American photographer Brent Clark has been crowned the winner of the 2nd annual Natural Landscape Photography Awards 2022. The award was created to celebrate authentic, realistic landscapes with minimal edits ensuring that the landscapes featured are ones people can trust.
Brent Clark impressed the panel of international judges with a selection of images that showed of different styles of photographers. From hyperrealistic photos of sand dunes in the desert to more art-inspired close-ups of patterns in nature. His bold use of colors and a keen eye for detail landed him the top spot and the grand prize consisting of $5,000 in cash, a Canon EOS R5, a camera backpack, a tripod and a year’s membership to Nature photographers Network.
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On winning the competition, Brent Clark said, “I am honored and stunned to receive the distinction of the Natural Landscape Photography Award's Natural Landscape Photographer of the Year! Last year's NLPA was the first photography competition I had ever entered because most competitions seem to reward a style of image I prefer not to create and a mindset I do not have."
Antonio Fernandez was awarded second place for a series of images focussing on abstract patterns in nature. These aerial shots show the beauty of our land and seas from above, capturing expansive riverways, snow-covered trees and areas on the ground that look like mars.
Third place went to Denver-based photographer Alfredo Mora who also submitted a selection of close-ups of trees and recurring patterns in nature. Other category winners include Daniel Mirela for Project of the Year for his photos of the virgin forests spread through the Carpathian Mountains in Romania and the award for photograph of the year was a tie between Phillipp Jakesch and Jim Lamont for two very different but equally striking images.
Despite only being in its second year, the competition received more than 10,700 entries from 55 countries and a total of 1,179 photographers. Judging the competition is a selection of eight leading world-class photographers from the US, Europe and Canada who adhere to an agreed judging process to ensure transparency.
To see the full list of winning images, find out who judges the competition and see how you can enter next year, head to the Natural Landscape Awards website.
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