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Holding Firm Your Shot photographer Mike Korostelev captured this action-packed close-up of a walrus, its back against a breaking wave, in Cape Vankarem in Chukotka, Russia. “Every autumn walruses swim to this rookery,” Korostelev writes. “One day, walking along the beach away from the rookery, I came across a lone walrus … sleeping on the shore, its tusks [stuck] in the sand. I carefully crept up to it and photographed it with a wide-angle lens.”

Photograph by Mike Korostelev, National Geographic Your Shot

Photo of the Day: Best of October

Every day, we feature an image chosen from thousands submitted to our photo community Your Shot. Here are ten favorites from October.

ByJeanne Modderman

November 9, 2016

My favorite photos from October reward the prolonged gaze of the viewer. With each passing second you’ll see something you may have missed at first glance–a set of walrus tusks dug into the beach or the patterns of wood grain inside of a contrabass. Upon further study, you may just ask yourself, “How did they do that?”

Jeanne M. Modderman is the editor of Photo of the Day , a curated look at photography from National Geographic's photo community Your Shot . Liane DiStefano and Brett Weisband write the captions and titles. Submit your photos and you could be published in our magazines and online.