Every year, environmental organization The Nature Conservancy holds a photography contest to celebrate the beauty of nature and raise awareness about the impacts of climate change.
Entries from 196 different countries and territories were judged in six different categories: climate, landscape, people and nature, plants and fungi, water and wildlife. The winning photos were carefully selected by a panel of expert judges, including conservation photographer Ami Vitale and Brave Wilderness host Coyote Peterson.
Chinese photographer Li Ping took home top prize for his drone shot of a lonely highway in Tibet, surrounded on each side by erosion gullies that extend out in the shape of a tree.
The image beat more than 100,000 entries and is a stunning reward for the photographer’s efforts. On both sides of the highway, seagulls formed by rainwater erosion stretch like a tree in Tibet, an autonomous region in southwest China. To capture this image, photographer Li Ping slept alone in a roadside parking lot overnight before using a drone in the early morning.
"Braided River" by Kristin Wright (USA) - First prize in the water category.
A mother elephant seal chases a bird of prey away from her calf, photographed in the Falkland Islands
Nicknamed “ghost mushrooms” because of their eerie green color, the scientific name for these bioluminescent mushrooms is Omphalotus nidiformis. The glow is visible to the naked eye in complete darkness. They are found in some forests in Australia. Locating and photographing them can be a challenge because they only grow and glow for a few weeks out of the year.
Winter in Stokksnes, Iceland, on a beach with black sand and the majestic mountain called Vestrahorn
Giraffes drink from a waterhole in Zimanga Private Game Reserve, South Africa
Decades ago, after a severe decline in the goliath grouper population, Florida banned fishing for them, leading to a surge in the population. Now, there are new plans to reopen fishing, which could put their future in jeopardy once again.
A vibrant fan-shaped lizard stands guard over its territory. This lizard was photographed on the Chalkewadi Plateau in Satara district, western India, which is the site of one of the largest wind farms in the region. Researchers believe the windmills may influence predator behavior, allowing the tiny lizards to thrive in the rocky plateau
Aerial view of two different types of ice in winter: On the right, fast ice forms; on the left, open water freezes after a storm removes the ice
The dust surrounding the supergiant is one of the most beautiful sights in wild Namibia
Bromo Tengger Semeru National Park is one of the top tourist destinations in Indonesia
The slope of Mount Adi, in Navarre, Spain
Phuong Thao
- Source: The Atlantic
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