The Natural Landscape Photography Awards are now in their fourth year and showcase the very best examples of landscape photography from around the world.
This year, Canadian landscape and nature photographer Andrew Mielzynski was awarded the title of 2024 Natural Landscape Photographer of the Year for his tranquil captures of the natural world.
Created in 2021, the Natural Landscape Photography Awards were founded by landscape photographers – Tim Parkin, Matt Payne, Alex Nail, and Rajesh Jyothiswaran to promote 'authentic' landscape photographs shot on either digital or film but by no means AI!
The competition established a strict set of rules to avoid deceptive digital editing techniques and the use of AI, resulting in only trustworthy captures of our natural world. Each image is scrutinized by a panel of judges, with RAW files submitted alongside the finished article for comparison.
Upon winning the competition with a series of incredibly minimalistic images of nature's exquisite details, Mielzynski says, "I am overwhelmed, amazed, excited and deeply honoured to win the Natural Landscape Photography Award’s Photographer of the year award for 2024. The Natural Landscape Photography Awards are one of the biggest landscape competitions in the world, with a full range of categories that compliment many different genres in the landscape photography world. This contest is extremely prestigious and important for photographers who love traditional photography and who reject digital manipulation and AI."
This year's competition saw 12,179 photographs submitted from 59 countries by 1,134 photographers, who entered their work into three distinctive categories: Grand Scenic, Intimate Landscapes, and Abstract & Details.
The main event winners are as follows:
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Photographer of the Year: Andrew Mielzynski
Project of the Year Winner: David Southern
Photograph of the Year: John Hardiman
Grand Scenic Winner: Peter Coskun
Intimate Landscapes Winner: Brent Clark
Abstract or Details Winner: Scott Oller
There were also ten sub-categories covering black and white, mountains, nightscapes, and much more which can all be found on the competition website.
The winning photographers are certainly at the top of the game as the images that have been awarded are incredible, both technically and artistically.
The fact that the competition demands authenticity does fill you with trust when looking at these images, especially when AI generation is so prevalent in landscape photography.
You may also be interested in our guides to the best camera for landscape photography, the best lenses for landscapes, and the best waterproof camera.
