Planet Earth In All Its Glory: Best Of The National Geographic Photo Contest 2015

An arctic fox in frozen willows.

The 2015 National Geographic Photo Contest attracts entries from photographers from all over the world.

The contest is divided into three categories, people, places and nature. 

Below are some of the beautiful photos from the contestants – please click the photos for larger images:

Breathtaking view from Schwarzstockli (2293m) over this spectacular natural border of cantons of Glarus and St. Gallen, Switzerland, as seen on an Autumn weekend trek in early October 2015. All after being chased, caught up and left behind by that glorious mist that hopped from one valley to another, leaving me with this frame to awe at. The gathering of clouds.

A warm and peaceful sunset above the fog at Mount Tamalpais, Northern California.

A line of elephants had just crossed the Chobe River on a hot day. As they relaxed by flicking cool sand on their backs, they were very aware to hide the youngest in the center of their grouping. For one moment though, this little one disguised in sand got through to give us a quick hello.

A large, inquisitive and almost dangerously playful female Humpback whale calf measures me with her pectoral fin. This image was captured on a very wide fisheye lens, which doesnít quite show how close she really is. By measuring how close I am she can determine if her tail is going to come in contact with me as she swims past.

An arctic fox in frozen willows.

Mount Fuji creates two types of lenticular clouds. One is called Kasagumo (umbrella cloud) and appears on top of Fuji. The other is called Tsurushigumo and shows up in the lee. Fuji created a huge Tsurushigumo this morning and it became pink just before the sunrise.

I’ve loved watching wildlife documentaries since I was a kid. One of nature’s wonders that fascinated me the most was the annual return of Salmon to their birthplace for spawning…and the bears that live off of this phenomenon. To be able to see it happen in real life was just completely magical and struck a chord deep within. There were about 12 bears at the falls, but 6 that dominated the prime spots. It was peaceful between the bears as there was plenty of salmon to go around!

In Vinh Hy Bay, two women become lost in the fabric of a fishing net. That was just a random moment when I came to the fishing village to shoot the lifestyle of the fisherman. While the men do their fishing, their wives stay at home and do the errands. When we were there, the ladies were sewing the fishing net for a new fishing season.

Aerial shot was taken in Tongariro national park, New Zealand