Taken on a trip to Philadelphia, these photos by my childhood friend capture autumn perfectly. Aren’t they stunning? I especially love her photos of the Shofuso japanese house & garden with its tea school. It’s a little bit of East in the West.

{photography by jessie askinazi of morning passages}

Meliae were the nymphs of the ash tree in Greek mythology. The ash tree, which shared the same name, produced what is known in antiquity as manna, which the greeks called meli, greek for honey.

{images: Paul de Luna for Blank #55}

Loving the contrast between the raisin lips and nails against the soft hair and whitewashed lighting. I’m not a dark nail color girl {actually, my friends will tell you that my nails are usually bare}, but this makes me want to decorate my digits with a deep plum or chocolate raisin polish.

Can you believe one of these pictures was taken by a 7 year old? No, that isn’t a typo. I did actually type the number seven with nothing before or after. In fact, all of these images were created by children, under the age of 14. Isn’t that extraordinary?

They are a few of the past leaders in the National Geographic Kids International Photography Contest. {You can see more on the NatGeo Kids galleries.} Imagine what would happen if we replaced the wii remotes with cameras or art supplies or cooking utensils. I think we underestimate what our kids are capable of, no?

{p.s.} Can you guess which one was the 7 year old?

All images from National Geographic Kids

photography by romina sharma