Here Are 25 Amazing Winners Of The 2021 Milky Way Photographer Of The Year Awards

Fanthams Peak, Mt. Taranaki – New Zealand

“This is one of the most challenging shots I have ever captured, as it required climbing for 4 hours in 70km/h winds to reach the ice summit of Fanthams Peak—a volcano on the side of Mt. Taranaki. At an elevation of 2000 m and -15ºC outside with gusty wind blasts, I had to choose settings that would get me the capture rather than what I may have considered more ideal settings.

I am so stoked to have captured what I did under perfectly clear skies, as it was both a true test of both mountaineering and endurance carrying all my gear to this location, but one I will look back on with pride and success.”

Bisti Badlands, New Mexico – USA

“The mountainous West is awash in beauty, culture, history, and tradition, and sites like this, in the Bisti Badlands, are treasures to behold and cherish. Arriving before sunset, I encountered several other photographers occupying the position best known as the classic shot of this place.

In no way ruffled, I scouted the area, looking intently for compelling compositions as I normally do. When I saw this scene and verified with the PhotoPills app that the Milky Way core would perfectly align with the rock feature, I was hooked.

With the silhouette of my Navajo guide nearby, I shot the foreground as blue hour washed over this ancient land, then watched with joy as the stars coursed through the heavens above. When the Milky Way rose into prominence and settled where I had hoped, I exposed for the sky to complete this blend.

Always remember that. While these are amazing natural wonders, these sites hold far greater significance for the Navajo people. Let us all protect and cherish these lands for generations to come. If I could leave you with just one piece of advice, it would be: always scout for your own compositions. Be a photographer, not a photocopier.”

Utah, USA

“The deserts of the Southwest abound with places to capture the night sky. With all that the Southwest has to offer, it’s easy to overlook some of the more obscure hidden gems hovering under the radar.

This is one such location, which is situated below a remote set of cliffs in Grand Staircase-Escalante. Due to its remoteness, this natural stone chamber provides some of the clearest, most pristine views of the Milky Way framed by the copper-colored opening of the cavern.”

Java, Indonesia

“I took this shot of the Milky Way facing south after the sunset in the West. At the same time, the blue fire was burning just below the mountain while the Milky Way kept rising.

Taking the picture at this spot was difficult because of health reasons and the National Parks schedule. It’s prohibited to stay there after midnight, so I didn’t have much time to take more images. This trip was a struggle because of the many challenges, but I love every single corner of the Ijen Crater; it’s like a piece of heaven on earth.”

Big Sur, California

“If I had to choose my favorite place on earth, this might be it. Located on the Pacific Coast near Big Sur, it has everything: a beautiful cove filled with emerald waters, an 80-foot waterfall that falls directly onto the beach, a palm tree that makes you feel like you’re on a tropical island, and a perfectly dark sky that shines bright with stars at night.”

Villarrica Volcano, Chile

“If you’ve never seen the Southern Sky, it’s significantly different and truly amazing. In the Northern Hemisphere, we use Polaris as the polar star, but there are other rules below the equator. To easily recognize the south celestial pole, the best indicator is the Southern Cross constellation, located in the image just above the Villarrica volcano.

This cross points to the south celestial pole, and it’s easy to identify, considering the brightness of the stars. Within the cross, we can see the dark area called “the Coalsack,” which is also visible to the naked eye. It’s one of the best-known dark nebulae in the sky.

In the upper left corner, there’s another night sky gem: the red-colored Carina Nebula. It is also only visible in the Southern Hemisphere and, even though it’s visible to the naked eye, with a pair of binoculars, we can see all the beautiful details.”

Hunter Valley, NSW – Australia

“This old church sits peacefully in a paddock in the Hunter Valley of NSW, Australia.

That night, the forecast was for terrible weather, so I had written the night off and went home. To my amazement, the skies cleared, and it was a race to get back to the location and start shooting. As the fog started rolling in towards the end of the capture, a perfectly timed car drove past to illuminate the scene and the fog.

My passion is bringing the entire Milky Way arch into people’s homes via large panoramas. I would encourage everyone to head out to a dark sky and experience it. Camera or not, it is a truly fantastic sight to stand under the entire arch of the Milky Way.”

Iguazu Falls, Brazil

“Photographing Iguazu Falls at night has always been one of my priority projects. To do so, I needed to obtain special authorization from the environmental agency responsible for national parks in Brazil.

Finally, in early 2021, I got this authorization and set out to put my plan into practice. I spent four days inside the Iguazu National Park with exclusive access to the Falls at night for my students and me. The first challenge was to walk around the park at night, knowing that several jaguars live there, which are frequently seen by employees and tourists.

In the area closest to the main waterfalls, the big challenge was to make long-exposure images with the strong water spray from the more than 1.5 million liters per second that fall through the waterfalls. Working with exposure times longer than 10 or 15 seconds became an almost impossible task, and the lens was never dry.

In this image, we have one of the main waterfalls of the Iguazu Falls complex, the 'Santa Maria Jump.' Right over the fall, we can see Saturn and the zodiacal light illuminating the horizon. Further up, there is the Milky Way Core. We can also identify some of the main emission nebulae present in this region of the sky.”

Velika Planina, Slovenia

“I had been planning this panorama for quite some time, and as soon as I had the opportunity, I didn’t hesitate and went for it.

I hiked with my friend in the snow for around 3 hours, with 60 kg (130 lbs.) of camera gear. Thankfully we had a sled so that we could pull the gear behind us. We spent the whole night outdoors under the starry sky at -10 degrees with a strong north wind, so I could barely feel my fingers on my hands. A great desire to photograph this beauty kept us upright all night, and in the end, we were rewarded with wonderful images. It was one of the most memorable nights I’ve spent capturing our Galaxy.

'Velika Planina' is a big pasture karstified mountain plateau in the Kamniško-Savinjske Alps, in the northeast of Kamnik, Slovenia. It has an average elevation of 1,500 meters above sea level (Bortle sky 4). This area is also known for the wooden shepherds’ huts. In the center of the panorama, the protagonist is the chapel ‘Our Lady of the Snows.’”

Baudin Beach, Kangaroo Island, Australia

“I captured this image at Baudin Beach on Kangaroo Island. This part of the island was luckily not affected by the devastating bushfires in 2020. It is a capture of the rising Galactic Center floating above the ocean and represents the way of life on the island ‘where people live at one with nature.’”

Mammoth Lakes, California – USA

“Some of the darkest skies in California are along Hwy 395 on the eastern side of the Sierras. This particular location, near Mammoth Lakes, is a unique spot where the vertical alignment of the Milky Way’s Galactic Core sits perfectly over a mountain peak and a creek with natural hot springs flowing into it.

You really couldn’t ask for a better foreground to work with! This image was taken in July, so I had to wait until a little past midnight for the proper alignment to begin shooting. Rather than going fully wide angle at 16mm, I zoomed in a little to 24mm, so the Milky Way took up more of the frame, and I could capture only the most exciting area of the foreground. The sky was shot first using a star tracker. Then, I turned off the tracker and shot the foreground using the same camera settings. A simple post-processing blend of the two (sky and foreground) completed the image.”

Zion National Park, Utah – USA

“Utah’s dark skies are a mecca for astrophotographers from around the world. Zion National Park is one of the premier locations and, for as long as I can remember, nightscapes from this park have captured my imagination. When I finally traveled to Zion, I knew I wanted to capture something unique, something different from the traditional shot, but one that still featured the iconic and austere 'Watchman.'

I had seen some photos from a closer angle, and after some exploring, I came across this twisted skeleton of an old juniper framing 'The Watchman.' As a photographer, I am always looking for interesting foreground subjects. Foregrounds with features that can recapitulate or accentuate the background are rare but always the most compelling. When I noticed how the angles of the tree matched the peak near perfectly, I knew I had found something special. This composition is a blue-hour blend with the sky taken at night and the foreground taken before the sun came above the horizon.”

Mungo, NSW – Australia

“This is my favorite nightscape image to date. Mungo is a 12-hour drive away from my home in Sydney, but those Bortle 1 skies are the best I’ve ever witnessed and photographed at night. I had perfect conditions for three straight nights, with really good seeing throughout.

The moment I came upon this scene, I knew exactly what I wanted to name the image. It was otherworldly—think Game of Thrones—and it lined up perfectly for how I wanted to capture it. Giant, jagged walls framed a winding path leading to a central spire to the West. There was only ever going to be one way to do it justice, and that was as a multi-layered Milky Way panorama.

I planned this image using PhotoPills during the day, but in post-processing, I decided to use the blue-hour blend for the foreground with a tracked sky for the cleanest possible image.”

Capitol Reef National Park, Utah – USA

“The Milky Way core rises before dawn under the southern skies of Capitol Reef National Park’s 'Temple of the Sun.' This area of the Colorado Plateau Desert, known for its domes, hoodoos, fins, reefs, natural bridges, and slot canyons, includes the Temples of the Sun and Moon.

These Jurassic-aged sandstone monoliths, which formed as sandy mud on a tidal flat, tower above the otherwise flat desert floor. It seems like more than a coincidence that the Temples line up perfectly with the Milky Way, their vibrant orange colors seemingly reflecting the color of the stars above.”

La Palma, the Canary Islands – Spain

“On the last night of my trip to La Palma, I went up to the 'Roque de Los Muchachos,' where I enjoyed a nice dinner with my girlfriend while watching the spectacular sunset over the sea of clouds that is typical of this location.

Moments later, the first stars were already visible, and I set up my camera gear. The night was fantastic; there was no wind and no 'calima' (haze) on the horizon. After several tests, I opted for a 50mm focal length that allowed me to capture a closer perspective of the telescope while framing our Galactic Bulge.”

Susten Pass, Switzerland

“This small Alpine lake is located in the Swiss Alps on a mountain pass. It’s closed most of the year due to snow, but once it had cleared, I had to make my way there and capture the Milky Way.

Ideally, it would have been better to shoot this location earlier in the year, as the Milky Way set quickly behind the mountain at that time. The sky here was a Bortle class 3, and I could also capture the beautiful green airglow. It’s a stunning location for hiking and photography, and I highly recommend passing by if you’re in the region!”

Great Ocean Road, Victoria – Australia

“This incredible location had always amazed me, even before I had any interest in photography. This set of rocks, carved by the incessant churning of the sea and the mighty wind that whips the south coast of Victoria, is, without a doubt, the most emblematic landscape of Australia.

After an amazing sunset followed by ethereal moonset, I was standing there, contemplating the spot I had always dreamt of under a magical starry sky. However, not everything was pink that night… I had brought a new piece of equipment with me, a star tracker, and as soon I started to set it up, I knew it would be a tricky night. After numerous failed attempts to align it towards the south celestial pole, I was ready to give up, but I decided to take a shot and 'see what happens' while the galactic core was rising. Surprisingly, it worked out nicely, and a door opened for me to a new magical world full of stars.”

Cadini di Misurina, Dolomites – Italy

“This was from a great Milky Way trip in the Italian Dolomites, although there were some challenges because of the weather. First of all, I took this picture in May when the snow had almost melted, so I had to make the ascent to 'Auronzo' on foot instead of by snowmobile. Also, the path was hard because I had to walk it in the middle of a heavy snowstorm.

Fortunately, once I was at the top, the sky completely opened, a good sign for the night shooting. After a brief rest in the winter shelter, I started the hike to this spectacular location at midnight. Once I was at the spot, the compositional possibilities were very limited. This place, which is very popular during the summer, was completely different covered in snow. The whole ridge was covered in a 3-meter coat of puffy snow that made it very dangerous to get too close to the edge. I placed the camera as close as possible to the rim to capture the mountain range, and then I moved up to the right to complete the shoot with myself.”

Hormozgan Province, Persian Gulf – Iran

“In this picture, you can see the Milky Way rising on a fascinating spring night on the Persian Gulf coast.

The stunning cliffs of this area make every viewer imagine and even talk to them! The light pollution from a faraway city was quite strong, so it was a challenging post-processing process. I’m a nightscaper who tries to achieve an artistic look in my images, and in this image, I tried to convey and capture the magic of this location.”

Helmos Observatory, Greece

“Last year, I visited the Aristarchos 2.3m Telescope at the Helmos Observatory to capture the Perseids meteor shower. The observatory itself is located at an elevation of 2,340 meters above sea level and away from city lights, which allows you to witness great-quality dark skies in Greece.

After setting two of my cameras for timelapse, I took the opportunity to capture the panorama I had in my mind, the galactic arch rising above the mountain range and the telescope itself. It was the first time I used my Astro modified EOS Ra, and I was hoping to capture the Ha emission nebulae in the Cygnus region. Everything went as planned, except that the telescope was scanning a supernova at the time, and it was constantly moving. Luckily, I managed to stitch it manually in the post-processing. Every time I look at this image, it blows my mind to see what you can capture with recent technology and how close you can get to the cosmos.”