Contests

Places Honorable Mention In Japan, ancestral spirits come back to their families in mid-August every year. People gives repose to the ancestors’ spirits for three days and send them back to where they came from by putting them on lanterns to drift down river. Ms. Setsuko Sugino took this picture of a small girl praying for ancestral spirits and lanterns waiting to be set adrift into foggy river in Shikoku, Japan. by Setsuko Sugino, Japan People Winner Old women in Mozambique – by Ilvy Njiokiktjien, Netherlands Judges’ Comments “This is one of those wonderful moments when everything comes together visually,” says freelance photojournalist Maggie Steber. “There is a musical rhythm to the image.” National Geographic design editor Darren Smith agrees: “The composition is intriguing with the mirroring of the womens bodies. I find it to be very harmonious and soothing. There is something reassuring in the play between the colors, … Read more

Overall winner: Steve Winter (United States of America) Snowstorm leopard ‘After 10 months and a winter with little snow in Ladakh’s Hemis High Altitude National Park, India, I was running out of hope of getting the picture I wanted. But one freezing morning I checked my remote-controlled camera and found a snow leopard had triggered it the night before, in the frame I’d dreamed of – in its true element.’ Snow leopards are adapted to life in the mountains of central Asia. They have long, waterproof outer fur, dense woolly under-fur and large nasal cavities that warm the air as they breathe it in. This allows them to survi’ve temperatures as low as -40°C. But the leopards can also tolerate the heat of the Gobi Desert, where temperatures can reach 40°C. Canon EOS Rebel XT + 10-22mm lens at 16mm; 1/200 sec at f16; ISO 100; waterproof camera box + … Read more