And a winner has been selected!
This year, more than 13,000 photographs were submitted to National Geographic’s annual photo contest
This stunning image of an anti-cyclonic tornado was the grand prize winner. Captured by James Smart, the photo shows a monster of a tornado infused with brown dust as it sweeps through open farmland — just narrowly missing a home near Simla, Colorado. Here’s how he described the photo to National Geographic:
The tornado was slowly getting bigger as it picked up the dust and soil from the ground on the farmland. It wasn’t moving very fast, so we kept getting closer as it tracked next to the home as you can see in the image. Driving down a Colorado dirt road, we were lucky enough to be on the west of the tornado, so it was front lit. This really helped to get great detail out of the image and the perfect light for the sky and foreground.
Smart won $10,000 for the photo, and a trip to National Geographic headquarters in Washington, D.C., to participate in the annual National Geographic Photography Seminar next month.
Check out all of the winning photos HERE
