Elephants, sharks and a bride marrying in the snow… see some of the stunning shots entered into the National Geographic Photography Awards
These shots all live up to the brief of showing why travel can be inspiring
If you’ve ever considered brushing up on your picture-taking skills, look no further than these entries for this year’s National Geographic Travel Photographer of the Year Contest to get inspired.
have been asked to provide pictures which “tell the story of a place”, or show what the photographer is inspired by when travelling.
That’s pretty broad, and it’s meant some breath-taking pictures have been entered.
Gentle Giants
This was taken by Kathleen Cameron and shows elephants holding on to each others tails as they walk the fields of The Crags Elephant Sanctuary, in Plettenberg Bay, South Africa.
River Delta
This was taken in the air by Stephen King, and it shows southern Iceland.
Mystical forest
Taken by Tracey Jennings, this shows a gill shark in a kelp forest near Cape Town.
Horse Foal
Ryan Bell captured Kazakh horesmen as they moved their horses to a special area where they could be guarded to make sure they weren't stolen.
Top of the world
This is of Sonchaux, Switzerland, when there was low-lying cloud.
"I thought I was immersed in a fairytale, out of every human scale," Boukhechina Malik said.
Snowy bride
Stephane Mangin captured this shot of a woman in Tokyo on her wedding day.
This was the only day it snowed during the winter of 2014 in Tokyo.
Lonely Zebra
Yuval Ofek took this in Tanzania, showing a zebra as it marched through a field of yellow flowers.
Rain in the desert
This was taken in Namibia by Stefan Forster, and it shows a rainbow beaming out from the middle of an intense storm.
Golden sunrise
This stunning sunrise is in Tuscany Turkeym and it was shot by Giovanni Modesti.
Pinnacles
These are the Pinnacles rocks in Western Australia. Sam Yick managed to snap this shot of light peeking over the horizon.