Nature Photography: 20 Winning Images Of The International Photo Awards 2022

An amazing view of the Dancing Tree at dawn in Walakiri Beach, Sumba, Indonesia. The timing is perfect with the tides and is complemented by the beautiful weather, making this a wonderful scene. 1st Place / Nature / Trees

Each spring, many Great Egrets gather in Winter Park, Florida, to begin their nesting rituals. I was inspired to share the beauty of the Great Egrets with the world. I made countless trips to the location to capture the most inspiring moments. Their true beauty is best reflected in their natural living environment. I wanted to utilize their enchanting surroundings to obtain unique compositions. I carefully selected the camera positions and patiently waited for the best opportunities. Over two years, I finally finished the series to display the beauty of wildlife in natural Florida.

2nd Place / Nature/Other

I got a long light trails of jeeps that carried people to this spot, and the light of storm in the distance completed my image. Misty night and the color of blue hour of sunrise is the moment I've been waiting for a couple years.

2nd Place / Nature/Astrophotography

Every year, kits accompanied by their mothers come to my backyard to explore and eat a few apples from my apple tree. In all the years that this has been happening, I have never seen kits without their mothers watching over them from a near distance. These two little ones started showing up unaccompanied about a month ago. They come every day and are always alone which tells me that the mother has either abandoned them or has been killed. They are fierce in their determination to survive and both have huge personalities. With a little help, hopefully they will be okay. 3rd Place / Nature/Wildlife

The photo shows pure and strong connection between horse and its owner

3rd Place / Nature/Animals / Pets

I stayed up late to try some astrophotography while visiting Jackson Lake Lodge in Grant Teton National Park. When clouds rolled in, I was initially disappointed but then when lightning started flashing over the mountain range, I realized I had the opportunity to catch a photo of a lifetime. After about 40 minutes, I captured this bolt that took my breath away. 1st Place / Nature/Other

Standing under the Northern Lights as they were fueled by a G2-class solar storm was one of the most spectacular and rewarding moments in my life as a photographer. The swirling Aurora that seems to come out of the head-shaped rock to the left, with the clouds above it resembling a smoking gun, have given me a bit of thought before finally settling for the name of Spellcaster. The piece is a composition of two exposures taken in sequence, a shorter one meant to freeze the stars and the features of the swirling Aurora, and a longer one that captured the darker, naturally lit foreground. 2nd Place / Nature / Astrophotography

Impressions of a dahlia after a rain shower. A picture like a painting with a solitary flower and finely beaded raindrops. This idea haunted me for a long time until once the opportunity arose after a light rain shower to photograph this wonderful dahlia bloom.

2nd Place / Nature/Flowers

When jellyfish is translated into Japanese kanji characters, there are several ways to mean : Sea moon, Water moon, Mother of water. It's profoundly interesting to imagine how the people of the old time saw them in the sea. The organically constructed body and the constant movement of the tentacles, which are intertwined like threads, bring the diversity of life forms to the depths of our mind, never get tired of seeing it.

2nd Place / Nature/Underwater

A metallic orchid bee that pollinates for orchids.

2nd Place / Nature/Macro

Macro portraits of different species of butterflies in the world

1st Place / Nature/Macro

Two African Elephants of the Amboseli National reserve in Kenya walk calmly through the field whilst Buffalos relax on the ground. Animals looked dwarfed within the endless fields of the great rift valley and also compared to the setting sun in the backdrop.

1st Place / Nature/Sunrise / Sunset

This was taken while watching the earth being created right in front of my eyes. The surreal experience of seeing the Fagradalsfjall Volcano eruption on the Reykjanes Peninsula in September 2021 (which first erupted on March 19, 2021). This shot of one of the lava fountains was taken from my drone. 1st Place / Nature / Aerial / Drone

An extraordinary hunting in the wild nature of the Okavango Delta in Botswana. It started with dozens of powerful lions attacking buffaloes in the middle of the day. The attack was very intense and the fight between the lions and the buffaloes was dramatic, with blood-curdling screams In the middle of the next night, the lions came under attack from almost 30 hyenas that were trying to steal the kill from them! The next morning, this large male lion returned and peered through the bones, creating this portrait. That was the moment I felt the power of the king in my heart.

3rd Place / Nature/Wildlife

Dramatic portrait of a sphynx cat

1st Place / Nature/Animals / Pets

Desert Days The air was burning; bees and birds were knackered, while the flowers and plants seemed to melt into each other, displaying fragments of a paranoid world. My imagination took me on a wild journey to the theatrical dualities in this fantastic world. The stories and the intrigues, the music and the dance, the love and the drama, the loss and the hope. This collection features an eclectic amalgam of native and far away flowers and plants co-existing in Britain. Combination of ambient light & flash, sometimes ND filters. Colour graded in Lightroom. FujiX100V.

2nd Place / Nature/Flowers

This set of 3 river shots, made from above, are all from the same river in Iceland. They were all shot this summer from about 200m altitude from a helicopter. The crystal clear and shallow river runs over black volcanic sand and it is only in the deepest parts of the river where you can see the blue color that comes out only when the sun is shining.

3rd Place / Nature/Aerial / Drone

This is the baby red iguana, the most stunning reptile, because they have a nice red color on the body that makes the skin more dramatic and beautiful. 3rd Place / Nature/Animals / Pets

I shot this image when I was flying in a helicopter over the giant sand dunes of Sossusvlei. It is rare to see gemsboks [Oryx gazella] in the area, but there was abundant grass in the valley (due to unusual rains in the preceding months). I was fortunate to take this shot when the Oryx were running towards the dune edge. The captivating line of the dune creates a desert yin-yang with perfect natural balance between the bright and dark sides.

3rd Place / Nature/Aerial / Drone

This set of close-up images of hibiscus flowers was created in 2020-21 whilst living aboard our sailboat and traveling the east coast of the USA. Most of the images were generated using photo-stacking techniques and proved quite challenging because of the structure of the flowers with many intersecting lines.

3rd Place / Nature/Flowers