2010 National Geographic Photography Contest Galleries

Bear Rocks Preserve Sunrise facing West

Photo and caption by Paul M. Provencher

Bear Rocks Preserve is a heathland at 4000 feet, 477 acres that features sandstone and quartz rocks arranged and eroded in various ways. This area has been altered by logging and fires. It was an artillery training area during World War II. Groves of stunted red spruce, huckleberry, blueberry, mountain laurel, mountain holly, speckled alder, and cranberry bogs, show combinations of colors throughout the year. Located in West Virginia, the cool climate and prevailing winds greatly influenced the “flagged” shape of the red spruce trees found here.

Honorable Mention

Photo and caption by Sean Heavey

Supercell Thunderstorm

A supercell thunderstorm rolls across the Montana prairie at sunset.

Mystery Bug

Photo and caption by Stephen Hocking

This was on my clothesline. I have no idea what it is. I have used a macro lens as the insect was only an inch or so long. We live in the Northern Rivers district of New South Wales, Australia. The rainforest around our house sometimes brings forth intriguing creatures like this.
I know it looks like a studio shot but it isn't. The photograph was was taken in natural light. The background is a sheet that was serendipitously drying on the clothesline at the time. I have rotated the image to make the insect easier to examine.
If anyone can tell me what it is I would be grateful.

Dolphin alert

Photo and caption by João Vianna

O arquipélago de Fernando de Noronha, no Brasil, é considerado um santuário ecológico, mas hoje, mesmo neste isolado arquipélago os golfinhos estão sendo vítimas dos maus hábitos do consumo humano.

Perseid Meteors at Stonehenge

Photo and caption by kieran doherty

A Perseid meteor streaks past stars over the neolithic monument of Stonehenge in Salisbury, wiltshire, southern England. The annual meteor shower takes place every August and the meteors are so named as they appear to emanate from the constellation Perseus. Picture taken on a seven minute exposure.

Shape matters

Photo and caption by marcos furer

A lonely tree. Landscape of Northern Cordoba, Argentina.
Very few trees are left in an extended area where soybean crops and farming are destroying the natural habitat of the ALGARROBOS ( argentine name for the tree)

Four Little Orchids

Photo and caption by Joyce True

As soon as I saw these four little orchids together they remind me of a family and their similar looks yet different, having their own individuality.

Milky Way Shadows

Photo and caption by Alex Cherney

Far away from man-made lights the Port Campbell National Park (Victoria, Australia) is very dark on a moonless night. The stars in centre our Milky Way Galaxy are the most significant source of light which helped to create dark reflections on the water in the middle of the frame.

To render the dark scene close to what I saw I took 7 consecutive 15-second exposures in under 2 minutes interval. The sky in the exposures was de-rotated to compensate for the rotation of Earth, then images were stacked together producing an image identical to a single exposure but with less digital noise.

Old men

Photo and caption by David Da Costa

This image reminded me of a group of old men meeting to contemplate all that is wrong with the world.

First Light of the Day

Photo and caption by Tung Tran

Convict Lake offers to many visitors a feel of tranquility, peacefulness and at sunrise, a hope for a new beginning, a promise for a life cycle ready to start over anew. Morning sunrise is observed with rays of light spread over the top of the mountains and gradually running down lightening the area. The cold snowy atmosphere gives a sense of solitude and deep and misty quietness but then the ray of sunlight warms up the environment with joy and hope as a new day is about to begin.

Overhelming Threat

Photo and caption by Ellert Grétarsson

This horse seems to be reposeful despite for this threat from the eruption in Eyjafjallafökull in april 2010.

Starlit fire beyond the trees

Photo and caption by James Killion

a photo of a massive fire beyond the trees, under a clear starlit night.

White Sands, Black Mountains, Red Sunset, Milky Way

Photo and caption by James Lee

A single 30 second exposure. My LED headlamp lit the white sand dune. Residual sunlight from a sun already set lit the horizon and clouds while the stars and Milky Way galaxy revealed themselves up above.

Tidal Sandart: Sunflower

Photo and caption by Rhia Roberts

A California beach, two-toned sand, ample wave-tossed seaweed, and a receding tide turned my walk on the beach into an exciting visit to an art gallery. Although curious passers-by were unable to see the art I was seeing in the plethora of tidal patterns left on the seashore, with the use of my zoom lens I was able to capture the masterpieces. To me, this scene is Mother Nature's version of Van Gogh's Sunflowers.

Man in the Mountain

Photo and caption by James Killion

Photo of a friend in a 160 foot pit in Alabama

The hunted

Photo and caption by Alex Tan

Kanana Camp, Botswana. Pulling over by the side of the road to watch a grazing giraffe, we spotted an amber head lurking behind a small mound. A hungry lioness. Watching, waiting, camera to my eye, she eventually chose her moment and pounced just as the giraffe sensed danger. The lioness gave chase, but failed. Hungry, she lay down, invisible, in the grass not ten feet from us and waited again.

Cyclamen in Israel

Photo and caption by Nimrod Carmi

Cyclamen in a sunny Israeli winter day

planet Earth

Photo and caption by George Stavrinos

This photo was taken during a sunset at the Larnaca saltlake, Cyprus. I used the HDR technique by taking 3 photos with different exposure (-1, 0, +1) and stacked them together in a software. This was done to better show the holes in the ground which made the whole scape look like from another planet. The lake dries up during summer and autumn and this photo was take right before raining season. These circles were not dry though, they had water trapped inside them. Try and step on them and your foot will start sinking like in a quicksand..

Lightning Strike NY Harbor

Photo and caption by Jay Fine

This shot was captured during a major electrical storm. There was little wind and no rain which allowed me to stay safely inside and shoot from an open window. This was the 82nd exposure out of 150 made that night. The camera was mounted on a tripod, exposures made with a cable release for 5 seconds at f10. Except for a some minor level adjustments and a square crop this was what came out of the camera.

pyramid mountain

Photo and caption by sukru mehmet omur

Maelifellssandur volcanic dust desert in Iceland

glacier lagoon

Photo and caption by sukru mehmet omur

Jokulsarlon glacier lagoon in the southwest part of Iceland