National Geographic announced the winning photographs from its first “Pictures of the Year” photo competition.
The contest, which opened to U.S. residents in early December, invited readers to submit a digital photograph in one of four categories: nature, people, places and animals.
The contest required that photographs be largely unaltered. According to the rules, “only minor burning, dodging and/or color correction is acceptable, as is minor cropping.” Photos with other changes are “unacceptable and … ineligible for a prize.”
Grand prize — Alaska
Bald eagles at Alaska’s Chilkat Bald Eagle Preserve compete to perch on a tree log.
Karthik Subramaniam
Karthik Subramaniam, a software engineer in San Francisco who is passionate about wildlife photography, clinched the grand prize. He said he captured his winning shot at the end of a weeklong photography trip in Haines, Alaska, which hosts the world’s largest congregation of bald eagles each fall.
As Subramaniam watched the eagles hunt for salmon in their fishing grounds, an eagle swooped in to steal another’s perch on a tree.
“Hours of observing their patterns and behavior helped me capture moments like these,” he said.
The photo will be featured in an upcoming issue of National Geographic’s U.S. magazine.
In addition to the grand prize winner, Nat Geo also gave honorable mentions to several “winners.” Their photos will be published on National Geographic’s Your Shot Instagram page, which has some 6.5 million followers.
Most of those photographs, along with information provided by Nat Geo, are published below.
Iceland
Iceland’s Fagradalsfjall volcano erupting in 2021.
Riten Dharia
The six-month lava flow that covered the surrounding landscape in hard black rock was “an exhibition of the raw and awesome power of nature,” said Riten Dharia, who photographed the scene on the Reykjanes Peninsula.
Mongolia
In this photograph, a nomadic Kazakh eagle hunter on horseback prepares his golden eagle for a hunt in Bayan-Olgii, Mongolia,…
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