Painterly photo of an active volcano wins 2023 NBP photo contest

Nature’s Best Photography (NBP) has announced the winners of its 2023 contest. This year’s NBP overall winner is Luis Vilariño of Spain. His remarkable image of an active Icelandic volcano looks almost like oil on canvas, bringing him first prize and praise from the jury.

Out of more than 15,000 submissions from photographers in 58 countries, the jury chose nearly 1,000 photos for the semi-final round of judging. After an extensive review (including high-resolution and uncorrected raw files), the jurors also accounted for the stories behind the images and selected the group of 113 finalists whose work will be published and displayed.

Overall winner

As mentioned in the introduction, Luis Vilariño is this year’s NBP overall winner. He took the winning shot in Iceland, using a DJI Mavic 2 Pro with a Hasselblad L1D-20c; 28mm ƒ/2.8 lens.

“While a squall covered Reykjanes peninsula, I ascended to the base of Geldingadalir— Iceland’s youngest volcano. Magma rising from the mantle formed gigantic bubbles 30 to 50 feet in diameter, which burst when they reached the surface. The lava was emerging with unusual force, overflowing the drainage channel and scattering incandescent rock like oil on canvas.”

About the contest

Entering its 30th year, Nature’s Best Photography was founded to inspire, educate, and motivate a better understanding, appreciation, and conservation of the natural world through the art of photography, storytelling, and personal wellness initiatives. Its goal is to enhance the visibility of wildlife and nature. Photographers of every age, background, and level of camera experience can enter the competition in one of these categories:

• Polar Passion
• Birds
• Youth Photographer of the Year
• Conservation Story
• Outdoor Adventure
• Landscapes
• Wildlife
• Ocean Views
• Animal Antics
• Nature in Motion/Video
• Art in Nature

The overall Grand Prize Winner is chosen from among all categories.

The Grand Prize, Youth Photographer of the Year, Category Winners, and Highly Honored images and videos appear on the NBP website and will be published in the 2023 Awards Special Edition of Nature’s Best Photography magazine. Winners will also be displayed on Facebook and Instagram, and you can see the category winners below.

Category winners

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