the seal demonstration.

suzanne boland

Seeing Eye puppies in training to be guide dogs. Puppy raising families take puppies so they becone desensitized to their surroundings such as noises from people walking on these metal bleachers at the roller hockey rink in Newton,NJ.

Greg Hudson

I took this after flying in from Baltimore. It was taken on the ramp at JFK. I am a pilot and it was a very quiet morning on the ramp (which is unusual!). The sun was just coming up by the engine nacelle and it looked really cool

Kaye Tengco

I took this photo during a night stop in Manarola, one of the Cinque Terre towns of Italy, in September of this year. Amidst the mild noise of giddy tourists who stood to watch the sun set over the Ligurian Sea, this man stood on the rock for several minutes and quietly gazed at whatever was below him. He, of course, dove off his perch eventually, but for about 5 minutes, he reminded me to take the time to appreciate that very moment (the air, the scent of the sea, the chattering of locals, clinking of forks and spoons at nearby eateries). And then I snapped this photo.