The winners of 2017 National Geographic Nature Photographer of the Year contest have been officially announced. This year, the judges had a task of selecting the winners among more than 11,000 entries from all over the world. The grand prize winner is Jayaprakash Joghee Bojan from Singapore, who captured an orangutan crossing a river in Indonesia’s Tanjung Puting National Park. We’re presenting you with the winning photo, along with the gorgeous winning images in all the categories of this prestigious contest.
The contest consists of four categories: Wildlife, Landscape, Aerials, and Underwater. The photographers submitted their work through National Geographic’s photography community, Your Shot.
Jayaprakash Joghee Bojan was selected as the overall winner. This has earned him not only the title of the Nature Photographer of the Year, but also a $10,000 prize. Additionally, his photos will be published in an upcoming issue of National Geographic magazine and featured on the @NatGeo Instagram account.
As National Geographic writes, Bojan took the winning photo after waiting patiently in the Sekoyner River in Tanjung Puting National Park in Borneo, Indonesia:
After spending several days on a houseboat photographing orangutans in the park, Bojan learned of a location where a male orangutan had crossed the river – unusual behavior that he knew he had to capture. After waiting a day and night near the suspected location, a ranger spotted the orangutan the next morning at a spot a few minutes up the river. As they drew near, Bojan decided to get into the water so the boat did not scare the primate. About five feet deep in a river supposedly home to freshwater crocodiles, Bojan captured the photo when the orangutan peeked out from behind a tree to see if the photographer was still there.
As Bojan explains, he felt completely caught up as he was trying to get the perfect shot:
Honestly, sometimes you just go blind when things like this happen. You’re so caught up. You really don’t know what’s happening. You don’t feel the pain, you don’t feel the mosquito bites, you don’t feel the cold, because your mind is completely lost in what’s happening in front of you.
Apparently, the patience and effort have paid off and have brought Bojan the main prize.
As for the winners in the other categories, they include:
Landscapes: Karim Iliya (Haiku, Hawaii)
Underwater: Jim Obester (Vancouver, Wash.)
Aerials: Todd Kennedy (New South Wales, Australia)
Take a look at the winning photos, People’s Choice and Honorable Mentions of all four categories:
Landscapes
1st Place:
Photograph by Karim Iliya, 2017 National Geographic Nature Photographer of the Year
Shortly before twilight in Kalapana, Hawai’i, a fragment of the cooled lava tube broke away, leaving the molten rock to fan in a fiery spray for less than half an hour before returning to a steady flow.
2nd Place:
Photograph by Yuhan Liao, 2017 National Geographic Nature Photographer of the Year
Sunlight glances off mineral strata of different colors in Dushanzi Grand Canyon, China.
3rd Place:
Photograph by Mike Olbinski Photography, 2017 National Geographic Nature Photographer of the Year
A summer thunderstorm unleashes lightning on the South Rim of the Grand Canyon.
Honorable Mention:
Photograph by Gheorghe Popa, 2017 National Geographic Nature Photographer of the Year
Morning fog blurs the dead trees of Romania’s Lake Cuejdel, a natural reservoir created by landslides.
People’s Choice:
Photograph by Wojciech Kruczyński, 2017 National Geographic Nature Photographer of the Year
Sunset illuminates a lighthouse and rainbow in the Faroe Islands.
Underwater
1st Place:
Photograph by Jim Obester, 2017 National Geographic Nature Photographer of the Year
Blue-filtered strobe lights stimulate fluorescent pigments in the clear tentacles of a tube-dwelling anemone in Hood Canal, Washington.
2nd Place:
Photograph by Shane Gross, 2017 National Geographic Nature Photographer of the Year
Typically a shy species, a Caribbean reef shark investigates a remote-triggered camera in Cuba’s Gardens of the Queen marine protected area.
3rd Place:
Photograph by Michael Patrick O’Neill, 2017 National Geographic Nature Photographer of the Year
Buoyed by the Gulf Stream, a flying fish arcs through the night-dark water five miles off Palm Beach, Florida.
Honorable Mention:
Photograph by Jennifer O’Neil, 2017 National Geographic Nature Photographer of the Year
Preparing to strike, tarpon cut through a ribbon-like school of scad off the coast of Bonaire in the Caribbean Sea.
People’s Choice:
Photograph by Matthew Smith, 2017 National Geographic Nature Photographer of the Year
A Portuguese man-of-war nears the beach on a summer morning; thousands of these jellyfish wash up on Australia’s eastern coast every year.
Aerials
1st Place:
Photograph by Todd Kennedy, 2017 National Geographic Nature Photographer of the Year
In Sydney, Australia, the Pacific Ocean at high tide breaks over a natural rock pool enlarged in the 1930s. Avoiding the crowds at the city’s many beaches, a local swims laps.
2nd Place:
Photograph by Takahiro Bessho, 2017 National Geographic Nature Photographer of the Year
Snow-covered metasequoia trees, also called dawn redwoods, interlace over a road in Takashima, Japan.
3rd Place:
Photograph by Greg C., 2017 National Geographic Nature Photographer of the Year
On the flanks of Kilauea Volcano, Hawai’i, the world’s only lava ocean entry spills molten rock into the Pacific Ocean. After erupting in early 2016, the lava flow took about two months to reach the sea, six miles away.
Honorable Mention:
Photograph by Agathe Bernard, 2017 National Geographic Nature Photographer of the Year
Migratory gulls take flight from a cedar tree being washed downstream by a glacial river in British Columbia, Canada.
People’s Choice:
Photograph by David Swindler, 2017 National Geographic Nature Photographer of the Year
Green vegetation blooms at the river’s edge, or riparian, zone of a meandering canyon in Utah.
Wildlife
1st Place/Grand Prize:
Photograph by Jayaprakash Joghee Bojan, 2017 National Geographic Nature Photographer of the Year
A male orangutan peers from behind a tree while crossing a river in Borneo, Indonesia.
2nd Place:
Photograph by Alejandro Prieto, 2017 National Geographic Nature Photographer of the Year
An adult Caribbean pink flamingo feeds a chick in Yucatán, Mexico. Both parents alternate feeding chicks, at first with a liquid baby food called crop milk, and then with regurgitated food.
3rd Place:
Photograph by Bence Mate, 2017 National Geographic Nature Photographer of the Year
Two grey herons spar as a white-tailed eagle looks on in Hungary.
Honorable Mention:
Photograph by Lance McMillan, 2017 National Geographic Nature Photographer of the Year
A Japanese macaque indulges in some grooming time on the shores of the famous hot springs.
People’s Choice:
Photograph by Harry Collins, 2017 National Geographic Nature Photographer of the Year
A great gray owl swoops to kill in a New Hampshire field.
If you’d like to learn more and see the winning images and the honorable mentions, make sure to visit the contest website.
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