See the photos that won National Geographic’s ‘Pictures of the Year’ contest

National Geographic announced the winning photographs from its first “Pictures of the Year” photo competition.

The contest, which opened to U.S. residents in early December, invited readers to submit a digital photograph in one of four categories: nature, people, places and animals.

The contest required that photographs be largely unaltered. According to the rules, “only minor burning, dodging and/or color correction is acceptable, as is minor cropping.” Photos with other changes are “unacceptable and … ineligible for a prize.”

Grand prize — Alaska

Bald eagles at Alaska’s Chilkat Bald Eagle Preserve compete to perch on a tree log.

Karthik Subramaniam

Iceland

Iceland’s Fagradalsfjall volcano erupting in 2021.

Riten Dharia

The six-month lava flow that covered the surrounding landscape in hard black rock was “an exhibition of the raw and awesome power of nature,” said Riten Dharia, who photographed the scene on the Reykjanes Peninsula.

Mongolia

In this photograph, a nomadic Kazakh eagle hunter on horseback prepares his golden eagle for a hunt in Bayan-Olgii, Mongolia, where training eagles to hunt is a 3000-year tradition, according to Nat Geo.

A hunter and his eagle on horseback in the grasslands outside of Bayan-Olgii, Mongolia.

Eric Esterle

To capture the moment, photographer Eric Esterle lay on his stomach at the edge of the stream as the horse passed less than a few feet away, he said.

“I remember covering my camera with my body and putting my head down,” he said.

Austria

Seeing this golden tree hidden among tall trunks in the forest gave photographer Alex Berger “goosebumps,” he said.

A golden tree deep in the Austrian Alps.

Alex Berger

Berger said he spotted it by a small stream while on a road trip through the Austrian Alps.

The mountain ranges of the Alps stretch about 750 miles through eight countries.

The island of South Georgia

Rhez Solano photographed this crowd of king penguins on the beaches of Gold Harbour on the island of South Georgia in the South Atlantic Ocean.

King penguins crowd together on the beaches of the island of South Georgia.

Rhez Solano

North Carolina, U.S.

Freelance photographer Tihomir Trichkov said he took this shot while headed home from the airport early one morning in October.

It captures fog that had settled over a valley visible from North Carolina’s Blue Ridge Parkway.

A view of the foggy valley from North Carolina’s Blue Ridge Parkway.

Tihomir Trichkov

The scene depicts “the little slice of heaven that I live in,” Trichkov said of his home in Highlands, North Carolina.

“The Smoky Mountains are simply gorgeous,” he said.

Washington, U.S.

This photo depicts the night sky reflected in the waters of Tipsoo Lake in Mount Rainier National Park, Washington.

Tipsoo Lake in Mount Rainier National Park in Washington state.

W. Kent Williamson

From across the lake, photographer W. Kent Williamson said he could see the lantern lights of climbers heading to Mount Rainier’s 14,411-foot summit.

“The night sky was unusually clear, and the Milky Way could be seen just above the mountain,” he said.

Peru

A lone salt miner uses a wooden rake to extract salt from a hillside at Peru’s Salt Mines of Maras in this photograph captured by An Li.

Salt wells on a hillside in the Salt Mines of Maras in Peru.

An Li

The mines comprise around 4,500 salt wells, each of which produces some 400 pounds of salt per month. Families who own the wells continue the tradition of salt extraction that dates back to the Inca Empire.

About the ‘Pictures of the Year’ contest

The contest is Nat Geo’s latest effort to highlight photography from contributors.

It launched alongside the magazine’s annual “Pictures of the Year” issue, which features the best 49 photos taken by Nat Geo photographers, chosen from more than 2 million submissions.

The goal of the “Picture of the Year” contest is to provide aspiring photographers the “same spotlight,” according to Nat Geo.

To see the full gallery of winners, visit natgeo.com/PhotoContestWinner.

For all the latest business News Click Here 

Read original article here

Denial of responsibility! TechAI is an automatic aggregator around the global media. All the content are available free on Internet. We have just arranged it in one platform for educational purpose only. In each content, the hyperlink to the primary source is specified. All trademarks belong to their rightful owners, all materials to their authors. If you are the owner of the content and do not want us to publish your materials on our website, please contact us by email – [email protected]. The content will be deleted within 24 hours.