Photography

Photos of the Week: Death Valley, Steam Train, Cherry Blossoms

Missile attacks across the Middle East, preparations for the 2026 Winter Paralympic Games in Italy, a dog-grooming competition in England, and much more

By Alan Taylor
A boy tries to climb on an unexploded missile that landed in an open field, its nose embedded in the dirt.
Baderkhan Ahmad / AP
Exposing himself to the danger of unexploded ordnance, a boy tries to climb on an Iranian projectile that landed in an open field in the outskirts of Qamishli, eastern Syria, on March 4, 2026.
A motorcycle racer tumbles after a crash, appearing as if they were running toward their motorcycle sliding across gravel.
Lillian Suwanrumpha / AFP / Getty
Ángel Piqueras crashes during a race at the MotoGP Thailand Grand Prix at the Buriram International Circuit in Buriram, Thailand, on March 1, 2026.
A snowboarder with one prosthetic leg trains on a snowy mountainside.
Dario Belingheri / Getty
Andre Barbieri of Team Brazil during a para-Alpine-skiing-training session ahead of the Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Paralympic Games at Tofane Alpine Skiing Center on March 4, 2026, in Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy
Hundreds of cross-country skiers stand in a broad line at the mass start of a race.
Ulf Palm / TT News Agency / Reuters
A general view of the mass start of the Vasaloppet cross-country ski race, held in Sälen, Sweden, on March 1, 2026
An aerial view of many houses arranged along a single road, surrounded by dozens of long, thin farm plots.
Sergei Gapon / AFP / Getty
This aerial photograph taken on March 5, 2026, shows a view of Sułoszowa, a village in southern Poland, considered to be the longest village in the country, where nearly all residents live along a winding road stretching for almost nine kilometers.
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Yang Wei / VCG / Getty
The moon lights up the night sky over the Simatai Great Wall during a total lunar eclipse on March 3, 2026, in Beijing, China.
An exploding missile, seen in the air, against a dark sky.
Jamal Awad / Reuters
A missile launched from Iran is intercepted high in the atmosphere, as seen from Jerusalem on February 28, 2026.
People watch as smoke and dust rises after an explosion in Tehran.
AP
People watch as smoke and dust rise after an explosion in Tehran, Iran, on February 28, 2026.
Streaks of light from tracer rounds fired into the sky, seen above a city at night.
Hassan Ammar / AP
Tracer rounds light the sky as people fire into the air during a televised speech by the Hezbollah leader Naim Qassem in Dahiyeh, Beirut’s southern suburbs, Lebanon, on March 4, 2026.
A man walks past destroyed buildings following airstrikes in Tehran.
AFP / Getty
A man walks past destroyed buildings following air strikes in central Tehran on March 4, 2026.
An ambulance is parked near a fire after an aerial attack.
Kawnat Haju / AFP / Getty
An ambulance is parked near a fire following an Israeli bombardment of a solar farm and electricity-generation facility in Lebanon’s southern city of Tyre on March 4, 2026.
Workers wearing protective suits carry bagged bodies from a truck into a mortuary.
Ishara S. Kodikara / AFP / Getty
In Galle, Sri Lanka, health-care workers carry the bodies of Iranian sailors who died in a U.S. torpedo attack on their frigate IRIS Dena off Sri Lanka’s southern coast, at the mortuary of Karapitiya Hospital on March 4, 2026. A U.S. submarine sank the Iranian warship, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said on March 4.
An aerial view of about 100 graves being dug, in several rows.
Iranian Press Center / AFP / Getty
In this aerial handout picture released by the Iranian Press Center, mourners dig graves during the funeral for children killed in a reported strike on a primary school in Iran’s Hormozgan province in Minab on March 3, 2026. Iranian media reported hundreds of Iranian casualties, including at the girl’s school, although AFP reporters have not been able to verify tolls independently.
Buddhist monks sit in prayer, arranged in rows in front of a glowing golden dome.
Anthony Wallace / AFP / Getty
Buddhist monks take part in Makha Bucha celebrations at Wat Dhammakaya Buddhist temple in Pathum Thani province, north of Bangkok, on March 3, 2026.
Lava glows across the top of an erupting volcano, seen at night.
Johan Ordonez / AFP / Getty
The Fuego volcano erupts, seen from Alotenango, Sacatepequez department, some 65 kilometers southwest of Guatemala City, on March 1, 2026.
Several people jump through a bonfires to celebrate at a festival.
Liu Yang / VCG / Getty
Villagers and tourists jump through bonfires to celebrate the Lantern Festival on March 3, 2026, in Haikou, Hainan province, China.
Two divers, seen stretched out in the air, spinning, mid-dive.
Minas Panagiotakis / Getty
Ben Cutmore and Euan McCabe of Team Great Britain compete in the men’s 10-meter synchronized-platform final during the World Aquatics Diving World Cup 2026, Stop 1, at Centre Sportif Du Parc Olympique in Montreal, Quebec, on March 1, 2026.
A girl smeared with colored powder flips her hair back, sending up a cloud of powder.
R. Satish Babu / AFP / Getty
A girl smeared with colored powder celebrates the Hindu spring festival of Holi in Chennai, India, on March 4, 2026.
A steam train runs past a field of blooming flowers.
Liu Guoxing / VCG / Getty
A steam train runs past a field of blooming rapeseed flowers on February 27, 2026, in Leshan, Sichuan province, China.
A handler works with a poodle, grasping its muzzle.
Oli Scarff / AFP / Getty
A handler works with a poodle during the dog-grooming championships on the first day of the Crufts dog show at the National Exhibition Center in Birmingham, England, on March 5, 2026.
A panda plays with a horse-shaped toy.
Li Hongbo / VCG / Getty
Giant panda Yu Ke plays with a horse-shaped toy at Chongqing Zoo on March 1, 2026.
Visitors gather around a horse-themed lantern installation in a square.
Meng Delong / VCG / Getty
Tourists enjoy a horse-themed lantern installation at the Songjiacheng scenic area ahead of the Lantern Festival on February 28, 2026, in Yangzhou, Jiangsu province, China.
About ten tents are set up in a feld of flowers, with people dining in each tent.
VCG / Getty
Tourists enjoy hot pot in tents set up in a field of blooming rapeseed flowers on March 1, 2026, in Chengdu, Sichuan province, China.
A squirrel nibbles on a cherry blossom.
Yan Tingchang / VCG / Getty
A squirrel nibbles on a cherry blossom at Kunming Zoo in Kunming, Yunnan province, China, on March 2, 2026.
A boy wearing a life preserver is carried by a man through waist-deep water.
Carl Court / Getty
A boy is carried to a migrant dinghy to sail into the English Channel in Gravelines, France, on March 3, 2026. Last year the number of migrants arriving in the U.K. by small boat totaled 41,472—an increase of 13 percent from the previous year, but lower than the highest number of 45,774, which was recorded in 2022.
A couple stands in very shallow water on a broad, flat plain in Death Valley.
Eric Thayer / Los Angeles Times / Getty
People stand in Lake Manly in Badwater Basin in Death Valley, California, on March 2, 2026.
Two shaggy horses fight in a field.
Michael Probst / AP
Icelandic stallions play at a stud farm in Wehrheim, near Frankfurt, Germany, on March 2, 2026.
A bloodhound puppy licks the face of his handler, a Highway Patrol officer.
Jack Dura / AP
Beau, a bloodhound puppy, licks the face of his handler, North Dakota Highway Patrol Trooper Dustin Pattengale, outside the highway patrol office in Fargo, North Dakota, on February 27, 2026.

About the Author

Alan Taylor is a senior editor at The Atlantic.
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