Back for its fourth year, the Natural Landscape Photography Awards has announced the 2024 winners. The competition sets itself apart with an emphasis on its golden rule, “the integrity of the subject should be maintained,” setting the standard for landscape photographers with similar approaches to their photography.
The Natural Landscape Photography Awards were founded by Matt Payne, Tim Parkin, Alex Nail, and Rajesh Jyothiswaran with the intent of showcasing the natural world and not heavily digitally interpreted impressions of the natural landscape. Out of this grew a landscape photography competition with rules that helped deliver just such results.
The NLPA contest has three main categories to select from when entering, Grand Scenic, Intimate Landscapes, and Abstracts or Details. There are additional subcategories, including Creative Icon, Environmental Wildlife, Common Places, Mountains, Water Worlds, Black and White, Nightscape, Environmental, and Aerial. The contest also includes a Project category where a series of related images can be entered.
A panel of five judges evaluates contest entries through a multiple-stage process, with consideration given to composition, minimal editing, and originality. Upon reaching a certain point in the competition, the raw files are verified before final judging to ensure the contest's integrity. 12,179 photographs were submitted to the competition from 59 countries by 1,134 photographers.
Listed below are the first-place winning photographers from each category. Be sure to visit the 2024 Results page on the NLPA website for a more comprehensive list of the results and photograph galleries to review.
Photographer of the Year, Winner: Andrew Mielzynski
The winner of Photographer of the Year, Andrew Mielzynski, had this to say about his win:
I am overwhelmed, amazed, excited, and deeply honored to win the Natural Landscape Photography Awards' Photographer of the Year award for 2024. The Natural Landscape Photography Awards are one of the biggest landscape competitions in the world, with a full range of categories that complement many different genres in the landscape photography world. This contest is extremely prestigious and important for photographers who love traditional photography and reject digital manipulation and AI. Their golden rule is that “The integrity of the subject should be maintained,” and to this end, they ask for the original image to be submitted for inspection. Thank you to the founders and organizers of the competition for all their hard work, to the tireless and world-class judges, the sponsors, and to all my incredibly talented and dedicated fellow winners and photographic artists who entered this fabulous contest. I am very proud, thrilled, and appreciative to be included in this group of very talented photographers.
Photograph of the Year, Winner: John Hardiman
I’m honored to be selected for this year’s NLPA Photograph of the Year, where nature, art, and expression are all valued as part of the photographic experience. I feel that landscape photography is about giving nature a voice, a voice that’s interpreted and shared through our presence.
On this morning, I visited a local forest where the air was dense with mist, soaking everything around me. I watched as water dripped from gum leaves overhead, making musical ripples that danced across the water's surface, playing with the cool figures that loomed behind. I am pleased to be sharing this experience with you now.
Project Winner - Living on the Edge, Winner: David Southern
It is a great honor and a privilege to be the winner of Project of the Year. I have followed the NLPA since its inception, and the ethos and qualities of the competition mirror my own values. It was a wonderful surprise to be announced as the winner.
My aim with this project was to showcase the seaweeds that inhabit the lower shoreline in a manner that demonstrated their inherent beauty and diversity. Hopefully, the allure of this often overlooked but vitally important habitat is demonstrated in these images.
Grand Scenic, Winner: Peter Coskun
It is difficult to imagine a more elegant unveiling of nature than a winter storm clearing from within the Grand Canyon. This is precisely what occurred during a winter trip to the South Rim of Grand Canyon National Park in 2023. As the clouds parted, windows into the canyon were illuminated with colorful gold and red hues as a snow-covered rocky outcrop seemed to rise from a sea of clouds.
Intimate Landscapes, Winner: Brent Clark
The wild and remote canyons of the American southwest present surprises around every bend. When I turned a corner and this scene came into view, I was awestruck and humbled to witness sunlight focused by the canyon's walls so precisely that it lit only this lonely cottonwood tree. I stayed and photographed for a few minutes until the light widened and began to spill on nearby features.
Abstracts or Details, Winner: Scott Oller
I love the challenge of finding unique perspectives in one of the most photographed places on earth, Yosemite. This icy, abstract scene caught my attention as I walked along the Merced last winter. To me, it perfectly represents the deep sense of mystery that the landscape evokes.
Creative Icon, Winner: Hans Gunnar Aslaksen
Environmental Wildlife, Winner: David Kingham
Yellowstone National Park in winter is a truly magical place. We have the honor of visiting every year to lead workshops focused not on wildlife, but on the landscape.
Despite our landscape emphasis, we had been casually tracking a wolf pack each morning, noticing their footprints along the roadside. We learned they had migrated to another area of the park, coincidentally where we were headed next.
On this particular morning, after photographing incredible conditions, we were winding down for the day when a lone wolf emerged from the woods—a magical experience in itself. As we finished photographing this solitary wolf and prepared to leave, we turned to see the entire Wapiti pack appear from the forest. Not only that, but they were perfectly positioned amidst the thermal features, with snow-covered trees and rising steam as a backdrop. Resisting the temptation to zoom in closer, I chose to include the stunning environment. It was a truly unforgettable moment that I will always treasure.
Common Places, Winner: Anil Sud
I was intrigued by the beautiful symmetry of the tree plantation and accordingly, spent a few days exploring what the area might yield photographically. On my final return, I was greeted that morning by a scene bathed in backlit fog simplifying the composition further while providing for a stark silhouette against a muted gradation of light as a backdrop. (Taken near Haridwar, India).
Mountains, Winner: Jurre Jan de Wit
During the winter, everything in the landscape seems to be frozen in time, wind, snow, and ice are king at this time of the year, while the sparse vegetation of the Arctic just waits patiently for another summer to arrive. Somehow, water always finds a way to keep flowing. Sometimes deep below the ice and other times right at the surface - either way it shows the landscape is still alive.
Water Worlds, Winner: Philipp Jakesch
The Lofoten Islands are known for the sudden change in weather conditions. One minute it is beautiful and calm, and the next minute, a storm is rolling in—like in this image. When you go there with your photographic eye, there is a beautiful image waiting around every corner.
Black and White, Winner: Mark Ditcham
Grass Trees (Xanthorrhoea spp) are one of my favourite subjects to photograph. These trees are full of character and I like to hunt for ones with a human semblance. I found this dead and broken-down tree in a previously unexplored area of the bushland and was instantly drawn to its shape and form.
Nightscape, Winner: Niall McLaughlin
I’m delighted to have been named the Nightscape category winner at the NLPA. I captured this scene on an unforgettable evening, watching the aurora dancing across the Antrim Glens. Being in nature brings me great joy, and I feel privileged to share that experience with others through my photography.
Environmental, Winner: Felix Roeser
This images shows the covered parts of the Rhonegletscher in the swiss alps. The sheets are covering the glacier to slow down the melting process. It reminded me of a ghost or an artwork by Christo and Jeanne-Claude.
Aerial, Winner: William Patino
In addition to photography and project winners, this year NLPA also established a $5,000 grant offering in 2024. This grant was for photographers under the age of 30 to work on an environmental photography project. This was awarded to Anders Thøstesen, a Danish photographer, to help him work on his “Flying Rivers” project, an attempt to visualize the concept of the Amazon's Flying Rivers and the indirect consequences of deforestation.
Again, be sure to visit the 2024 NLPA Results page to be inspired by so many more fantastic images. Even the runner-ups and additional images from the photography projects are inspiring images for landscape photographers worldwide.
Each year, NLPA also releases a book of images from the contest, I did a video about these impressive collections. The year 4 book is now available for pre-order and is a great way to have inspirational photography at your fingertips!
All images used with permission, courtesy of Natural Landscape Photography Awards.
Incredible. These really challenge what I thought landscape was. 😯
Lots of small scenes - that's for sure! I've enjoyed my own progression to more small scenes instead of always wanting grand landscapes and *hoping* the light cooperates! I thought there was some amazing work shared from the results!
Inspirational. Just what photography should be, no talk of gear or technical aspects just pure creativity. They make you want to rush outdoors and take photographs. I especially like that one winner John Harriman shot local and David Southern turned his attention to a smaller and more intimate subject . There is a lot to be said for becoming acquainted with one’s local environment rather than jetting off to some exotic part of the world. The possibilities are all around us, it just needs the creativity of a photographer to find and reveal them. It’s much more of a challenging to create a compelling landscape from a non-exotic or dramatic environment. That said excellent work from all and a great competition.
I really like this contest, I feel like they've provided a great "home" for landscape photographers that tend towards depicting the natural. I get the book they produce every year just because there are so many great images to see in print!