Winning images of Travel Photographer of the Year 2024 capture beauty of world's landscapes and cultures
A girl staring into the distance, two Chinese coal miners joking during a break from work, and a Pallas cat lying in the snow in Mongolia are among the winners of the Travel Photographer of the Year 2024 competition.
Taken together, the remarkable portfolio of winning photos reveals 'an incredible visual journey around the world, capturing its breathtaking moods and colours,' said a statement released by the competition's organizers Sunday.
American photographer Piper Mackay won the overall prize for her photos that all share a distinctive hue, having been shot with an infrared light. This technique lends an ethereal quality to her portraits of African women as well as her photos of giraffes crossing grassy plains in Kenya.
Mackay said in the statement that 'this award completes my life's passion and work across Africa for more than two decades.' She added that her philosophy is to 'never let the photo dictate your experience, always let the experience dictate the photo.'
Judges sifted through more than 20,000 images submitted by photographers from more than 150 countries to crown Mackay the overall winner.
They rewarded other entries in individual categories too.
Mexican photographer Maricruz Sainz de Aja won the 'Faces, People, Cultures' category for her images depicting the life of the Wauga tribe in Papua New Guinea.
Meanwhile, the UK's Jenny Stock picked up first place in the 'Wildlife, Nature and Underwater' category for her photos portraying the cold, ruthless majesty of crocodiles in Cuba.
China's Raymond Zhang won the Young Travel Photographer of the Year award for his evocative photos of workers and trains at a Chinese coal mine, while 12-year-old Leonardo Murray won the under 14 category for capturing the abstract shapes of dunes in the Namib Desert.
All the winning photos can be viewed on the competition's website and at an exhibition at The Banbury Museum and Galleries near Oxford, United Kingdom, between March 29 and July 7. The exhibition will then travel to the United Arab Emirates and Changsha, China.
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