2017 National Geographic Travel Photographer Of The Year – Nature

Enter today for a chance to be named the 2017 National Geographic Travel Photographer of the Year. Each year, photographers around the world send National Geographic Travel gorgeous images that captivate and astonish. The judges are looking for photos that tell the story of a place and travel moments that inspire.

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. This was taken on Randijaur lake, Jokkmokk, Sweden. (Adam Cunningham-White/ National Geographic Travel Photographer of the Year Contest)

More info: National Geographic Travel Photographer Of The Year

A drive to remember

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)

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)

SymmetryrtemmyS

Cherry blossoms reflected in perfect condition. (Hiroshi Tanita / 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)

Swallows Cave

A freediver swim 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)

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)

Little Eyewitness

“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)

Blue pond the stellar sky

Voice from the stars. (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)

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)

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)

Moss forest

Yakushima is an island full of abundant moss and beautiful water. (Tetsuya Hosokawa / National Geographic Travel Photographer of the Year Contest)