The Travel Photographer of The Year Awards winners have been chosen and they’re a stunning selection celebrating the beauty of our planet and all its inhabitants.
Photographers from 142 countries submitted over 20,000 jaw-dropping pictures that were shot on everything from high-end professional cameras to mobile phones, in categories including ‘faces, people, cultures’; the natural world and the beauty of light.
The winning images can be seen at the TPOTY exhibition, which is free, and will be on show at London Bridge City next Spring.
Rediff.com was kindly granted permission to publish 22 of the 150 winning and shortlisted images.
Scroll down to see our picks of the bunch.
(Click on the images for full-screen resolution)
In the last light of day the inhabitants of Timbuktu wash their clothes and take a shower in the port of Kabara. Photograph: Stefano Pensotti/www.tpoty.com
Prayer time in one of little temples in the plain of Bagan -- a young girl stops on her way to school. Photograph: Stefano Pensotti/www.tpoty.com
A member of the Baye Fall in the Touba Mosque. Photograph: Stefano Pensotti/www.tpoty.com
Széchenyi Baths, built in 1913, is the most popular the inhabitants of Budapest who come here to relax with friends. Photograph: Stefano Pensotti/www.tpoty.com
A moment of relaxation in front of the entrance to a gym for wrestlers. Photograph: Stefano Pensotti/www.tpoty.com
This really grabbed my attention! I thought this local boy using oranges as balls, was the opposite of kids in my country playing with expensive toys. Photograph: Isabella Smith/www.tpoty.com
On my summer holidays in India our neighbour’s 30+ year old Mango tree was cut down. It was a sad sight to watch as this was a fruit yielding tree, home to many birds and a lot of shade under it on a hot sunny day. Photograph: Daniel Kurian/www.tpoty.com
These children, who came to bathe in the river, were very friendly. One of them went to take a bath on the river and the other one followed by rushing towards his mate; at that moment, I took the photo. Photograph: Fardin Oyan/www.tpoty.com
In Tanzania, when you have albinism, you are thought to be evil. There even is a price on the head of children with albinism since killing a person with albinism is considered to bring good luck. Photograph: Marinka Masseus/www.tpoty.com
Elie, 45, struts his stuff in the streets of Brazzaville. He has been a Sapeur for 35 years and his elaborate outfits bring joy to himself and his community. Photograph: Tariq Zaidi/www.tpoty.com
A boy stands among the copper bracelets worn by the Suri women in Kibish, Ethiopia. Photograph: Danny Yen Sin Wong/www.tpoty.com
Maleficent at the entrance of the fabled Green Door. Dark, mysterious and extremely beautiful, she beckons me to follow her with my camera. Photograph: Robin Yong/www.tpoty.com
The ‘chum’-- the Nenets’ dwelling -- is as mobile as they are. It consists of long sticks, and stitched reindeer skins stretched over it. Photograph: Vladimir Alekseev/www.tpoty.com
A kingfisher grabs a fish underwater. It took weeks and thousands of attempts to get this image. Photograph: Petar Sabol/www.tpoty.com
A mother Polar bear and her two young cubs are migrating north, as the sea ice melts quicker than previous years. Photograph: Roie Galitz/www.tpoty.com
Onno, a teenage girl from the Arbore tribe in the Omo Valley, Ethiopia. Photograph: Matjaz Krivic/www.tpoty.com
Kids playing on the main minaret of the Grand Mosque in Bani, Burkina Faso during Eid al-Fitr. Photograph: Matjaz Krivic/www.tpoty.com
A Sikh pilgrim performs his ritual washing in the lake with the most famous place of worship for the Sikhs in the background. Photograph: Matjaz Krivic/www.tpoty.com
I was roaming the back alleys of the tiny village and discovered this charming old lady in Yunnan, China. Photograph: Magdalena Strakova/www.tpoty.com
Honey hunting from Himalayan cliffs, a tradition that's carried on for generations. Photograph: Mauro Di Bettio/www.tpoty.com
Taj and Akash travel every day from station to station with their mother, begging to make a living in Gazipur, Bangladesh. Photograph: Mauro Di Bettio/www.tpoty.com
This huge mural by Argentinian artist Francisco Bosoletti was breathtaking, but the scene in front of my eyes was equally beautiful. It reminded me of my own childhood and felt like stepping into a time machine. Photograph: Marina Spironetti/www.tpoty.com
