National Geographic has announced the winning photos for its first “Pictures of the Year” photo contest.
The contest, which opened to US residents in early December, encouraged readers to submit digital photos in considered one of 4 categories: nature, people, places and animals.
The competition required that the photos be largely unchanged. According to the principles, “only minor burning, avoidance, and/or color correction is allowed, as is minor cropping.” Photos with other alterations are “unacceptable and … ineligible for the award.”
Grand Prize – Alaska
Bald eagles within the Chilkat Bald Eagle Preserve in Alaska compete to perch on a tree trunk.
Karthik Subramaniam
Karthik Subramaniam, a software engineer from San Francisco who’s enthusiastic about wildlife photography, won the highest prize. He said he took his winning photo at the top of a week-long photography trip to Haines, Alaska, where the world’s largest bald eagle congregation is held each fall.
As Subramaniam watched the eagles hunt for salmon of their fisheries, an eagle dived in to steal the opposite’s perch in a tree.
“Hours of observing their patterns and behaviors helped me capture those moments,” he said.
The photo will appear in an upcoming issue of the American magazine National Geographic.
In addition to the grand prize winner, Nat Geo also awarded honorable mentions to several “winners”. Their photos might be published in National Geographic your shot An Instagram page that has around 6.5 million followers.
Most of those photos, together with information provided by Nat Geo, are posted below.
Iceland
Eruption of the Icelandic volcano Fagradalsfjall in 2021.
Riten Dharia
The six-month lava flow that covered the encircling landscape with hard black rock was “an exhibition of nature’s raw and incredible power,” said Riten Dharia, who photographed the scene on the Reykjanes peninsula.
Mongolia
In this photo, a nomadic eagle hunter from Kazakhstan on horseback prepares his golden eagle for hunting in Bayan-Olgii, Mongolia, where in line with Nat Geo, training eagles for hunting has a 3,000-year tradition.
A hunter and his eagle on horseback within the meadows outside Bayan-Olgii, Mongolia.
Eric Esterle
To capture the moment, photographer Eric Esterle lay down he said he was lying on his stomach by the sting of a stream because the horse passed lower than a couple of feet away.
“I remember covering the camera with my body and lowering my head,” he said.
Austria
The sight of this golden tree hidden amongst tall trunks within the forest gave photographer Alex Berger “goosebumps,” he said.
A golden tree deep within the Austrian Alps.
Alex Berger
Berger said he spotted it by a small stream while traveling through the Austrian Alps.
The mountain ranges of the Alps stretch for about 750 miles across eight countries.
South Georgia Island
Rhez Solano photographed this crowd of king penguins on the beaches of Gold Harbor on South Georgia Island within the South Atlantic.
King penguins flock to the beaches of South Georgia Island.
Rez Solano
King penguins, gentoo penguins and elephant seals continue to exist the island.
About half of the island is roofed in ice and has no everlasting human population, although travelers can visit it by cruise ship or yacht– we read on his government website.
North Carolina, United States
Freelance photographer Tihomir Trichkov said he took the photo as he was returning home from the airport within the early morning in October.
Captures fog that has settled over a valley visible from the Blue Ridge Parkway in North Carolina.
View of a misty valley from the Blue Ridge Parkway in North Carolina.
Tihomir Trichkov
The scene depicts “a little bit slice of heaven where I live,” Trichkov said of his home in Highlands, North Carolina.
“The Smoky Mountains are only gorgeous,” he said.
Washington, United States
This image shows the night sky reflected within the waters of Lake Tipsoo in Mount Rainier National Park in Washington state.
Tipsoo Lake in Mount Rainier National Park, Washington.
W. Kent Williamson
From across the lake, photographer W. Kent Williamson said he could see the lantern lights of climbers heading to the 14,411-foot-high Mount Rainier.
“The night sky was unusually clear and the Milky Way may very well be seen just above the mountain,” he said.
Peru
A lone miner uses a wood rake to extract salt from a hillside within the Peruvian salt mines of Maras on this photo by An Li.
Salt wells on a hillside within the Maras salt mines in Peru.
Li
The mines include roughly 4,500 salt wells, each producing roughly 400 kilos of salt per thirty days. The families that own the wells carry on a practice of salt mining that dates back to the time of the Inca Empire.
About the “Photos of the Year” contest.
The competition is Nat Geo’s latest effort to focus on photos from authors.
It launched with the magazine’s yearbook “Photos of the Year” edition.featuring 49 of the very best photos taken by Nat Geo photographers, chosen from over 2 million submissions.
According to Nat Geo, the goal of the Photo of the Year competition is to offer aspiring photographers “the identical highlight”.
To see the total gallery of winners, please visit natgeo.com/PhotoContestWinner.
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