[Trending] The Winners Of The 2017 National Geographic Nature Photographer Of The Year Contest Are Here, And They’re Spectacular
National Geographic has just announced the results of its prestigious 2017 Nature Photographer of the Year contest (2016 here ), and the wi...
National Geographic has just announced the results of its prestigious 2017 Nature Photographer of the Year contest (2016 here), and the winning shots are the perfect celebration of Mother Earth. 11,000 photos were submitted, competing in four categories: wildlife, landscapes, aerials, and underwater.
The grand-prize winner will receive $7,500 and their winning image will appear in an upcoming issue of National Geographic magazine. Also, one first-place winner will be selected from each of the four categories, all of them earning $2,500. To feed your passion for the living world, Bored Panda has collected some of our favorite shots from the competition, presenting them together with its prizewinners. Scroll down to take a closer look at nature and upvote the images you liked most.
More info: nationalgeographic.com
Grand Prize Winner: FACE TO FACE IN A RIVER IN BORNEO, JAYAPRAKASH JOGHEE BOJAN
A male orangutan peers from behind a tree while crossing a river in Borneo, Indonesia. Rampant palm oil cultivation threatens this critically endangered ape, forcing the normally arboreal species to resort to unusual behavior—such as wading through crocodile-infested rivers—in order to survive.
Image credits: National Geographic
Second Place Winner, WILDLIFE: MOTHER’S LOVE, ALEJANDRO PRIETO
An adult Caribbean pink flamingo feeds a chick in Yucatán, Mexico. Both parents alternate feeding chicks, at first with a liquid baby food called crop milk, and then with regurgitated food.
Image credits: National Geographic
Third Place Winner, WILDLIFE: WHITE FIGHTERS, BENCE MATE
Two grey herons spar as a white-tailed eagle looks on in Hungary.
Image credits: National Geographic
Honorable Mention, WILDLIFE: MACAQUE MAINTENANCE, LANCE MCMILLAN
A Japanese macaque indulges in some grooming time on the shores of the famous hot springs.
Image credits: National Geographic
PEOPLE’S CHOICE, WILDLIFE: GREAT GRAY OWL, HARRY COLLINS
A great gray owl swoops to kill in a New Hampshire field.
Image credits: National Geographic
First Place Winner, LANDSCAPES: FIREFALL, KARIM ILIYA
Shortly before twilight in Kalapana, Hawai’i, a fragment of the cooled lava tube broke away, leaving the molten rock to fan in a fiery spray for less than half an hour before returning to a steady flow.
Image credits: National Geographic
Second Place Winner, LANDSCAPES: DUSHANZI GRAND CANYON, YUHAN LIAO
Sunlight glances off mineral strata of different colors in Dushanzi Grand Canyon, China.
Image credits: National Geographic
Third Place Winner, LANDSCAPES: ILLUMINATE, Mike Olbinski
A summer thunderstorm unleashes lightning on the South Rim of the Grand Canyon.
Image credits: National Geographic
Honorable Mention, LANDSCAPES: COLD AND MISTY, Gheorghe Popa
Morning fog blurs the dead trees of Romania’s Lake Cuejdel, a natural reservoir created by landslides.
Image credits: National Geographic
PEOPLE’S CHOICE, LANDSCAPES: KALSOY, WOJCIECH KRUCZYŃSKI
Sunset illuminates a lighthouse and rainbow in the Faroe Islands.
Image credits: National Geographic
First Place Winner, AERIALS: ROCK POOL, TODD KENNEDY
In Sydney, Australia, the Pacific Ocean at high tide breaks over a natural rock pool enlarged in the 1930s. Avoiding the crowds at the city’s many beaches, a local swims laps.
Image credits: National Geographic
Second Place Winner, AERIALS: FROM ABOVE, TAKAHIRO BESSHO
Snow-covered metasequoia trees, also called dawn redwoods, interlace over a road in Takashima, Japan.
Image credits: National Geographic
Third Place Winner, AERIALS: DRIP, GREG C.
On the flanks of Kilauea Volcano, Hawai’i, the world’s only lava ocean entry spills molten rock into the Pacific Ocean. After erupting in early 2016, the lava flow took about two months to reach the sea, six miles away.
Image credits: National Geographic
Honorable Mention, AERIALS: LIFE AFTER LIFE, AGATHE BERNARD
Migratory gulls take flight from a cedar tree being washed downstream by a glacial river in British Columbia, Canada.
Image credits: National Geographic
PEOPLE’S CHOICE, AERIALS: MEANDERING CANYON, DAVID SWINDLER
Green vegetation blooms at the river’s edge, or riparian, zone of a meandering canyon in Utah.
Image credits: National Geographic
First Place Winner, UNDERWATER: FLUORESCENT ANEMONE, JIM OBESTER
Blue-filtered strobe lights stimulate fluorescent pigments in the clear tentacles of a tube-dwelling anemone in Hood Canal, Washington.
Image credits: National Geographic
Second Place Winner, UNDERWATER: IN YOUR FACE, SHANE GROSS
Typically a shy species, a Caribbean reef shark investigates a remote-triggered camera in Cuba’s Gardens of the Queen marine protected area.
Image credits: National Geographic
Third Place Winner, UNDERWATER: FLYING FISH IN MOTION, MICHAEL O’NEILL
Buoyed by the Gulf Stream, a flying fish arcs through the night-dark water five miles off Palm Beach, Florida.
Image credits: National Geographic
Honorable Mention, UNDERWATER: JENNIFER ONEIL PREDATORS ON A BAIT BALL, JENNIFER ONEIL
Preparing to strike, tarpon cut through a ribbon-like school of scad off the coast of Bonaire in the Caribbean Sea.
Image credits: National Geographic
PEOPLE’S CHOICE, UNDERWATER: DRIFT, MATTHEW SMITH
A Portuguese man-of-war nears the beach on a summer morning; thousands of these jellyfish wash up on Australia’s eastern coast every year.
Image credits: National Geographic
PEOPLE’S CHOICE: SPARKLING SPIDER’S NEST, KOUSUKE KITAJIMA
Image credits: National Geographic
PEOPLE’S CHOICE: VOLCANO, Vladimir Voychuk
There is a rumor that you can watch forever on two things: fire and water, but when it comes to exploding lava fountains, – it is sempiternity multiplied to infinity. The eruption of Klyuchevskaya sopka. Kamchatka.
Image credits: National Geographic
PEOPLE’S CHOICE: BISTI BADLANDS, J. WHEATLEY
Little visited and mostly unknown, the Bisti/De-Na-Zin Wilderness is an amazingly scenic and colorful expanse of stratified colors and unusual eroded rocks in the high, cold desert of northwest New Mexico. I camped near one of the most striking areas in Bisti (known as the “Hatchery”) and took this photograph of the landscape on a late October afternoon. A faint path through the giant egg formations takes you through an eery dreamscape, leading up to the beautifully eroded ridge in the distance.
Image credits: National Geographic
PEOPLE’S CHOICE: KIRKJUFELL SPIRIT, Johns Tsai
I lost everything the first time traveling to Iceland because of a thief stole my camera. I didn’t give up but a successful crowdfunding made me able to go back once again to gather the lost pieces of my memory. This day I drove half circle of the Iceland in order to see the light, otherwise the weather is not permitted to see the northern light for the rest of my journey. All the blood and tears, painful and joy, I devote all my spirit in this photo, I believe the nature do hear my voice.
Image credits: National Geographic
PEOPLE’S CHOICE: HUNTING WITH AFRICAN WILD DOGS, Erik Joosten
This morning we found a pack of Painted dogs verry early morning. Together with our ranger we followd them huning until they caught a warthog. When the adults left and the pups started to eat i was able to get verry close, under the guidance of our ranger. An uniek opportunity to shoot some wide-angle pictures of the most endangered predator.
Image credits: National Geographic
PEOPLE’S CHOICE: SHOWTIME, Bence Mate
I have shot Great Cormorants flying off for hundreds of times. However, this was the only moment when I caught the perfect lights and background, when the bird flew in the right direction, close enough to me, making this exciting sight possible. I have never managed to shoot a similar scene however hard I tried. It is a memorable photographic achievement because the image was made with a manual focus, 1.4 intensity Zeiss lens and open blende which make depth of field almost impossible.
Image credits: National Geographic
PEOPLE’S CHOICE: IN TRANSIT, Christine Lai
This is a leopard who walked past our vehicle in the Okavango Delta. I admired the intensity of this leopard’s eyes as it moved quietly through the grass.
Image credits: National Geographic
PEOPLE’S CHOICE: GREAT BEAR SURF SCOTERS, SAM EDMONDS
A raft of thousands of surf scoters takes flight from the water’s surface in The Great Bear Sea of British Columbia, Canada.
Image credits: National Geographic
PEOPLE’S CHOICE: FLEET DEPARTURE, Kehao Tan
Hundreds of flamingos fly.
Image credits: National Geographic
PEOPLE’S CHOICE: ICE FORMATION PATTERNS, Florian Ledoux
In winter when the sea start to froze in Greenland, the ice create lot of impressive patterns. The scale is big and it is hard to imagine that this is 350m above the level of the sea.
Image credits: National Geographic
PEOPLE’S CHOICE: FROM ABOVE, JASSEN TODOROV
Waste from a paper mill is agitated by aerators, producing steam and foam, which are pushed by the wind. Clearwater Paper Reservoire, Lewiston, Idaho. Aerial Image (photographed from a plane at 1,500 feet).
Image credits: National Geographic
PEOPLE’S CHOICE: KAYAKERS ON THE RIVER, Karim Iliya
Look closely and you will see two Kayakers. The smooth misty water is a result of a long exposure, yet it is a single image. It is one of the most challenging photos I have ever taken. Just after sunset when the light was balanced, between rain showers they set off and stopped in the eddy current and held their position for as long as they could while I took long exposure photos. As I was flying the drone back to change battery, the rain returned and darkness consumed the valley.
Image credits: National Geographic
PEOPLE’S CHOICE: PORCELAIN CRAB, Marek Koszorek
This little fellow was feding on drifting plankton and was oblivious to anything happening around, including me taking his pictures.
Image credits: National Geographic
PEOPLE’S CHOICE: WHALE SHARK AND ANCHOVIES, Steve De Neef
A whale shark and school of anchovies swim by at Mafia Island, Tanzania. The shark and schooling fish are often seen together as they both are after the same planktonic prey, sergestid shrimp. The population of whale sharks here is quite unique as they remain here year round, scientist believe this is because there’s an abundance of food around the island. Nowhere else in the worlds do whale sharks do this.
Image credits: National Geographic
PEOPLE’S CHOICE: WHAT LIES BENEATH, Billy Collopy
Split shot taken in the tide pools of Shaw’s Cove at Sunset
Image credits: National Geographic
PEOPLE’S CHOICE: GAME OF STARS, Pedro Carrillo
Image credits: National Geographic
CROWDED, MARTIN OLSON
As the only wild animals being herded in Sweden, once a year the reindeers of the different communities are gathered and separated by their owners and moved to better pastures for the winter. Since thousands of animals are gathered and then divided into handling facility sections, the process may take several days.
Image credits: National Geographic
FLIGHT OF ANGELS, Vikram Ghanekar
While on safari in mana pools national park, zimbabwe, i was following a bull elephant on foot with my guide. the idea was to photograph him in the beautiful golden light of the setting sun. there was a flock of egrets feeding on insects disturbed by the elephant. suddenly they took flight and as they crossed the elephant, i could take a picture with the birds in flight on a beautiful backdrop.
Image credits: National Geographic
NO ORDINARY BEAR, Andy S.
When all other bears are asleep for the winter, in a remote part of the yukon, one mother has learned that the river in her territory does not freeze and the fish keep coming into late november. covered in ice as her wet coat freezes in the -25C air temperatures, she raises her family in the most extreme of conditions.
Image credits: National Geographic
THE KISS, Truc Allen
ON a recent trip through the olympic peninsula, I noticed what looked like a strange mass floating in the water along the area we were staying. It looked like a typical pile of floating logs and debris until an hour later, it had moved right off our deck, revealing an amazing rafted group of huge sea lions.
Image credits: National Geographic
THE LION IN THE SEA OF FLOWERS, Ge Xiao
Early in the morning, the young male lion came to the dense flower sea, and he felt very satisfied. Swinging his head in the breeze, I took the picture.
Image credits: National Geographic
SWAN SONG, Katsuyoshi Nakahara
A life that will fall down soon showed the final performance.
Image credits: National Geographic
SALT OF THE EARTH, Amy Gulick
Image credits: National Geographic
SNEEEZE!, M. Engelmann
Galapagos Marine Iguanas sneeze to expel excess salt water after they feed in the ocean.
Image credits: National Geographic
HIGHLANDER, Andro Loria
Highlander… a lone hiker on the top of the hill in the midst of the beautiful geothermal Kerlingarfjöll area, Iceland’17
Image credits: National Geographic
RIVER CROSSING – BIKE BRIDGE, T. Sweetman
As I flew my drone over the ping river I caught this moment of two elderly people take the scooters home over the bridge in chiang mai.
Image credits: National Geographic
THE AFRICAN BUFFALO AND HIS COMPANIONS, Ge Xiao
One morning, the buffalo came to the river to drink water. Many oxpecker also come together
Image credits: National Geographic
SWIMMING OVER THE SLEEPERS, FRANCO BANFI
Free diver swimming over a pod of sleeping sperm whale, Physeter macrocephalus, Vulnerable (IUCN). The sperm whale is the largest of the toothed whales. Sperm whales are known to dive as deep as 1,000 meters in search of squid to eat. Image has been shot in Dominica, Caribbean Sea, Atlantic Ocean.
Image credits: National Geographic
SNOW CRANES, KENNY CHEN
A pair of Japanese cranes dancing in the snow.
Image credits: National Geographic
PIED FALCONET FAMILY, Kant Liang
Pied Falconet is a species of bird of prey in the family Falconidae. They’re very small ( <15cm ). Its natural habitat is temperate forests. The right tow are parents，and the left five are babies.They stand togther to prevent an adult pied falconet from another family landing on their branch.
Image credits: National Geographic
ISLANDS IN THE SKY, Tim Walton
A dreamlike inversion in the Gesäuse region of the Austrian Alps. I noticed the clouds forming like this whilst I was further down the mountain. As I knew the view would be even better from higher up, I virtually ran up the mountain to get the view I wanted before the clouds dispersed.
Image credits: National Geographic
THE BIG FRIENDLY GIANT, Katia Benini
On cloudy days, the surface of the ocean has a mysterious and eery nature. Penetrating the navy layer, your sparkling momentum disperses, leaving you breathless in the deep blue abyss. from the darkness emerges the living indigenous painting, accompanied by his most loyal entourage.Gently he swims forward providing protection and company. Occasionally revealing the vortex of his mouth, sending his friends into a chaotic frenzy. Bamboozled my friend clears his mask in AMAZEMENT!
Image credits: National Geographic
GUIDANCE, Zach Parker
Mother and calf humpback whale cruising through the deep blue waters off tonga
Image credits: National Geographic
MOTHER NATURES CAMO, COLE FRECHOU
Image credits: National Geographic
ONE HAPPY SEAL MODEL, LARS LYKKE
Went to the very north of Denmark, skagen, at sunrise and found this willing model.
Image credits: National Geographic
RICE TERRACES, Evgeny Vasenev
Image credits: National Geographic
LIQUID BEAR, Mike Korostelev
Bear from the water Kamchatka, Russia
Image credits: National Geographic
ALIEN, Adam Silverman
This is one of my favorite photos of my favorite critter. Shot with a +25 magnifier, it really brings out the detail in this otherwise very small skeleton shrimp. It’s face is clear, it’s reddish eyes are visible, and the way it faces my camera with it’s arms wide makes it almost symmetrical. It’s clear color matches the hydra that it is living on. Plus the colors in the background really make this an interesting and beautiful photo. Don’t think there are aliens on earth? Look no further!
Image credits: National Geographic
Source: BoredPanda