Nick Martin 
If you have a passion for photography or you just like to experience breathtaking views and objects captured by others, then you will fall in love with the following list! The 2018 National Geographic Photo Contest is the best event to follow if you want to have the chance to witness some of the best photography on the planet. Be prepared to be left speechless because the images are definitely something you have never seen before!
1. Derek Jerell’s Enduring Spirit
This magnificent creature is the American Bison and it is definitely on the most majestic animals in existence! Everything about it speaks of power and you feel nothing but respect for the species. This one was capture while it tried to find food using its large head to plow the snow out of the way.
2. Sarah Bethea’s Firefall In Yosemite Valley
This surreal shot is not what it looks like! It is an actual waterfall called a horsetail fall. Only in February the sun sets in a unique way and literally lights up the water, causing the glorious effect you see! It looks like melting lava pouring down! Awesome!
3. David Odisho’s Cotton Candy Fog Waves
This looks like a painting but it is a real photograph! It won the People’s Choice award in the Places category and it was a well-deserved prize! The amazing way Odisho was able to capture the fog waves created a dreamy sight for us to see! The photo was taken at Mount Tamalpais.
4. Yaron Schmid’s Baby Teeth
This photo also won the People’s Choice award, but in a different category – Wildlife. The photographer was part of a group visiting Serengeti. They stumbled upon a huge lion pride and they saw a few cubs playing. Three of the cubs played with their mama’s tail and the photo was taken at the right moment.
5. Hernando Alonso Rivera Cervantes’ Night Statics
Now this is a photo worthy of attention! It was taken at the absolutely best possible moment and we love it! Cervantes was able to capture it while observing an eruption of Mexico’s most active volcano at the moment – Colima.
6. Bence Mate’s Breathing
Here is another wildlife photo that will probably never be replicated. The perfect timing and the light create a unique setup showing how a brown bear growls. Its breath slowly vanishes into the cold air and we love the feeling this image brings.
7. Viktor Lyagushlin’s Under Ice
It is all a matter of perspective and this photographer was able to capture the photo in the most interesting possible way! It literally shows two completely different worlds divided by a relatively thin layer of ice.
8. Jassen Todorov’s Unreal won the Grand Prize
Here is the big winner! Jassen Todorov’s image is more than unreal! It was capture at a surreal place in the Mojave Desert where the VAG group stores all the vehicles from the so-called Dieselgate. The recalled cars are millions and we have no idea how many are located where the photo was taken.
9. Cameron Black’s Halfway Home
This amazing photo was taken just when the elephant was already getting out of the river. The thing that makes it amazing is the fact that the river is crocodile infested and the elephant took a huge risk crossing it, but was the only way to get home.
10. Heather Nicole’s Best Friends
This is one of the cutest photos on the list, no doubt about it! It was taken in the summer of 2017 at Lake Clark national park. The Alaskan landscape took this photographer’s breath away but there was something else that caught her attention – these two little rascals!
11. Pim Volkers’ Flying at the Crossing
This masterpiece is breathtaking and this is why it won the first place in the Wildlife category. It was taken at a location right next to the Mara River in Tanzania. The specific shades created by the sun, the chaotic jumping and the dust create a surreal scene!
12. Michael Fung’s Smokey Mountain
Landscape photos cannot get any better than this! It is enchanting and we spent a lot of time admiring it! It looks like the perfect scenery for fairytale-like visualization! It was taken at Patagonia’s Torres del Paine National Park and the lenticular cloud is awesome!
13. Mattia Pasarini’s Rautes
The photo was taken in Nepal and it shows a woman from the Rautes community. The Rautes are the last remaining nomadic groups and their habitat is the western mountains of the country. The baby in the basket is just a few weeks old.
14. Marcus Hennen’s Curiosity
We love owls! They are mesmerizing and always look curious! This is why we fell in love with this tiny burrowing owl that Hennen took a photo of! The little fella was kind enough to pose on a branch and this amazing portrait was born!
15. Slawek Kozdras’ Tree
This amazing photo is absolutely stunning! Everything about is perfect – the lighting, the scenery, the composition and the colors! It shows a lonely tree in the desert surrounded by massive sand dunes! Nature is amazing!
16. Thomas Vijayan’s Astonishing Chase
Here is a photo that can rarely be captured and we guess it would be impossible to recreate! It took the People’s Choice award and it was well-deserved! The photographer spent several days trying to catch the perfect moment and he did!
17. Martin Sanchez’s Hungry Hungry Hippos
This is another photo that is impossible to be taken again! It is a real life hippo party and it looks like a lot of fun! They seem to be playing Hungry Hungry Hippo. The mood of this photo is amazing and you can feel the energy.
18. Maggie Machinsky’s Van Gogh Baobabs
Our world has changed dramatically and this change is not for the better! Overpopulation and pollution have affected vas areas and now a third of the population on the planet cannot see the Milky Way without special equipment which is sad! Madagascar, however, is obviously not among these places.
19. Alessandra Meninconzi’s A New Challenge
Here is a photo that can really hit you in the feels and inspire you in the same time. Taken up in the Altai Mountains, the photo shows a boy who is part of the Berkutchi, which in the language of the Kazakhs means ‘Hunters with Golden Eagle’. They have domesticated the bird and use it in their hunting expeditions.
20. Vivi Molet’s Shipwreck and Photographer
This amazing shipwreck in Bimini sits in the same spot for more than 20 years and the force of the ocean waves has already destroyed most of it. In another couple of decades there will be noting left of it which makes this photo a historical one.
21. Tilda Josefsson’s Waves
Behold the beauty of the Shetland pony! This absolutely stunning animal was captured in the most brilliant way possible! The photo was possible after the photographer experimented with the perspective and zoomed at the pony’s upper body.
22. Joshua Galicki’s At the End of the Rainbow
Nature offers us an amazing variety of views and thanks to the professional photographers we are able to see them! This photo was taken at East Falkland where the weather changes constantly. It was possible to catch the rainbow after a sudden storm passed quickly.
23. Eduard Gutescu’s Shepherd from Transylvania
This amazing photo was taken at the Romanian region of Bran, near the Carpathian Mountains. It shows the daily routine of shepherd who looks like a fairytale character. His name is Nea Dan and he told a lot about himself to the photographer.
24. Alison Langevad’s A New Look
This heartbreaking photo was ranked third in the Wildlife category. It shoes the cruelty people are capable of. Sadly, these two rhinos lost their horns because poachers have no mercy. The animals were scared and only came out at night to drink water. This madness needs to stop!
25. Taylor Thomas Albright’s Embarrassed
This wildlife photo is amazing because it captured a funny moment that the photographer was lucky enough to witness. It was taken at the Alaskan Brooks Falls and shows some brown bears, one of which was tumbling down!
26. Jimmy S’ Heart Climber
This photo could easily become the favorite of every adrenaline junkie out there! The amazing scenery and the brave climber create a scene that we liked a lot! The heart-shaped water below the climber is beautiful.
27. Md Tanveer Hassan Rohan’s Sorano
This is one of the most beautiful small towns in all of Tuscany, Italy. It is located in the southern part of the region and as you can see, it is simply stunning! The medieval town looks dreamy after sunset.
28. Mike Dexter’s Mid Shed
Now this is definitely something you have never seen before! It was a first time for us, too! Apparently chameleons shed their skin in bits, unlike snakes do, for example. It is curious to see the process.
29. Nilesh Shah’s Spa Time
It might seem strange, but this is a common thing for elephants! The dust baths are one of the ways to beat the heat! It is a favorite thing for them and it is obvious just how much they enjoy it! All the members of the herd go through the process.
30. Lea Scaddan’s He Went That Way!
This gorgeous image is the best way to end the list! Rainbow bee-eaters are stunningly beautiful and the photographer was able to capture an amusing moment between two of them. One of the birds looks as if it was annoyed by the other and the captured moment is perfect!
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