美哉地球!《國家地理》攝影大賽作品圖集

National Geographic's International Photography Contest 2009

National Geographic's International Photography Contestattracts thousands of entries from photographers of all skill levelsaround the world every year. While this year's entry deadline haspassed, there is still time to view and vote for your favorites in the Viewer's Choice competition.National Geographic was kind enough to let me choose a few of theirentries from 2009 for display here on The Big Picture. Collected beloware 25 images from the three categories of People, Places and Nature.Captions were written by the individual photographers. (25 photos total)
美國《波士頓環球郵報》展示了《國家地理》雜誌2009國際攝影大賽中一些優秀的參賽作品。該攝影大賽對全世界所有的攝影師開放，每位攝影師可以提交六幅參賽作品，共分為人物、地點和自然三個組別。

Nazroo,a mahout (elephant driver), poses for a portrait while taking hiselephant, Rajan, out for a swim in front of Radha Nagar Beach inHavelock, Andaman Islands. Rajan is one of the few elephants inHavelock that can swim, so when he is not dragging timber in the foresthe is used as a tourist attraction. The relationship between the mahoutand his elephant usually lasts for their entire lives, creating anextremely strong tie between the animal and the human being. (Photo andcaption by Cesare Naldi)

2

Onthe final leg of a six-week United States of America road trip, I wasdriving east across Interstate 40 when a spot storm with golfball-sized hail struck. A sign near Groom, Texas, announcing the"largest cross in the western hemisphere" explained the large crucifixI’d been wondering about for miles on the highway; it seemed like an OKplace to wait out the storm. On my way to getting stuck in the mud anda giant double rainbow, I saw this silhouetted view of the cross,splitting the sunny sky from the stormy plains. (Photo and caption byBrad Maule) #

3

Thispicture was taken during the Rinjani volcano trek on Lombok Island inIndonesia at sunrise. (Photo and caption by David Bismuth) #

4

An example of photo luminescence in coral in West Papua (Photo and caption by Stephen Martin) #

5

Amale gelada baboon on the Guassa Plateau of the Ethiopian Highlandsenjoys a good grooming. (Photo and caption by Robin Moore) #

6

Iwas in the front car of the short subway between Pudong and the Bund,and was treated to the wonderful spectacle of an oncoming train in thetunnel's changing light show. I put my camera up to the window and shotas fast as possible to get this image. (Photo and caption by Gail vonBergen Ryan) #

7

Astone's-eye-view of two tracks made by the sailing stones of DeathValley's Racetrack playa. The dried clay surface has a beautifultexture, and there is a palpable aura of mystery over the entirethree-square-mile playa. The Racetrack was not entirely free of humaninfluence though: several weeks before this taken many of the stoneswere stolen, leaving long trails without a traveler at the end. (Photoand caption by Tucker Sylvestro) #

8

Onmy second day visiting the astounding Iguazu falls on the Brazilianside I was forced to change to my telephoto lens as my wide angle hadbeen damaged by the water vapour. In had rained solid for 10 days priorto my arrival and so the falls were at their most spectacular. Standingon the elevated viewing platform I was able to shoot this school groupwho stood transfixed, emphasizing the incredible size of the falls.(Photo and caption by Ian Kelsall) #

9

Itook this picture on a sunny fall afternoon on a prairie near Chicago,Illinois. To improve the color saturation, I blocked the sunlight withmy body. The blue background came straight from the camera. The imagewas not altered with any editor. (Photo and caption by Richard Susanto)#

10

Mygrandfather was born and raised on our New Zealand farm. He and mygrandmother were married nearly 60 years. Preparing for a photo in thebarley, my grandmother lovingly reached up to adjust his hat. This washis last harvest. (Photo and caption by Gemma Collier) #

11

Duringa rainy, cloudy morning at the Wild Goose scenic overlook on St. MaryLake in Glacier National Park, Montana, the sun peeped from under thecloud cover long enough to paint a golden-yellow swath across the faceof the mountain for maybe 15 minutes before disappearing again. (Photoand caption by Rebecca Latson) #

12

Ayoung orangutan swings from tree to tree in Tanjung Puting NationalPark in Indonesian Borneo. (Photo and caption by Sean Crane) #

13

Thisis about one hour of firefly activity near my home in rural Ontario.The precision of the background star trails is an interesting contrastto the chaotic pattern of the firefly flashes. (Photo and caption bySteve Irvine) #

14

The edge of an iceberg floating just off the coast of Antarctica. (Photo and caption by Mike Matas) #

15

Whilevisiting Kruger National Park with my son, we came across two malehippos battling for dominance as we crossed a bridge over the SabieRiver. The bellowing from the animals as they fought their bloodybattle was incredible. They first fought in the shallows near the bankand then moved into the deeper part of the river. We don't know how itturned out but we were so glad to see the spectacle. (Photo and captionby Steve Mandel) #

16

Andrewand his friend, a young sperm whale named Scar, were swimming togetheroff the west coast of Dominica. The two of them became "friends" afterAndrew saved Scar's life. (Photo and caption by Peter Allinson) #

17

TheDarvaza natural gas crater is located in the center of the KarakumDesert in the central Asian country of Turkmenistan. The craterresulted after a Soviet natural gas exploration accident in the 1950sand has been burning ever since. The crater is approximately 60 metersin diameter and its depth is approximately 20 meters. (Photo andcaption by Natalja Silver) #

18

Whenthe wave conditions are right a wave appears, infrequently, as a resultof the splash back off the cliff connecting with an incoming wave. Thiscauses the incoming wave to pop up, creating fan-like shapes. On thisparticular day, over the two hours I spent on the rocks, this wave onlyappeared once. This is that shot. (Photo and caption by Aaron Feinberg)#

19

DavidHanson crosses a fallen log beneath soaring trees and a lingering fogin Washington's Olympic National Park. (Photo and caption by MichaelHanson) #

20

Evenduring the Arirang Mass Games in North Korea, the ultimate expressionof the state ideology, an individual can still sometimes stand out fromthe crowd and break free of the collective. If only just for a moment.(Photo and caption by Brendyn Zachary) #

21

Cary stands on a deserted road in Central Ohio, at sunset. (Photo and caption by Lisa Roberts) #

22

Thisbee was unfortunate enough to land in my pool, but he made some amazingpatterns buzzing around in the water. He later escaped. (Photo andcaption by Michael Johnson) #

23

Taken at Kwena Croc Farm in South Africa (Photo and caption by Wayne Holloway) #

24

Thisis one view of many dunes found in Jordan. Two steps forward and onestep back made for a challenging ascent. (Photo and caption by AndrewCwiklewich) #

25

Curious gulls on Sanibel Island, Florida. Meet my friend, "Gull-i-Bel"!!! (Photo and caption by Richard Rush) #