15 travel photos that will make you want to grab your passport this instant
#Earthporn
A picture speaks a thousands words, but the Travel Photographer of the Year Awards has left us speechless... again.
From pilgrims making perilous progress in the Himalayas to cave divers exploring Mexico's cenotes, the annual TPOTY awards have once again thrown up several humdingers.
Think fighting bears. Think warm tones of Himba jewelry, adventures in the Norwegian wilderness, or the piercing eyes of a little Pakistani schoolgirl. The winning images in the 2014 Awards - 15 of which you can view in our gallery above - give a glorious view of life on this planet.
British photographer Philip Lee Harvey took the overall prize for his elegant portfolios depicting the rock-hewn churches of Lalibela, Ethiopia and the Himba of Namibia.
The title of Young Travel Photographer of the Year 2014 went to 17 year-old Samuel Fisch of the USA. He is the first person to win this title twice, having also won it back in 2012.
Nick Ng Yeow Kee, won the Tribes portfolio category with his intimate black & white portraits of elderly people in China, while Dutch photographer Marsel van Oosten took top honours in the Earth, Air, Fire, Water category, with his eerie images of dead camelthorn trees in Namibia.
Johnny Haglund of Norway scored two first places in the single image categories, winning Monochromal with a wonderfully sympathetic portrait of an elderly woman in Colombia, and One Moment with a striking image of ‘Les Sapeurs’ in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Joshua Holko’s winning image in Wild & Vibrant captured the moment a polar bear looked up from a recent seal kill, its bloodied face and the seal carcass standing out vividly against the snow.
TPOTY Award entries were submitted by professional and amateur photographers from over 100 countries, and judged by an international panel of photographers, picture editors and photo agency directors.
For further information on the awards, please visit www.tpoty.com. The images will be exhibited at London’s Royal Geographical Society (with IBG) from July 24th to September 5th 2015.
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