Pixioo Photography: Here Are the Winning Photos of the 2015 National Geographic Photo Contest

DIRT

National Geographic just announced the 2015 winners for its prestigious photo contest. Over 13,000 entries were received from around the world, and just 13 photos were chosen from that number for special recognition.

The grand prize winner this year was photographer James Smart of Melbourne, Australia, who won $10,000 and a trip to Washington, D.C. for the photo above, titled “DIRT.”

The caption reads: “Jaw-dropping, rare anti-cyclonic tornado tracks in open farm land narrowly missing a home near Simla, Colorado.” Smart spent 15 days chasing storms with his brother and some friends, and on the last day he managed to shoot the stunning shot above.

“The tornado was slowly getting bigger as it picked up the dust and soil from the ground on the farmland,” Smart says. “It wasn’t moving very fast, so we kept getting closer as it tracked next to the home as you can see in the image.”

“Driving down a Colorado dirt road, we were lucky enough to be on the west of the tornado, so it was front lit. This really helped to get great detail out of the image and the perfect light for the sky and foreground.”

Here are the other 12 winning photos from this year’s contest:

Places Winner: “Asteroid”

Photo and caption by Francisco Mingorance / National Geographic 2015 Photo Contest

On the occasion of the preparation of a report on Ríotinto from the air, I decided to include phosphogypsum ponds located in the marshes of red and whose radioactive discharges has destroyed part of the marsh. As an environmental photojournalist had to tell this story and report it but had to do with an image that by itself attract attention of the viewer. I discovered this on a low-flying training that caught my attention for its resemblance to the impact of an asteroid on its green waters.
Location: Cardeñas, Andalusia, Spain

People Winner: “At The Play Ground”

Photo and caption by Joel Nsadha / National Geographic 2015 Photo Contest

Bwengye lives in a slum called Kamwokya in Kampala, Uganda’s capital city. He cherishes his bicycle more than anything else. He brings it to this playground in the slum every evening where he watches kids playing soccer.
Location: Kampala, Central Region, Uganda

Honorable Mention: “Hill of Crosses”

Photo and caption by Hideki Mizuta / National Geographic 2015 Photo Contest

There are many hundreds of thousands of crosses, the Hill of Crosses has represented the peaceful resistance of Lithuanian Catholicism to oppression. Standing upon a small hill is the place where many spirits of the dead lives. When I visited this place, a girl in the pink dress ran through as if she brought the peace, hope, love.
Location: Šiauliai, Siauliu Apskritis, Lithuania

Honorable Mention: “From Generation to Generation”

Photo and caption by Jackson Hung / National Geographic 2015 Photo Contest

This photo was taken during Chinese New Year’s Eve of 2015 in Taiwan. While paying respects to our ancestors, I noticed how the light was coming into the room and saw the passing of incense sticks to each of our family members after sending our prayers. The photo is symbolic since the passing of incense sticks resembles and knowledge and wisdom passed down from generation to generation.
Location: Taiwan

Honorable Mention: “Overlooking Iraq from Iran”

Photo and caption by Yanan Li / National Geographic 2015 Photo Contest

There are relics left along the Iran-Iraq boarders. A group of Iranian female students play around an abandoned tank. Among them, one girl stands on the tank with her arms open.
Location: Shalamcheh, Khuzestan, Iran

Honorable Mention: “Orangutan in The Rain”

Photo and caption by Andrew Suryono / National Geographic 2015 Photo Contest

I was taking pictures of some Orangutans in Bali and then it started to rain. Just before I put my camera away, I saw this Orangutan took a taro leaf and put it on top on his head to protect himself from the rain! I immediately used my DSLR and telephoto lens to preserve this spontaneous magic moment.
Location: Denpasar, Bali, Indonesia

Honorable Mention: “Changing Shifts”

Photo and caption by Mohammed Yousef / National Geographic 2015 Photo Contest

In Masai Mara, the cubs of the famous cheetah called Malaika became young enough to start hunting. They moved from one hill to another scanning the lands. Here, they seemed to change shifts as one cheetah leaves the hill while the other takes her place.
Location: Masai Mara, Rift Valley, Kenya

Honorable Mention: “Colorful chaos”

Photo and caption by Bence Mate / National Geographic 2015 Photo Contest

White-fronted Bee-eaters getting together on a bough before going to sleep to their burrows, scraped into a sand wall. I was working on this theme for 18 days, as there were only 5-10 minutes a day, when the light conditions were appropriate, 90% of my trying did not succeed. I used flash lights to light only the ones sitting on the branch, and not to the others, flying above. When in the right angle, the backlight generated rainbow colouring through the wings of the flying birds.
Location: Mkuze, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa

Honorable Mention: “Acrobat of the Air”

Photo and caption by Alessandra Meniconzi / National Geographic 2015 Photo Contest

A flocks of Alpine choughs (Pyrrhocorax graculus), mountain-dwelling birds, performs acrobatic displays in the air. I was able, during a windy day, to immortalize their impressive flight skills.

Honorable Mention: “Nothing to Declare”

Photo and caption by Lars Hübner / National Geographic 2015 Photo Contest

Taiwan – In the countryside, the funerals are usually accompanied by local chapels. When a family member dies, their body is kept in the house, or in a tent built specifically for this purpose. After a set period of time, the deceased, accompanied by a funeral procession is buried.
Location: Douliu, Taiwan, Taiwan

Honorable Mention: “The Game”

Photo and caption by Simone Monte / National Geographic 2015 Photo Contest

The game (Altinho) in Ipanema – Rio de Janeiro
Location: Rio de Janeiro

Honorable Mention: “Surrealist painting in nature”

Photo and caption by Tugo Cheng / National Geographic 2015 Photo Contest

As the largest mountain ranges in Central Asia, Tian-shan (‘sky-mountain’ in Chinese), has one of the best collections of natural landscapes in the world and is seen by many as a paradise for outdoor adventures. Thanks to the richness of sediments compounded with the power of erosion by rivers flowing down the mountains, the north face of Tian-shan is carved into stunning plateaus and colorful canyons hundreds of meters deep, resulting in this surrealist painting in nature.