2010 National Geographic Photography Contest Galleries

Places Winner

Photo and caption by Jana Asenbrennerova

In "Ship Breakers of Chittagong," workers expose a ship's innards in Chittagong, Bangladesh, one of the world's biggest ship graveyards.

Despite its unsafe work practices and pollution, the city is "one of the biggest industry and job opportunities for many Bangladeshis," noted photographer Jana Asenbrennerova of San Francisco.

The unusual perspective of the winning photograph impressed judges.

"It's basically an industrial landscape photo, but done in an interesting way, with humans for scale, that we couldn't stop looking at it," said judge Joel Sartore, a freelance photographer.

"I've seen a lot of shipbreaking photos, but never seen this one before," said freelance photographer and judge Stephen Alvarez. "You know at once where you are and what is going on."

Judge Sadie Quarrier, a National Geographic magazine senior photo editor, said she liked "how the photographer decided to shoot this quite tight so we only see portions of the ship."

"This allows the eye to wander around and inspect all of the various pipes, parts, and people."

Honorable Mention

Photo and caption by Katrin Koenning

Man and Bird

A man sits quietly on a wall in front of Federation Square, in the city center of Melbourne, Australia.

Honorable Mention

Photo and caption by Zhang Yizhong

Go Hermit

A cloudy morning in front of a farmhouse, Mongolia, China

Viewers' Choice Places Winner

Photo and caption by Natalia Luzuriaga

Ki Gompa

This picture was taken when I visited the Buddhist Monastery of Ki. Ki is a tiny village in the middle of the Himalayas, and next to it is Ki Gompa (Ki Monastery). I lived with the monks for about a week, and this picture reflects the peaceful, almost heavenly atmosphere that characterizes this place. The Monastery is almost 4000 meters high, and I had to climb almost 500 meters more to get this panorama. This place is a touch of heaven.