These 5 astonishing landscape photographs capture some of nature's most delicate and dramatic moments

The twelfth International Landscape Photographer of the Year contest has unveiled its Special Awards winners, recognizing five extraordinary photos taken in some of the world's most challenging environments.

Selected from over 3,600 entries worldwide, these pictures represent distinct categories within landscape photography, from monochrome mastery to weather extremes.

Interestingly, these Special Awards change annually to keep the competition fresh and engaging. This year's categories pushed photographers to excel in black-and-white composition, seascape drama, winter landscapes, storm documentation and solitary tree portraits. Each winner receives a share of the $12,500 (around £9,350 / AU$18,800) prize purse and publication in the competition's annual book.

Sitting alongside the main competition categories, the five special category winners were selected by a judging panel including David Burnett, co-founder of Contact Press Images, and Tim Parkin, editor of On Landscape Magazine.

1. 'Curves' by Torsten Pull

Curves by Torsten Pull from the USA brilliantly captures the graceful, flowing lines of Namibia's Skeleton Coast sand dunes. Winner in the Black and White category, this image highlights how removing color isn't just an "arty" flex done for effect; it can genuinely help amplify form, texture and light; essential elements in dune photography.

The Skeleton Coast's dramatic landscapes have challenged photographers for decades, but this monochrome interpretation reveals the sculptural quality of windswept sand with exceptional clarity. The interplay of light and shadow across the dune's surface creates an almost abstract composition, where the curves become the primary subject rather than the landscape itself.

Pull's technical execution and artistic vision here showcase precisely why black-and-white photography remains such a powerful medium for landscape work; stripping away distraction to reveal the essence of natural form.

2. 'Iceberg Spiral' by Jeroen Van Nieuwenhove

Icelandic photographer Jeroen Van Nieuwenhove scooped up the Seascape Award this year for his mesmerizing image, Iceberg Spiral, captured in Disko Bay, Greenland. This extraordinary photograph showcases the dynamic interaction between ice and ocean, with swirling patterns of water creating a spiral formation around a glacial fragment.

Van Nieuwenhove's aerial perspective reveals patterns invisible from ground level, highlighting the complex movements and forces at play in Arctic waters. The contrast between the deep blues of the ocean and the brilliant white and turquoise of the ice creates a striking visual composition.

Capturing such images in Greenland's harsh conditions requires not only technical skill but also patience and timing, as the constantly shifting ice and water create fleeting moments of perfect composition. Van Nieuwenhove's image stands as both a beautiful artwork and a poignant reminder of the changing Arctic environment.

3. 'A Whisper of Light' by Kung-Fu Li

Taiwan-based photographer Kung-Fu Li earned the Snow and Ice Award in the competition for A Whisper of Light, captured at the famous Harunire Tree in Hokkaido, Japan. This ethereal image showcases a solitary tree standing in a snow-covered landscape, enveloped in soft, atmospheric conditions that give the scene a truly dreamlike quality.

The subtle interplay of light filtering through mist or fog adds a luminous quality to the scene, with the bare branches of the tree creating delicate silhouettes against the pale sky.

It's a composition that balances minimalism with emotional impact, using the vast expanse of snow to emphasize the tree's isolation while the gentle light creates a sense of hope and tranquility.

From a technical standpoint, it also demonstrates exceptional control of exposure, in challenging high-key conditions where maintaining detail in both snow and sky will test any photographer's technical abilities.

4. 'Supercell' by Dennis Hualong Zhang

Dennis Hualong Zhang from Armenia captured the raw power of nature with Supercell, photographed in New Mexico, USA, to win the Stormy Sky Award. This dramatic image showcases a supercell thunderstorm – one of nature's most powerful weather phenomena – with its characteristic rotating updraft creating a distinctive structure in the clouds.

A lightning strike illuminates the scene, adding an element of danger and energy to an already impressive atmospheric display. The composition beautifully balances the massive cloud formation against the landscape below, including a dirt road that draws the eye into the scene and provides human scale to the towering storm.

Photographing severe weather requires both courage and careful planning, as you need to position yourself safely while anticipating the storm's movement and behavior.

In this case, though, it was well worth it: the layers of cloud, the gradient from dark storm base to lighter upper levels and the precise moment of the lightning strike combine to create an image that documents both the beauty and ferocity of extreme weather.

5. 'Queen Bottle Tree' by Benjamin Barakat

Swiss photographer Benjamin Barakat won the Lone Tree Award for this striking image of a bottle tree on the remote island of Socotra, Yemen. Socotra's isolation has led to the evolution of numerous endemic species, making it a UNESCO World Heritage Site and a dream destination for nature photographers, despite the country's political instability.

Queen Bottle Tree showcases one of Socotra's distinctive dragon's blood trees, aka bottle trees – species found nowhere else on Earth. The tree's unusual form, with twisted branches extending from a swollen trunk, creates a dramatic silhouette against the Milky Way and colorful night sky.

Barakat's composition expertly places the tree as the central subject, emphasizing its alien appearance and unique character.

Impressively, this image combines the technical demands of astrophotography with the challenge of accessing and photographing in such a remote location, resulting in an image that captures both the tree's otherworldly beauty and the pristine darkness of one of Earth's least light-polluted regions.

For the complete collection of winners and the Top 101 images, visit the Landscape Photographer of the Year website, where the awards book is available to download for free.

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