National Geographic has announced the winners of the magazine’s annual Travel Photographer of the Year contest, and the images are haunting, yet breath-taking.
An image of an erupting volcano being struck by lightning earned Mexican photographer Sergio Tapiro Velasco the title of National Geographic Travel Photographer of the Year.
Velasco captured the incredible image of Mexico’s Colima Volcano, one of Latin America’s most active volcanos, on Dec. 13, 2015. The photographer was set up about 12 kilometres away from the crater, which is often referred to as the “Volcano of Fire,” when he witnessed the volcanic lightning.
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“When I looked on the camera display, all I could do was stare,” Velasco told the magazine. “What I was watching was impossible to conceive, the image showed those amazing forces of nature interacting on a volcano, while the lightning brightened the whole scene. It’s an impossible photograph and my once in a lifetime shot that shows the power of nature.”
Velasco’s winning image was selected from over 15,000 entries from photographers in more than 30 countries.
Here’s a look at some of the other winning images from this year’s contest.
You can see the full list of winning images on National Geographic’s contest site.
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