WASHINGTON (Dec. 6, 2018)-Selected from nearly 10,000 entries, a photo of thousands of recalled Volkswagen and Audi cars sitting idly in the Mojave Desert has been chosen as the grand-prize winner of the 2018 National Geographic Nature Photographer of the Year contest. The photo, titled Unreal, was captured by Jassen Todorov of the United States. He has won $5,000 and will have his winning image featured on the @NatGeo Instagram account.
A concert violinist by trade, Todorov began soaring above the ground in the early 2000s, eventually becoming a flight instructor and igniting his passion to visually capture the aerial world below-including both epic beauty and environmental challenges.
When I fly long distances, I listen to a lot of music. I'm able to combine music, flying, and photography. Music has a lot to do with structure and composition, colors and patterns, moods and characters-when I am looking at a photo, I am thinking about the same things, Todorov said.
Simultaneously flying, communicating with airport control, and photographing is a juggling act Todorov has refined over the years. What he was able to capture was incredible.
On the importance of the photo, Todorov said, By capturing scenes like this one, I hope we will all become more conscious and more caring for our beautiful planet.
Pim Volkers of Laren, Netherlands, won first place in the Wildlife category for a photo of wildebeest crossing the Mara River in Tanzania. Mia Collis of Westlands, Kenya, won first place in the People category for a portrait David Muyochokera on his last day working at his studio in Kibera, Nairobi.
Contestants submitted photographs in three categories - People, Places and Wildlife. Submitted photos also joined National Geographic's photography community, Your Shot. The photos were judged by a panel of National Geographic photo editors. All of the winning photos, along with the honorable mentions, may be viewed at natgeo.com/photocontest.
For more on the winning photograph, see the full story HERE.
Press Contact:
Kelsey Taylor, kelsey.taylor@natgeo.com, (202) 912 6776
National Geographic Partners LLC
National Geographic Partners LLC (NGP), a joint venture between National Geographic and 21st Century Fox, is committed to bringing the world premium science, adventure and exploration content across an unrivaled portfolio of media assets. NGP combines the global National Geographic television channels (National Geographic Channel, Nat Geo WILD, Nat Geo MUNDO, Nat Geo PEOPLE) with National Geographic's media and consumer-oriented assets, including National Geographic magazines; National Geographic studios; related digital and social media platforms; books; maps; children's media; and ancillary activities that include travel, global experiences and events, archival sales, licensing and e-commerce businesses. Furthering knowledge and understanding of our world has been the core purpose of National Geographic for 130 years, and now we are committed to going deeper, pushing boundaries, going further for our consumers and reaching millions of people around the world in 172 countries and 43 languages every month as we do it. NGP returns 27 percent of our proceeds to the nonprofit National Geographic Society to fund work in the areas of science, exploration, conservation and education. For more information visit natgeotv.com or nationalgeographic.com, or find us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Google+, YouTube, LinkedIn and Pinterest.
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WASHINGTON (Dec. 6, 2018)-Selected from nearly 10,000 entries, a photo of thousands of recalled Volkswagen and Audi cars sitting idly in the Mojave Desert has been chosen as the grand-prize winner of the 2018 National Geographic Nature Photographer of the Year contest. The photo, titled Unreal, was captured by Jassen Todorov of the United States. He has won $5,000 and will have his winning image featured on the @NatGeo Instagram account.
