[imagesource: Vladimir Alekseev]

The Travel Photographer of the Year Awards were founded in 2003, and boast of a competition that’s ‘for photographers, by photographers’.

It has since become one of the leading travel photography competitions in the world, attracting thousands of entries every year from amateur, semi-pro, and professional photographers.

According to Metro, for the 2020 Awards, there were 25 000 entries from photographers in 147 countries, with the overall winner being Vladimir Alekseev – the first-ever Russian to take the top prize.

You can see his winning shot, taken in Yamal Peninsula, Russia, above.

“For the indigenous people of the Far North, deer are wealth. This includes food, housing, clothing, and transportation. And children, from a very young age, know how to drive reindeeron special sleds called narta”, says Alekseev.

Here’s a word from the competition’s founder, Chris Coe:

‘These winners are spectacular in their beauty, range, drama, elegance and, in some cases, poignancy. In tough times they will bring a warmth and joy to many and confirm that there is skill, insight, vision and art in travel photography.”

Here are some of our favourite images including a few of the winners:

Image: Jorge Bacelar

Image: Joshua Holko

Image: Jordi Cohen

Image: Nicolas Raspiengeas

Image: Pavlos Evangelidis, winner ‘Best Single Image in Nature’

Image: Indigo Larmour, winner ‘Young Travel Photographer of the Year’

Image: Peter Walmsley

Image: Mark Anthony, winner ‘One Shot – Solitude’ category

Image: Azim Khan Ronnie, winner ‘ITravelled – Phone/Tablet Single Image’ category.

The image above, by Azim Khan Ronnie, won him first prize in the ‘ITravelled – Phone/Tablet Single Image’ category.

The future of photography could well be smartphones.

Apple recently uploaded photos shot on the new iPhone 12, and they’re beyond stunning.

It’s worth a look if you’re thinking of trying your hand at making some art.

Your camera could already be in your pocket.

[source:metro]