This Father’s Day we asked five National Geographic photographers, who are also dads, to share an image of their children and tell us how fatherhood has shaped their images. They shared intimate photographs and stories of empathy, growth, memory, and hope. Happy Father’s Day!

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When my daughter Madelyn was born in 2007, I was barely an adult myself at the age of 21 and not prepared for fatherhood. Madelyn was not planned, but her presence has given shape, form, and meaning to every day of my life since she arrived. She is a marker for the passage of time, reminding me of how quickly life is passing by. She is a beacon of light in an otherwise seemingly dark world. In