THESE IMAGES FROM – among the first entries in the prestigious National Geographic Photo Contest 2015 – need little in way of introduction.
The competition has got underway with photographers across the world hoping to pick up prizes in the People, Places and Nature categories.
The eventual winner will receive $10,000.
Here are just a selection of some of the entries so far (with captions from the photographers themselves):
Daasanach Fisherman
Source: Christena Dowsett
"A young Daasanach fisherman guts and cleans a fish on the Eastern shore of Lake Turkana near the border of Ethiopia and Kenya. The Daasanach are Kenya's second smallest tribe with between 60,000 and 80,000 members. They are traditionally nomadic, roaming between the two countries. Although with continued drought over the last 20 years about 30% have looked to the lake for food and income in fishing."
Enchantment of light and shadows
"After the sunset, we saw that fog was forming and hoped that it would not fade away till morning so we set our alarm clock three hours before sunrise. Then we drove for two hours to the location and along the road we could see through the trees that the bog was fully covered in fog. We quickly set up our octocopter drone and flew over the trees, the opening view was breathtakingly beautiful - sunrays, fog, shadows, pools."
High Hoops
"Andrea Grove, a fire performer based in Omaha, Nebraska, practices her hula-hoop routine before her performance at the Lantern Festival on Saturday 29 August 2015. She travels to events around the Midwest with a group called IncenDance. I met Andrea by chance. She and her group were tucked away behind a stage preparing for their show. After getting to know them a bit, I asked if I could photograph their practice and stayed with them until dark."
Calbuco, The Awakening
"Calbuco Volcano is located in the lakes region south of Santiago, Chile's capital city and is one of the 10 most dangerous volcanoes in the country. After more than 40 years of inactivity, on 23 April the volcano erupts, spewing more than 200 million tons of ash and causing the evacuation of more than 2,000 people. In the picture is seen one of the most violent moments of the eruption, which occurred in the early hours of 24 April."
Flamingo
"Flamingos are going to fly."
Sunset Mountain Work
"Nepal is a special place to me for a number of reasons and I was fortunate enough to go back to see the Himalayas on a trek that offers amazing views of Mount Dhaulagiri and Mount Annapurna. The mountain landscape continued to blow my mind. After a strenuous and exhausting six-hour trek to Kopra Ridge, I took this photo of Mount Dhaulagiri at sunset. In the foreground, a local Nepalese man is helping usher his mules up the ridge to a nearby eco-lodge that was in the middle of construction."
Atocha
A little girl plays in the monument to the victims of the attack of 11M in Atocha train station in Madrid.
Morning Prayers, Delhi India
"I was in Delhi for work and went out exploring in the early morning to the Jama Masjid mosque. One guy was sweeping as another came along behind him laying out the prayer rugs. Soon after, this one man came in and started to pray, lined up in the one ray of sunlight."
Terrace paddies in North Vietnam
"Terrace rice paddies in Tu Le Valley, Yen Bai province, north Vietnam at the beginning of new season. The Hmong people are crossing the fields on their way home at the end of the working day."
The End of the World
"A small group of emperor penguins gathered near the sea ice edge. Ross Sea, Antarctica."
Dunes' picture
"This aerial shot was taken from a small plane over Namib desert, Namibia."
Ahmed Kelly
"Born in 1991 with significant disabilities in all four limbs, Ahmed Kelly was left at a Baghdad orphanage where he spent the majority of the first seven years of his life. He was adopted by an Australian woman, Moira Kelly, and now lives and in Melbourne.
Ahmed finished fourth in the London 2012 Paralympic Games for 50m Breaststroke, and is in great shape to win a medal in 12 months when the Paralympics start in Rio, Brazil."
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