National Geographic releases a Tumblr of rare images for 125th anniversary

National Geographic has been the source of many wonderful and breathtaking photos that have defined human life and nature alike over the years, and to commemorate its 125th anniversary, the magazine has released a Tumblr page with rare images from its archives.

Called “Found", National Geographic’s Tumblr blog is a treasure trove of lost, rare and unpublished images. Some of the most breathtaking and rare images include a view of the Taj Mahal on the banks of the Yamuna river in 1923 and  an image of Alexander Graham Bell kissing his wife who is standing within a tetrahedral kite that dates back to 1903 amongst others.

The initiative is headed by William Bonner who also happens to curate Nat Geo’s extensive photography archive in Washington D. C. Even after years of digging through the shelves of the archive, says the blog, Bonner still continues to find new stories and inspiring images, most of which are not available to the public eye.

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The Taj Mahal on the banks of Yamuna in 1923

“Many of these photos have never been published and are rarely seen by the public,” the publication says on its blog. “We hope to bring new life to these images by sharing them with audiences far and wide. Their beauty has been lost to the outside world for years and many of the images are missing their original date or location.”

The publication urges readers to send in insights on the images if they have any with them, so that they can better describe and tag these photos. “This is just the beginning of a great adventure. We will be adding new voices, stories, and artifacts as we go,” Nat Geo writes.

This isn’t the first time National Geographic has tried to do something different that has met with success. In September last year, the magazine joined hands with Microsoft to release an Xbox 360 game in India. Called the Kinect Nat Geo TV game, the two-way TV experience lets children talk directly to the TV show, by playing the roles of a variety of animals across their natural habitats as featured in the game. Priced at Rs 2,399, the game includes eight 30-minute episodes of Casey Anderson’s “America the Wild” and allows simultaneous play by two people.

Alexander Graham Bell with his wife in 1903

Published by Microsoft in partnership with National Geographic and Relentless Software, the game gives children a chance to be a part of the Nat Geo TV show and play the part of the animals they see on the show. It takes children and their families to the stunning natural environment of planet Earth, filled with the wonders of animals and their unique and fascinating natural surroundings.

The game works in a simple way. Kinect scans the living room and projects its image on the TV screen in the form of a natural habitat for an animal with grass, trees and other things. Children can be invited to, for example, look for food as a bear. As they call out to the TV set with this request, an image of the child appears on the TV screen complete with a bear head and claws, roaming around looking for food around the wild terrain recreated right there at home.