National Geographic Photo Contest 2015: Top Contenders to Win

National Geographic magazine has opened its annual photo contest, in which everyone can participate. The winner will receive $10,000 and a trip to National Geographic headquarters in Washington DC to attend the annual photography workshop.

We invite you to look at the work of some of the contenders for the victory, pre-selected by the editors of the publication, with comments from the authors. Photos for the competition are accepted until November 16. Perhaps one of you will be able to compete with them!

(Total 24 photos)

Source: theatlantic.com

1. A striking tornado passes through farmland, miraculously not hitting the house. Silma, Colorado, June 5, 2015. (Author: James Smart)

2. Life on the edge, Faroe Islands. Immediately upon arrival on the island, I drove up to these stunning rocks. The shooting conditions were not the best - the fog was so thick that the mountains in the background could not be seen at all. But I was so inspired by this magical place that I decided to wait. I had plenty of time to explore the area and enjoy the views, and then the magic happened. (Author: Marco Grassi)

3. A small praying mantis in my backyard. Its larvae are pink and flower-like, and when it grows up it turns white. Franceville, Gabon. (Author: Nil Rahola)

4. This is a completely natural effect, but it looks completely surreal. Pictured, the churning waters of the Santa Fe River mix with clear spring water from the Devil's Ear spring in northern Florida. (Author: John Moran)

5. I found this amazing field on my first morning in Valensole, France. I woke up at 4 am and went looking for places to shoot. In 30 minutes I was on this ideal field for me. I was here all alone and had never seen him in a photo before. I spent three days there, but this place is the best I could find. (Author: Marco Grassi)

6. A little girl plays inside a monument dedicated to the victims of the 2004 train attacks at the Atocha train station in Madrid, Spain. (Author: Javier Arcenillas)

7. The Nicobar pigeon is my favorite bird at the Central Park Zoo. I noticed him sitting on a tree and waited for the right moment to shoot him in all his glory. (Author: Ivan Lesica)

8. Diving at the wreck of Hai Siang, near Reunion Island. (Author: Gaby Barathieu)

9. This shot was taken on South Georgia in December 2014. Perhaps this was the most outstanding moment of my trip to Antarctica - I stood among hundreds of thousands of penguins, feeling like a clear minority and rejoicing that there were still places in the world that retained their beauty, not spoiled by human interference. (Author: Steffen Flugel)

10. The population of foxes in the parks of New Jersey is growing, this day I saw several. Most of them showed up for only a second and disappeared immediately, but this one came out of the forest and just looked at me for several minutes. Such a beautiful creation. (Author: Jill Homcy)

11. We were in Rurutu, French Polynesia, during the migration of humpback whales from the south. This baby whale swam closer and closer to us every day. His skin is just extraordinary. Meeting him is the best thing in my life. (Author: Axel Lopez)

12. Coral reef. (Author: Vinny Apuzzo)

13. The rays of the sun at dawn over the village of Chemoro Lawang, near the volcano Bromo, East Java, Indonesia. (Author: Achmad Sumawijaya)

14. One of the many mesmerizing views of Sossusvlei, Namibia. We were walking at sunset near Big Daddy dune and stumbled upon these seemingly endless waves accentuated by the setting sun. They look like fingerprint lines. (Author: Martin L.)

15. I love the duality of sources: you feel the cold embrace of water on a hot summer day; you swim in the water, but it seems as if you are floating in cotton clouds, hovering somewhere at the intersection of two worlds, where illusions are born. This is the source of Silver Glen in the Ocala National Forest, Florida. It releases about 65 million gallons of groundwater per day. (Author: Jennifer Adler)

16. Flamingos are about to fly away. (Author: Yu huiping)

17. An iceberg collapses under the hot Greenland sun in July 2015, the month where the hottest temperature on record was recorded. A huge block, falling into the ocean, creates an explosion of water and ice - a spectacular, but sad picture. Such icebergs and the glaciers that create them are melting faster than ever because of global climate change. They serve as the first ominous warning for our entire planet. (Author: Eric Lew)

18. Coastline of the Seven Sisters Park and Beachy Head Lighthouse, East Sussex, England. (Author: Ludwig Wagner)

19. Calbuco Volcano, located in the region of lakes south of Santiago, the capital of Chile, is one of the 10 most dangerous volcanoes in the country. On April 23, after more than 40 years of dormancy, a volcanic eruption began, which was accompanied by the release of 200 million tons of ash and resulted in the evacuation of 2,000 people. (Author: Francisco Negroni)

20. The rays of the morning sun illuminate the rice terraces in Mu Cang Chai, Vietnam, September 2015. (Author: Surawut Sudha)

21. This owl (Tyto alba) exercises natural control of the rodent population. August 22, 2015, Segovia, Spain. (Author: Andres Lopez)

22. A shepherd with a herd of sheep crosses a dry riverbed at the bottom of the Tianshan Canyon, Xinyang Province, northwest China. (Author: Tugo Cheng)

23. The picture was taken in the Namib Desert, Namibia. (Author: Stas Bartnikas)

24. Railway in Aomori, Japan. This abandoned station is next to a natural tunnel of cherry blossom trees in spring. (Author: Sho Shibata)