The Travel Photographer Of The Year 2022 Awards Has Just Announced Their Winners (88 Pics)

Ol Pejeta Conservancy, Nanyuki, Kenya:

Najin 33 one of the last two Northern White rhinos left in the world resting under a hot afternoon sun with her friend and caretaker Zachary Mutai in Ol Pejeta Conservancy. The northern white rhino is all but extinct. The two last males died several years ago. The two females are still with us, but too feeble to bear babies. In an Italian lab, their eggs are now artificially fertilized by sperm from the late males, and kept at minus 196 celsius, in hopes that surrogate rhinos from another sub species can carry the northern white back from the brink.

On the Barents Sea, somewhere above the Arctic Circle, Svalbard, Northern Norway: A Polar bear studies a slight movement of my camera.

Antarctica: Adelie penguin chicks find refuge in an intricate tunnel system calved into nearby icebergs. Using these passageways to avoid predators, they group together for safety. Leopard seals patrol the surrounding waters, while skuas survey the vulnerable chicks from above.

Okavango Delta, Botswana: A large male lion peers through the remains of a buffalo killed the day before.

Isa city, Kagoshima, Japan: On this day, temperatures dipped below freezing point. I was initially disappointed to see the entire Sogi-No-Taki Waterfall covered with a thick mist upon arriving before dawn. I decided to try my luck and waited. Fortunately, when the sun rose, it lit up the falls beautifully and cleared away some of the mist.

Pongo-Songo, Republic of Cameroon: Chimpanzees in Cameroon are under constant threat from poaching for bush meat, by deforestation and by trafficking in the babies. Pongo-Songo island is a sanctuary on the Sanaga river, managed by Papaye, France, where rescued injured and orphaned chimpanzees are able to roam freely and safely in their natural habitat.

Makgadikgadi Pans, Botswana: A lone Burchell's Zebra crosses the dry Makgadikgadi salt pans.

Marsa Alam, Egypt: Mobius loop underwater. Most wave photographs are taken above water from a shore. This image was taken on a scuba dive during the storm. The picture does not fit ordinary underwater photography because it investigates the surface and not the deep of the sea. This is the view normally seen by underwater creatures who are curious about the world beyond their natural environment just as humans are curious
about the world under the surface.

Shaoyang City, Hunan Province, China: The wonderful moment when a Mountain Bulbul picks wild berries.

Salar de Arizaro, Puna de Argentina, Argentina: ‘El Cono Arita’, a spectacular geological formation where erosion has shaped an almost perfect cone that seems to be lost in a vast desert of the Salar de Arizaro. Using a drone, I was able to capture the magnificent shadow of Arita on this beautiful, cloudless evening.

Kennedybukta, Svalbard, Norway: Not everything is great in the polar bear realm. This starving polar bear mother and her two young cubs hadn’t eaten anything in a long time, since the ice melted sooner than before. Due to the extreme starvation, the mother's milk has dried out long ago and two days after this photo was taken,we heard reports that both cubs died. This image is a testimony of climate change's impact.

Stratford, Connecticut, USA: Capturing a snowy owl in the snow was a dream shot for me, and after multiple failed attempts, I finally managed to capture one. After watching her for a few hours from a safe distance, she finally flew into the snowstorm leaving me
with a personal favourite shot.

Hwange National Park, Zimbabwe: An African elephant among the herd.

Yamagata, Japan: Fallen trees becomes nurseries for living things, such as fireflies, and the richness of the forest circulates through repeated regeneration. This image was taken with 10 multiple exposures inside the camera.

Dickson Fjorden, Svalbard, Norway: Arctic Foxes are the ultimate survivors of the high Arctic. They don't have the body mass of the polar bears or the walruses, so they must put their trust in the most insulating fur in the animal kingdom. This curious fox was interested in my camera. In his eyes' reflection, you can actually see me and the snowmobiles of the expedition I was leading.

Northern Serengeti/Tanzania: Dramatic wildebeest crossing of the Mara river in northern Serengeti. The vast number of animals raised massive dust clouds as they crossed.

An unnamed shabono village of the Yanomani people in southern Venezuela: Young Yanomami children form a circle in the middle of their shabono, a traditional communal housing. The Yanomanis are indigenous people who live in some 250-300 villages in the Amazon rainforest along the border between Venezuela and Brazil.

Samburu, Kenya: A group of endangered Grevy's zebras.

Vik, Iceland: I traveled to Iceland in July 2021. As Iceland to me is the most otherworldly-looking place on the planet I bought a special prop with me - an astronaut costume and helmet. The Vik beach looks like a scene straight from ‘Interstellar’ and I asked a friend to put on the costume and we started walking as all the other tourists around started smiling and taking pictures of him. I did many shots with pro cameras at this spot, but this iPhone photo is my favorite.

Iceland: Glacial rivers become visible only when you are high up in the sky. They're called 'braided river systems, as they often resemble an intricate jumble of patterns, intertwining in an almost inexplicable fashion and colours.

Tres Chimbadas Oxbow Lake, Tambopata National Reserve, Peru: A Black-skinned Parrot Snake draping its elongated body over a branch above an oxbow lake. I always take the time to search trees overhanging rivers and lakes, as wildlife use these transition zones to hunt and rest.

West Greenland / Disko Bay Area Greenland: Year after year the same natural spectacle takes place on the Greenland Icecap. As the summer approaches, large meltwater lakes appear at the edge of the icet, which are drained towards the sea by a network of streams, rivers and crevasses. The water filters all spectral colours from daylight until only blue tones remain, which are scattered and reflected on the icy bottom of the lakes. All photos were taken from within a small plane.

Iceland: Glacial rivers become visible only when you are high up in the sky. They're called 'braided river systems, as they often resemble an intricate jumble of patterns, intertwining in an almost inexplicable fashion and colours.

Canosa di Puglia, Italy: La Desolata, is one of the most poignant processions in the Christian world during Holy Week, in the village of Canosa di Puglia, Italy.

El Paso, La Palma, Spain: As the new vent opened lava found new ways down the mountain, destroying new houses in the neighborhood of El Paso on November 30th. The eruption of the Cumbre Vieja volcano on La Palma Island is the island's longest-running volcano eruption. Huge rivers of lava and enormous amounts of continuously falling volcanic ash have transformed this Spanish holiday paradise. 7000 people have been evacuated; more than 1700 buildings were destroyed by the volcano. Strong earthquakes and permanent tremors were traumatizing the local population.

Kalash Valley, Chitral, Pakistan: The Kalasha are a Dardic indigenous people, considered unique among the peoples of Pakistan. Their richly embroidered clothes serve as the most obvious symbol of identity for the Kalash community.

Sesriem, Namib desert, Namibia: Curves of the Namib desert. The photo series was created in Namibia in the Namib desert using a helicopter. During the flight I tried to capture the unusual shapes created by the sun, light and shadow, along with the sand dunes.

Southeast Cameroon: A diminutive, graceful figure appears from the jungle, a faint accent of colour in a vanishing world. For thousands of years Baka pygmies have lived in harmony with magnificent jungles in southeast Cameroon, but within a generation much of their unique lifestyle will be gone forever due to deforestation and industrial interests, the policies of sedentarization and preservation of protected areas that has forced them to abandon their traditional life.

Brekkuskógur, Iceland: An aerial view of Bruarfoss, often called Iceland’s bluest
waterfall, showing the flow of glacial water through the river.

Tacande, La Palma, Spain: Footage of a ravaged mountainside with a single tree withstanding the lava flow. The eruption of the Cumbre Vieja volcano on La Palma Island is the island's longest-running volcano eruption. Huge rivers of lava and enormous amounts of continuously falling volcanic ash have transformed this Spanish holiday paradise. 7000 people have been evacuated; more than 1700 buildings were destroyed by the volcano. Strong earthquakes and permanent tremors were traumatizing the local population.

Oualata, Mauritania: I met this salt caravan after a four-day expedition into the middle of the Sahara desert. No roads lead to this place, so we navigated by compass. Hundreds of dromedaries and their masters were present on this desert plain where nothing lives. Two wells had been dug to water the camels before they left for Mali, Côte d'Ivoire and Burkina Faso to sell the salt. When I returned from the trip I realised that this image of a camel owner ordering the dromedaries looked like a conductor with an orchestra.

Vatnajokull National Park, Skaftafell Iceland: The rivers and glacial run off intertwine to create intricate patterns across the waterways in iceland's Vatnajokull National Park. A phenomenon that occurs in only a few places in the world. Iceland. Fractal patterns stretching outward across the glacial rivers growing and disappearing with the changing seasons. The only way to really appreciate the diverse landscape and unique patterns is from 3000 feet above in a small plane.

Šardice, Jižní Morava, Czech Republic: Early morning light paints the waves of the so-called Moravian Tuscany in South Moravia. I am fascinated by the minimalist elements and shapes created by humans and nature together in this landscape.

Tuen Mun, New Territories, Hong Kong: Two Common Bluetail Damselflies held on the same plant for about 45 seconds. After a short rest, they then flew away looking for their partners during this busy season of mating.

Maasai Mara, Kenya: One ox-pecker guards its nest, embedded cleverly in the tree, as the other gets ready to fly off in search for food.

Whitefield, Greater Manchester, UK: a petrol station during a misty dawn morning in December.

Cumbre Vieja volcano, Tacande, La Palma, Spain: An aerial view of the Cumbre Vieja volcano with several active volcano vents in an ash-covered forest. On November 28th a new vent opened on the east side of volcano, destroying many new houses on its way towards the sea. Lava has reached the Atlantic at two places, falling off cliffs into the ocean making the island bigger for around 48 hectares.

Mecca, Saudi Arabia: Pilgrims touching the door of the Holy Kaaba, Bab ar-Rahmah, which is called the Door of Mercy, in order to seek forgiveness and pray for what they wish for. Kaaba is located near the centre of the Great Mosque in Mecca, Saudi Arabia, and is considered by Muslims everywhere to be the most sacred spot on Earth.

Šardice, Jižní Morava, Czech Republic: Early morning light paints the waves of the so-called Moravian Tuscany in South Moravia. I am fascinated by the minimalist elements and shapes created by humans and nature together in this landscape.

Bonaire, Leeward Antilles, Caribbean Sea: Coexisting among this bright, yellow star coral is a Peppermint goby. It sits out the day adorning the top of its favoured coral head, a tiny jewel on a crown composed of millions of individual animal polyps.

Jerusalem, Israel: A blind man at the door of the Ethiopian Chapel, Church of the Holy Sepulchre, Jerusalem. Easter is the most religious and spiritual holiday in the Christian calendar. It commemorates the crucifixion of Jesus Christ in Jerusalem, and his resurrection. Orthodox and Catholic Christians focus their celebrations on Church of the Holy Sepulchre in the Old City of Jerusalem, where they have marked crucifixion, burial and resurrection of Jesus since the fourth century.

Dus, Omo Valley, Ethiopia: A young Kara tribes boy herding his goats in the early morning in Dus which is in a remote area of the Omo on the banks of the river. The people of the Ilemi triangle (South Sudan, Omo Valley Ethiopia and Turkana, Kenya) are predominantly pastoralists. Cattle, sheep and camels are integral to their lives and their cultural traits are a reflection of this.

Van Mijenfjorden, Svalbard, Norway: White Wedding. Polar bear courtship is very rare, as they usually mate once every three years. During this honeymoon, a blizzard and a whiteout made it very difficult for humans, but the polar bear couple didn’t seem to care.

Lisbon, Portugal: The city sways in the patch of water, strewn carelessly on the ground by rainfall. Passerbys tread around the puddle, a low plastic bag blows into it. But there is beauty in the mundane; another world to be seen.

El Paso, La Palma, Spain: An abandoned horse searches for food in an evacuated village below the volcano. The eruption of the Cumbre Vieja volcano on La Palma Island is the island's longest-running volcano eruption. Huge rivers of lava and enormous amounts of continuously falling volcanic ash have transformed this Spanish holiday paradise. 7000 people have been evacuated; more than 1700 buildings were destroyed by the volcano. Strong earthquakes and permanent tremors were traumatizing the local population.

Luberon, Aix-en-Provence, France: One of my favorite places in the world is Provence, France, because of its unique beauty and because it is the cradle of Impressionism. I like to watch how the mistral wind shakes the ripe barley and smell the scent of the lavender while my eyes sink into these enchanting colours— the colours of Vincent van Gogh, the colours of impressionism, the colours of Provence.

Avignon, France: A shadow self-portrait.

Sesriem, Namib desert, Namibia: Curves of the Namib desert. The photo series was created in Namibia in the Namib desert using a helicopter. During the flight I tried to capture the unusual shapes created by the sun, light and shadow, along with the sand dunes.

Ausangate, Peru: When the sun rises on Pacha Mama and reveals in its light those who live there in harmony, peacefully.

Canosa di Puglia, Italy: The Procession of the Sorrow goes far and beyond tradition and folklore. It is an expression of faith and religious devotion celebrating the incomparable feeling that exists between a mother and her child. The procession lasts for several hours, while the grieving hymn reverberates through the streets of the small town.

Terekeka, South Sudan: A female Mundari herder awaiting her cattle to tether them, in a cattle camp close to the White Nile in South Sudan. They are seen leading their cows to their stakes where they spend the night. These people have a very sustainable existence and their connection with nature should be a message to us all.

Kunene Sand Sea, Northern Namibia: Oryx crossing the vast Kunene Sand Sea.

Tsarevo, Bulgaria: This is a photo of unfinished development on the Bulgarian Black Sea coast, called Costa del Croco. Its construction started in 2007 and was abandoned several years later. The complex consists of 18 buildings occupying 23,000m2 of land.

Makgadikgadi Pans, Botswana: A flamboyance of flamingos dances across the flooded Makgadikgadi salt pans, Botswana.

Mount Zao, Yamagata, Japan.A rare Lenticular cloud – said to be the sign of bad weather – looms over the ‘snow monsters’, the snow-covered trees - on Mount Zao as night approaches.

Murmansk, Russia: Murmansk is the world’s biggest city north of the Polar Circle. A chimney rises above the smog, just on the outskirts of the city, as the cold weather creates frost on the trees.

Bangkok, Thailand: I took this image with the intention of conveying the theory of reincarnation in Buddhist philosophy, the shadows of the other monks who were walking out of shot representing past lifetimes of refinement towards final enlightenment. I used a slow exposure time to give a sense of impermanence and movement.

Quang Ngai, Vietnam: Bau Cau Cai is the ‘green lunch’ of the key industrial economic zone of Vietnam. White- flowered mangroves have been planted in the natural breakwater to strengthen resilience to the impact of climate change for vulnerable communities along the country’s coast.

Iceland: Glacial rivers become visible only when you are high up in the sky. They're called 'braided river systems, as they often resemble an intricate jumble of patterns, intertwining in an almost inexplicable fashion and colours.

Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta, Colombia: The Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta is the highest coastal mountain range in the world. It is located in northern Colombia, on the shores of the Caribbean Sea, and is still inhabited by four indigenous communities, direct descendants of the Tayronas. They are: the Kogis, the Wiwas, the Arhuacos and the Kankuamos. I was there on an exploration to develop a documentary project about the people of the region, the Kogis especially, who mostly live in the low lands of the mountain range, in a pristine jungle environment. These morning scenes, for a brief moment, gave me a glimpse of what the beginning of civilization was. Dressed of white in these sublime atmospheres, these Kogis left me with an impression of true harmony with nature, and with an idyllic image of their people and lifestyle.

Desulo, Sardinia, Italy: Daniela wears her grandmother's traditional costume, which she received as a gift from her. Historically isolated and with little contact with the outside world, the small town of Desulo has managed to preserve the originality of its costume, which is undoubtedly one of the most distinctive in Sardinia. Until the early 1980s, it was not uncommon to see it worn on a daily basis.

Ausangate, Peru: When the sun rises on Pacha Mama and reveals in its light those who live there in harmony, peacefully.

Inner Mongolia, China: There are many Mongolian folk songs, mainly divided into two categories: ceremonial songs and pastoral songs. Among them, the long song is more typical, with fewer words and longer accents, high-pitched and distant, soothing and free, very popular, all part of China's intangible cultural heritage.

Marsa Alam, Egypt: In this series, you will meet ‘new inhabitants’ of the underwater world, be they animals or eerie creatures. Dive in and enjoy! It's hard to catch a rabbit, especially if it is underwater. This modern rabbit is now so advanced that it does not need any food — unlike our land rabbits. The best feature is that it also barely ages and stays in shape for a very long time, so you will have all the time in the world to admire its ‘beauty’. Human replaces endangered species with a more advanced one — the plastic-made species are now ruling the underwater world.

Oostduinkerke, Belgium: Only a handful of true horse fishermen are left in the world, keeping the rare Flemish tradition alive. They use large and calm Belgian draft horses, and in the low tide look for shrimps together. Nowadays, they became a major tourist attraction, attracting large crowds each time they set out to fish.

Dayang Mountain, Suzhou, Jiangsu province, China: Metapress japonica at the foot of Dayang Mountain. Metapress japonica is particularly popular in this season. We picked the mature ones and peeled them carefully. While my friend carefully blew them, I took the photo.

Manchester, UK: An image of Manchester’s newest skyscrapers shrouded in mist. The image is very much inspired by the imagery of the movie Bladerunner and I feel it represents the city’s rapidly growing urban landscape.

San Quirico d'Orcia, Tuscany, Italy: A typical Tuscan landscape of cypresses and cultivated fields. I was struck by the contrast between the earth and the human figure at the centre of it.

Iceland: Glacial rivers become visible only when you are high up in the sky. They're called 'braided river systems, as they often resemble an intricate jumble of patterns, intertwining in an almost inexplicable fashion and colours.

Bonaire, Leeward Antilles, Caribbean Sea: Finding fresh ways to bring to life intricate detail on a reef is something I love doing. This is a Supermacro view of Brain coral, showing a colony of genetically identical polyps. A defunct tube worm hole provides a secure dwelling for a resident Secretary blenny, measuring around 2cm long. The entire coral head may be a few hundred years old.

Oostduinkerke, Belgium: Only a handful of true horse fishermen are left in the world, keeping the rare Flemish tradition alive. They use large and calm Belgian draft horses, and in the low tide look for shrimps together. Nowadays, they became a major tourist attraction, attracting large crowds each time they set out to fish.

Dus, Omo Valley, Ethiopia: A young shepherd with a baby goat in his care tends to his flock. The people of the Ilemi triangle (South Sudan, Omo Valley Ethiopia, and Turkana, Kenya) are predominantly pastoralists. Cattle, sheep, and camels are integral to their lives and their cultural traits are a reflection of this.

Canary Wharf, London, UK. Altered Realities. A man taking his dog out for a
walk is seen in the reflection on the external ceiling of a building’s portico. Whilst nothing in the photograph has been altered, the image has been rotated by 180 degrees, creating this puzzling effect.