2017 National Geographic Travel Photographer Of The Year – Cities Gallery

We’re entering the final week of the 2017 National Geographic Travel Photographer of the Year contest, and stunning entries continue to pour in from all over the world.

For the final gallery before the contest closes, our editors have selected incredible photos from the “Cities” category for online galleries. From aerial shots to iconic skylines, these photos feature both architectural marvels as well as the beauty of day-to-day life in the urban jungle.

The city library in Stuttgart. (Photo and caption by Norbert Fritz / National Geographic Travel Photographer of the Year Contest)

More info: National Geographic Travel Photographer Of The Year

A dream come true for an architect, to see the Eiffel tower in flesh for the first time. (Photo and caption by Ata Adnan / National Geographic Travel Photographer of the Year Contest)

“The aim of life is no more to control the mind, but to develop it harmoniously; not to achieve salvation here after, but to make the best use of it here now; and not to realise truth, beauty and good only in contemplation, but also in the actual experience of daily life – Bhagat Singh”. Vibrant street shoppers enjoying their daily lives during Ramadan in Commercial Street, Bangalore. (Photo and caption Nikhil Rasiwasia / National Geographic Travel Photographer of the Year Contest)

Another Rainy Day in Nagasaki, Kyushu, Japan. This is a view of the main street from a city tram in Nagasaki on a rainy day. The tram is quite vintage and anachronistic and yet retrofitted with modern ticketing equipment. No conductor is on board any more – only the driver. It seems to rain a lot in Nagasaki and the rain in Nagasaki was even made into a popular song some decades ago. Thanks to Nat Geo Editors Monica, Jeanne, Matt and Christina for the EF! (Photo and caption by Hiro Kurashina / National Geographic Travel Photographer of the Year Contest)

Uummannaq is a small island in Greenland, home to about 1200 people. It was really a treat waking up with such views on the colorful houses, with the icebergs in the fjord as backdrop. They say you leave a piece of your heart behind when you leave Uummannaq… it is true. (Photo and caption by Rayann Elzein / National Geographic Travel Photographer of the Year Contest)

Taken from the highest residential building in Asia: The Zenith in Busan. This was taken with official permission (which took me months to get) and safety measures were taken.
I had to hang myself over the edge to get this shot. Not for the faint of heart! But when you’re at a height like this, the world below you just seems a different world. It takes away the fear one would normally have, and gives a sense of peace instead. (Photo and caption by Albert Dros / National Geographic Travel Photographer of the Year Contest)

Lightning strikes lower Manhattan as a summer storm approaches a moonlit New York City skyline. (Photo and caption by Christopher Markisz / National Geographic Travel Photographer of the Year Contest)

This building is apartment complex in Gifu Prefecture of Japan. It is very colorful, but it is an ordinary collective housing where ordinary people can live. (Photo and caption by Tetsuya Hashimoto / National Geographic Travel Photographer of the Year Contest)

Ban Jelacic Square, Zagreb, at Christmas time. (Photo and caption by Phillip Minnis / National Geographic Travel Photographer of the Year Contest)

New city on the desert. (Photo and caption by andrzej bochenski / National Geographic Travel Photographer of the Year Contest)

Hong Kong is one of the highest population destiny city in the world. This city is full of sky-high buildings yet surrounded by lots of mountains. If you go up to the top, you will see a motherboard like structural design of the whole city. The buildings seem like computer servers, whereas the main roads are the connecting cables of different servers. People are like data, transferring from one side to another side. (Photo and caption by Ho Lam Cheng / National Geographic Travel Photographer of the Year Contest)

This photo was taken in Jujing, a small ancient village in China. Jujing is known as the roundest village in China. In the last day of the Chinese New Year celebration, the village has traditional dragon dancing activity. (Photo and caption by Hua Zhu / National Geographic Travel Photographer of the Year Contest)

The Kowloon Walled City was the densest place on Earth. Hundreds of houses stacked on top of each other enclosed in the center of the structure. Many didn’t have access to open space.This notorious city was finally demolished in 1990s. However, if you look hard enough, you will notice that the city is not dead. Part of it still exists in many of current high density housing apartments. I hope this series can get people to think about claustrophobic living in Hong Kong from a new perspective. (Photo and caption by Andy Yeung / National Geographic Travel Photographer of the Year Contest)

When warm winds bring the promise of Spring from the southern ocean and begin to mingle with the last remnants of Winter, sea fog anchors around the harbours. This photo captured the stunning view of the sea fog at the Kwai Chung Container Terminal. Where sea voyages end at the harbour, layers of sea fog draw in, only the cranes of the container ships and the twin towers of the Stonecutters Bridge project through the swirling mist. (Photo and caption by Edward Tin / National Geographic Travel Photographer of the Year Contest)

Passing through the cloud as well as spider webs during the midnight climb, I could witness the identical hustle and bustle skyscrapers in the Central District in Hong Kong from another perspective. I love how the commercial district could co-exist with the nature, and how they embrace each other. (Photo and caption by Lester Lau / National Geographic Travel Photographer of the Year Contest)

Autumn brings bright colors and geometric views from a bird’s view that often is missed by the human eye. This is Yellow Leaves Surround Gazebo in Washington Park, Dubuque, Iowa. Photo by “General Bob” Felderman. (Photo and caption by Robert Felderman / National Geographic Travel Photographer of the Year Contest)

A Manhattan sunset captured from Queens across the East River. Part 2 in a New York trilogy called NYC Light. (Photo and caption by Lars Sivars / National Geographic Travel Photographer of the Year Contest)

This spring I was in Frankfurt on vacations. In evening I went through the bridge and my eyes caught the spectacular view of modern night city – tall skyscrapers in the vicinity with old Cathedral. I used tripod for long shutter speed (about 20s), set the lowest ISO and F11. After that 2 separate shots (with trams and buildings) were combined in post-production. (Photo and caption by Vitaly Pankratov / National Geographic Travel Photographer of the Year Contest)

Shot from the top outdoor observation deck. Shot a five shot exposure bracket knowing the bright sunset sky and the shadow side of the buildings needed it. Thankfully everyone on the deck was posing for someone or another. Many different colors of light but mostly gray-green, which muted buildings, so had to nudge saturation up to get colors back to what it looked like to human eyes. (Photo and caption by Ed Nazarko / National Geographic Travel Photographer of the Year Contest)