National Geographic Announces Photo Contest Winners

Each year, National Geographic holds a photography contest that spotlights some of the best images taken over the previous 12 months. The images are usually quite spectacular and worthy of the Nat Geo legacy, not to mention having the ability to make other aspiring photographers, like myself, quite envious.

The 2010 award winners have been announced, and as usual, the photos are fantastic. You can check them all out on the contest page, which can be found by clicking here. There are three galleries to browse through, including Nature, People, and Places, and each of those shows weekly winners as well as the overall winner for the category.

The Grand Prize Winner is shown on the contest's main page. The image was taken by Aaron Lim Boon Teck, who captured an image of a trekking group on the trail in Indonesia, while a volcano erupts in the background. It really is a fantastic shot, with subtle colors and shadows that were shot at just the right time.

The other images are all great as well, and each of them reminds us that not only is it important to have a good eye and technical knowledge of your equipment, but a healthy dose of luck as well. It seems you have to be in just the right spot at the right time to get that perfect photo.