2017 National Geographic Travel Photographer of the Year Contest Entries

National Geographic Editors Pick Their Favorite Nature Photos From The First Week of Entries

May 11, 2017 5:00 am
National Geographic Travel Photographer of the Year Contest
'Swallows Cave' -A free-diver swims in the deep of "swallows cave" in Tonga. This cave is settled by more than few thousand fish. They offer you a spectacular ballet when you dive inside. The contrast between the dark of the bottom and the light of the top make bright the fishes like stars. ( Marc Henauer/National Geographic Travel Photographer of the Year Contest)
Marc Henauer

The competition is already pictured to be fierce in National Geographic’s annual Travel Photographer of the Year contest.

Photographers from around the world have begun submitting stunning images to National Geographic Travel in the hopes of scoring not only prestige and recognition, but in this year’s case, a 10-day trip for two to the Galapagos Islands with National Geographic Expeditions.

Take a peek at some of the early editor’s picks for hot contenders in this year’s challenge.

National Geographic Travel Photographer of the Year Contest
‘The Mirror’-Lake Yogo, called “The lake of Mirror”, sometimes reflects everything in front of you. (Takahiro Bessho/National Geographic Travel Photographer of the Year Contest)
Takahiro Bessho
National Geographic Travel Photographer of the Year Contest
‘Lost in white’-This photo captures the moment that I, along with 3 other Sami reindeer herders become a little lost while migrating with 350 reindeer. They were rounded up from a section of forest around 30kms south of this point. Our goal was to take them, via rivers, northwards to pastures new using the network of rivers and lakes that flow through Sweden. (Adam Cunningham-White/National Geographic Travel Photographer of the Year Contest)
Adam Cunningham-White
National Geographic Travel Photographer of the Year Contest
‘Swallows Cave’ -A free-diver swims in the deep of “swallows cave” in Tonga. This cave is settled by more than few thousand fish. They offer you a spectacular ballet when you dive inside. The contrast between the dark of the bottom and the light of the top make bright the fishes like stars. ( Marc Henauer/National Geographic Travel Photographer of the Year Contest)
Marc Henauer
National Geographic Travel Photographer of the Year Contest
‘In Your Face’-Caribbean reef sharks are usually shy so I placed my camera on a rock where I know they frequent and used a remote trigger to click away as they came in and bumped my camera around. (Shane Gross/National Geographic Travel Photographer of the Year Contest)
Shane Gross
National Geographic Travel Photographer of the Year Contest
‘SymmetryrtemmyS’- Cherry blossoms reflected in perfect condition. (Hiroshi Tanita/National Geographic Travel Photographer of the Year Contest)
Hiroshi Tanita
National Geographic Travel Photographer of the Year Contest
‘Lonely salt lake’-Aerial shot was taken in Death Valley national park from a small plane. (Stas Bartnikas/National Geographic Travel Photographer of the Year Contest)
Stas Bartnikas
National Geographic Travel Photographer of the Year Contest
‘Little Eyewitness’ was taken in Jigokudani Monkey Park, Nagano, Japan on December, 2016. On a cold winter’s day, monkeys have several ways to keep off the cold. For example, in order to keep them warm, they have a soak in a hot spring, take a bedrock bath or huddle together, etc. While monkeys were huddling together, I approached them with the stealthy footsteps. Then I photographed them from directly above at the moment when a little monkey nestled in mother’s arms looked to the camera. (Hidetoshi Ogata/National Geographic Travel Photographer of the Year Contest)
Hidetoshi Ogata
National Geographic Travel Photographer of the Year Contest
‘Moss forest’-Yakushima is an island full of abundant moss and beautiful water. (Tetsuya Hosokawa/National Geographic Travel Photographer of the Year Contest)
Tetsuya Hosokawa
National Geographic Travel Photographer of the Year Contest
Aerial view of the Scenic drive and the beautiful Fall colors of New Hampshire. I used a drone to capture the fall colors that cannot be seen from the road. (Manish Mamtani/National Geographic Travel Photographer of the Year Contest)
Manish Mamtani
National Geographic Travel Photographer of the Year Contest
‘Blue pond the stellar sky’- Voice from the stars. (Nao Akimoto/National Geographic Travel Photographer of the Year Contest)
Nao Akimoto
National Geographic Travel Photographer of the Year Contest
‘Powerful cloud’-Mt Fuji is a treasure trove of mysterious shaped clouds. Various forms of clouds appear when a fast air current blows over the Mt Fuji. I stayed in the car during the night at the Inokashira forest road about 0.8 miles above sea level about 25 miles west of Mt Fuji. The small clouds that appeared before dawn grew bigger and bigger. Just before sunrise they had become a huge cloud covering Mt. Fuji. The shadows of them in the backlight were the most powerful masterpieces. (Takashi/National Geographic Travel Photographer of the Year Contest)
Takashi
National Geographic Travel Photographer of the Year Contest
‘Morning Cranes’- I was able to capture the silhouettes of the cranes through the morning fog. (Hiroki Inoue/National Geographic Travel Photographer of the Year Contest)
Hiroki Inoue
National Geographic Travel Photographer of the Year Contest
‘The Salt Miners’-As the most ancient and grueling trade in Ethiopia, the salt miners in the Afar region are still using the most traditional camel caravan to carry loads of salt bricks extracted from the vast salt flats everyday. However, an under-construction railway from Djibouti and new road traversing the old salt route may soon render the camel caravan obsolete. (Tugo Cheng/National Geographic Travel Photographer of the Year Contest)
Tugo Cheng

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