Poring over travel photography is a way to see the world without leaving your front room – something we haven’t been able to do much of this year.
And the snaps on the latest National Geographic Traveller Photography Competition shortlist, really will transport you.
More than 4,500 entries for this year’s competition – that searches for the best travel photographer in Britain and Ireland – have been whittled down to 12 photographs in four categories: cities, landscapes, nature and people. They include views of Chinese rice terraces and a striking shot of a lioness hunting in a Kenyan dust storm, all taken over the past year.
Editor of National Geographic Traveller Pat Riddell said: “While the coronavirus pandemic has greatly affected our ability to travel, our desire to see the world is nevertheless undiminished. This year’s competition is a window on the world we hope to explore again as soon as it’s safe to do so, and is a reminder of the power and emotion that travel photography can capture.”
A winner in each category and an overall grand prize winner will be announced on August 25. These are the shortlisted photographs…
Cities
A block of flats on Odaiba, an artificial island connected to Tokyo (Jordan Banks/PA)
Prague’s Church of Our Lady Before Tyn (Holly Barber/PA)
The old quarter of Bari in Southern Italy (Mick Ryan/PA)
Landscapes
The Yuanyang rice terraces in China (Eric Ho/PA)
Mountains in the Indus Valley, Northern India, with a view of the 15th century Buddhist monastery Thiksey Gompa (Annapurna Mellor/PA)
Sand dunes and dead wood in Namibia’s Namib Naukluft Park (George Turnbull/PA)
Nature
Flamingos in Tanzania’s Lake Natron (Tony Zhang/PA)
A spotted eagle ray off a Costa Rican island (Francesca Page/PA)
A lioness hunts in a dust storm in Kenya (Diana Knight/PA)
People
Roma coppersmith Danchu from Transylvania (Lynn Fraser/PA)
Dugerjav has 8 children and 22 grandchildren – in Mongolia, motherhood is seen as a patriotic duty and here she displays her Order of Glorious Motherhood medals (Kay Lockett/PA)
Dancers perform the haka during the Matavaa festival on Ua Pou island in French Polynesia (Hadriel Torrres/PA)
