2024 Epson International Pano Awards winning image is out of this world

The winners of the 2024 Epson International Pano Awards have been announced. This year, the overall winner of the 2024 Open Photographer of the Year is Kelvin Yuen from Hong Kong for his remarkable panoramic landscape that looks like it’s out of this world.

Overall winner in the Open category

Kelvin’s work also brought him not only the overall victory, but also first place in the Nature/Landscape and Aerial categories. His entries Power of Nature, Wilderness, and Mountain of Divinity won the jury’s hearts. This landscape photographer is based in Hong Kong, and he began his landscape photography journey after an impromptu mountain hike near his home when he was only 18. Aiming to capture surreal landscapes on our planet Earth for a decade, his photography spans from most of Hong Kong’s beauty to the world’s wild.

Describing Power of Nature, Kelvin said,

“The primary goal of this trip was to capture the iconic mountains of Guilin, renowned for its karst formations. On the day I took this photo, I woke up at 3 am and was supposed to hike up for the sunrise. However, a heavy thunderstorm struck out of nowhere, so I decided to shoot the thunderstorm.

I flew my drone to wait for the lightning due to safety concerns. The drone surprised me by being functional after 30 minutes of downpour. I took 700 photos with the same compositions, of which more than 40 were lightning shots. This photo is my favourite as the lightning flashing in the middle illuminates the layers of the mountains.”

Amateur Awards

In addition to the Open contest, the Epson International Pano Awards recognizes and awards amateur photographers. This year’s top prize winner is Diego Manrique Diez from Spain for his magical aurora images taken in Norway.

“In this breathtaking and extreme panorama, we get immersed in a natural paradise of lush mountains and wild beaches in Northern Norway,” Diego explains. “I remember that night as if it were yesterday. The intense cold was taking hold of me, and the overcast sky prevented me from seeing the awaited northern lights.”

!I was the only one left on that spot when the sky began to open up, followed by a majestic aurora borealis. The result is a panorama of three rows and 27 pictures in total, which captures the immensity of this place.”

New trends and new category in The Epson International Pano Awards

The Epson International Pano Awards showcases the work of panoramic photographers from all over the world. This year, the competition received 4,529 entries from 1,105 professional and amateur photographers in 95 countries. Each year, we’re blown away by the selection of winners. This year is no exception, but there’s one notable change. Epson notes that there was a 70% increase in entries from Southeast Asia, comprising Singapore, Malaysia, Vietnam, Indonesia, Thailand, and the Philippines.

To coincide with trending interest from this region, The Pano Awards made two changes this year. They added Epson Southeast Asian joint major sponsor alongside long-term supporter of Epson Australia. There’s also a new award – The Pano Awards Southeast Asia Open Photographer of the Year. The inaugural winner of this new award is Fikri Muharom of Surabaya, East Java in Indonesia. His image, The Volcanoes Theatre, brought him the award.

Describing his image, Fikri says:

“Bromo National Park has one of beautiful sunrises and is also the most popular tourist attraction in Indonesia – all photographers who come to Indonesia must visit it. At that time in June, it rained in Surabaya at night, and usually if it rains in the middle of the night and stops before dawn, Bromo will be in the best condition because a sea of low clouds will appear in the caldera. I immediately took my car and rushed to Bromo which was only 2 hours drive away, and sure enough that morning Bromo showed its extraordinary beauty. I positioned myself and launched the drone on Pananjakan Hill, the highest point of viewpoint, and took some photos from left to right with a 180-degree angle to create the best panorama in Bromo.”

I leave you now to enjoy the selection of category winners below. Make sure to view all the winning and top image galleries at the Epson International Pano Awards website.

Also, visit the contest website to see the VR/360 category winner, Marcio Cabral
of Brazil, and his immersive 360-degree underwater image.

More from the Epson International Pano Awards

• The Epson International Pano Awards 2020 is a mind-blowing collection of panoramic images
• Otherworldly abstract landscape wins 2022 Epson International Pano Awards
• Surreal Icelandic landscape wins 2023 Epson International Pano Awards
• 2024 Epson International Pano Awards winning image is out of this world
• Epson Pano Awards 2025 Winners Prove Patience Creates Masterpieces

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