GLOBAL – Normally I love words. Lots of words. But if you were ever going to be tempted away from text it would be taking images with the new Nokia 808 PureView.

That’s not quite on the market yet, but you can still take, and look at great photos with your Nokia. One of my favourite apps is the National Geographic Photo of the Day app for Nokia Lumia – and the Nokia N9.

The photos might not be in 41-megapixel glory, but they’ll brighten up your day. These are some of my favourites: 

This snowy owl was captured by James Galletto in the middle of a snowstorm. Most owls are nocturnal, but snowy owls hunt in both the day and night. Galletto has been taking nature shots seriously for about four years, mostly in and around New York. Snowy Owls hunt for rodents, and have such good eyesight they can spot their prey even under deep snow.

Vittorio Poli got this shot of the his own home town on the Asiago plateau in Italy’s Eastern Alps when the area was shrouded by fog. He was standing on top of the mountain opposite to take it. Poli is an amateur landscape photographer  – and astronomer. 

The Eastern Alps run  from the Brenner Pass to the city of Trieste, and include the Dolomite mountains.

 

This amazing photo by Erika Larsen was part of a November 2011 feature called “Sami: The People Who Walk With Reindeer.”

Larsen explained: “On a moonlit night, herders bring the reindeer into temporary tarp-enclosed corrals called gárdi to separate the pregnant females from the rest.”

The Sami are indigenous to Arctic Scandinavia and have a history of Reindeer husbandry dating back to prehistoric times. 

 

I love this photo shot of the Belgrade riverbank by David Konecny. It’s less about nature, and more about people. 

Belgrade has become famous for the city’s graffiti, some of it artistic, some not. Hearts and love messages are as popular as everywhere else.

According to photographer Wouter van den Heuvel, the boy on the bike was on his way to school in the small Dutch town of Boskoop – with no idea of the image behind him. “September mornings usually look great,” van den Heuvel says, “because on many mornings beautiful mist appears.

 

All of these images look great, but I bet that once we get our hands on the Nokia 808 PureView, we can do better.