Grand Prize, and 1st Prize Nature Category. Photo and caption from Sergio Tapiro Velasco. The ability of nature. The Strong eruption of Colima Volcano in Mexico on December 13th, 2015. That night, the weather has been cold and dry, the friction of ash particles created a major lightning of about 600 meters that connected ash and volcano and illuminated most of the dark scenery. On last part of 2015, this volcano showed lots of eruptive action with ash explosions that raised 2-3 km above the crater. Most of the nighttime explosions produced incandescent stone falls and lightning maybe not bigger than 100 meters.
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Winners of the 2017 National Geographic Travel Photographer

National Geographic just announced the winners and honorable mentions of the 2017 National Geographic Travel Photographer of the Year. Sergio Tapiro Velasco seized the dramatic winning photo of a lightning bolt flashing beneath the Colima Volcano in Mexico. The awards and honorable mentions are defined across three classes: Nature, People, and Cities. Listed below are 10 of our favorites images, but can you see the rest on National Geographic.

Nature, 2nd location. Photo and caption by Hiromi Kano. To live. Swans who reside vigorous even in sand.
Shops, 2nd location. Photo and caption from Andy Yeung. Walled City #08. The Kowloon Walled City was the densest place on Earth. Countless houses stacked on top of each other enclosed in the center of this structure. Many didn’t have access to open space.This famous city was eventually demolished in the 1990s. However, if you look hard enough, you will observe that the town isn’t dead. Part of this still exists in many of modern high-density housing apartments. It is my hope that this series can get folks to think about claustrophobic residing in Hong Kong from a brand new standpoint.
Shops, 3rd location. Photo and caption by Misha De-Stroyev. Henningsvær Football Field. This football field in Henningsvær in the Lofoten Islands is considered one of the most amazing fields in Europe, and maybe even on earth. The photo was shot during a 10-day sailing excursion in Norway in June 2017. We arrived at Henningsvær after a week of sailing through the cold and rainy weather. Upon our arrival, the weather cleared up. I was fortunate that the terms were appropriate for flying my drone, and I managed to catch this shot by a height of 120 meters.
Character, 3rd place. Photo and caption from Tarun Sinha. Crocodiles in Rio Tarcoles. This picture was captured in Costa Rica when I was traveling from Monteverde to Playa Hermosa. As you cross over this river, you can stop and peer over the edge of the bridge. I wanted to capture the stark gap between the crocodiles on land and in the water. In the murky waters, the entire body contours of these beasts remain concealed, and one can only really see their girth since they emerge in the river.
Nature, honorable mention. Photo and caption by Clane Gessel. Marble Caves.
Nature, honorable mention. Photo and caption from Yutaka Takafuji. Forest of the Fairy. Shooting in the woods This photograph has been taken at the evening hours using a humid early summer day in the woods of a small remote village at the Tamba region of Japan. It beautifully captures the magical atmosphere of Princess fireflies carpet a stairway leading to a small shrine revered by the local men and women.
People, 1st location. Photo and caption from F. Dilek Uyar Worship. Whirling Dervish within a historical place of Sille Konya, Turkey. Based on Mevlana’s teachings, human beings have been born twice, once of the moms and the next time of their bodies.

People, 3rd place. Photo and caption from Rodney Bursiel. Under The Wave. I recently traveled to Tavarua, Fiji to do some surf photography with pro surfer Donavon Frankenreiter in Cloudbreak. I am always looking for new perspectives and angles. The usual surf shots have all been completed thus we decided to get a little creative.