Travel photos of the year
A dramatic photograph of an erupting volcano hit by a bolt of lightning has been lauded in the 2017 National
Geographic Travel Photographer of the Year contest.
The image was taken by Sergio Tapiro Velasco of Mexico, who had tracked the volcano’s activity for almost a month before he captured the prize-winning image.
Velasco took the shot outside Colima, Mexico, and aptly titled the photograph The Power of Nature.
While shooting on a completely clear night, just 12km from the crater, he heard a booming noise and witnessed the biggest volcanic lightning he’d seen in his life.
Until he had the opportunity to review the photographs he’d taken, he had no idea whether he’d actually captured the spectacular event.
“When I looked on the camera display, all I could do was stare,” Velasco said.
“What I was watching was impossible to conceive, the image showed those amazing forces of nature interacting on a volcano, while the lightning brightened the whole scene.
“It’s an impossible photograph and my once in a lifetime shot that shows the power of nature,” he said.
The National Geographic Travel Photographer of the Year contest recognises the best photographs taken in the last two years, under three categories: Nature, People and Cities.
Top photos were selected in each of the three categories, with Velasco’s photo also chosen as the winner in the Nature category.
Norbert Fritz of Hungary took top honours in the
Cities category for his photo titled Levels of
Reading, taken in the modern interior of the city library in Stuttgart, Germany.
Worship, by F Dilek Uyar of Turkey won the People category with a picture that showed the Sema dance of the Whirling Dervishes, a symbol of the Mevlevi culture in Konya, Turkey.
The competition was judged by Molly Roberts, senior photography editor at National Geographic; Benjamin Lowy, awardwinning adventure and underwater photographer; and Jody MacDonald, award-winning adventure sport and documentary photographer.
“The quality of submissions in the 2017 Travel Photographer of the Year contest was wonderfully eclectic,” said Roberts.
“I was inspired by the
variety of locations and creativity of the photographers in their quest to make compelling images.”
Other highly commended images included To Live, by Hiromi Kano, which showed swans taking off out of mud.
Blessings at Besakih was taken by Michael Dean Morgan at Bali’s “Mother Temple” on the slopes of Mount Agung.
Walled City #08 was the work of Andy Yeung, an aerial shot of the Kowloon Walled City in China.
As the grand-prize winner, Velasco will receive a 10-day trip for two to the Galapagos Archipelago with National
Geographic Expeditions, as well as a US$2500 (NZ$3366) prize.