18 Award-Winning Photos That Are Breathtaking, a Cure for Tired and Anxious Souls
Editor: Ashley Images: Pinterest
Summary
The purity and beauty of nature bring inner joy and calm to humanity; yet humanity's childishness and greed have brought countless slaughters and destruction to nature.
How should humanity coexist harmoniously with nature? How should humanity properly give back to nature's nourishment and nurturing? This has always been the ultimate question that the wise seek to answer.
Recently, the "Nature Photography Competition" founded by The Nature Conservancy announced its results, with 57,489 photographers from 135 countries and regions around the world submitting nearly 60,000 entries.
In the busy hustle of life, do you still remember the warmth and beauty of nature? Be grateful for all that nature has given, for we still rely on it to nourish our hearts, livers, spleens, and stomachs, and to release the weariness of our souls.
In this issue, we have specially selected 18 award-winning works for you; they capture the fleeting miracles of the natural world,using explosive beauty to reawaken humanity's deep affection and love for nature.
Anxious soul, you need to be quiet. May you, after viewing these photographic works, feel the beauty of nature and regain the spiritual power of your soul.
01
Grand Prize Winner "The World of Stallions"
1
Two stallions are fighting each other; even if they are just playing,
it is still a contest of strength. If you do not give it your all,
you must endure the hardships of life and the cruelty of reality.
(Photographer: Camille Briottet)
If you think life is cruel,
then you should see how brutal survival is.
02
Second Place "Melting Ice"
2
This may be a chunk of ice that has existed for thousands of years,
it broke off from a glacier and was washed ashore,
waiting to melt in a place that is not its own.
(Photographer: Andre Mercier)
There is nothing lonelier than the melting of a chunk of ice.
May you never understand this feeling.
03
Third Place "The Girl Kissing the Bullfrog"
3
A little blonde girl carefully picks up a small bullfrog,
and kisses it with utmost tenderness. If the princess had not grown up,
the frog prince would not have to struggle so hard to get her kiss.
You see, adults always make things complicated.
(Photographer: Terra Fondriest)
If love is another name for understanding, then a kiss is the act of love.
04
Award-Winning Work "Predator"
4
A great shark is foraging in the waters near Guadalupe Island, Mexico,
it opens its mouth wide, and wherever it goes,
there are only panicked and helpless schools of fish.
(Photographer: Roberto Moccini Formiga)
Hunting is the nature of animals, their instinct for survival,
but hopefully humanity has moved beyond this lower need.
05
Award-Winning Work "Eyes Meet"
5
A red fox in Newfoundland and Labrador,
stares intently at the photographer, unafraid, and does not leave.
The fox in "The Little Prince" says, if you tame me,
then we will need each other.
(Photographer: Megan Lorenz)
If it is out of fondness, you will tame it;
if it is out of love, you will give it freedom.
06
Award-Winning Work "Polar Bear"
6
Taken in midsummer in Nunavut,
as the global climate gradually warms and glaciers begin to melt,
a polar bear paces with difficulty on a melting block of ice.
(Photographer: Florian Ledoux)
Perhaps humanity will have to wait until there is no way out,
to understand the importance of protecting the nature we depend on for survival.
07
Award-Winning Work "Tranquility"
7
Taken at Seljalandsfoss in Iceland, beneath the ice and snow valley,
hides a pool of water so green it shines.
The greatest beauty is often hidden in steep and hard-to-reach places.
(Photographer: Jeremy Stevens)
If you cannot enjoy tranquility,
you are destined to be eroded by loneliness.
08
Award-Winning Work "Mother's Grace Over All"
8
Taken underwater in Shell Harbour,
a plastic bag rests quietly in the ocean,
an invention that brought convenience to humanity,
has become an unerasable wound for nature.
(Photographer: Aristo Risi)
After all these years, how shall I greet you,
with silence, with tears, or with remorse.
09
Award-Winning Work "A Sliver of Sky"
9
The photo records a tourist squeezing through
a narrow slot in National Monument Canyon.
This is a must-pass spot on this journey of exploration.
(Photographer: Tanner Latham)
Those who have never traveled through narrow confines
are not able to appreciate the brightness of open places.
10
Award-Winning Work "Waterfall Wonder"
10
Victoria Falls is one of the Seven Wonders of the World.
The waterfall perfectly separates Zimbabwe and Zambia,
several children sit on the cliff,
cheering for the waterfall cascading down.
(Photographer: Harry Randell)
What is most enviable about children is
that there is no danger in their eyes and ears,
so they more easily immerse themselves in beauty.
11
Award-Winning Work "Sunrise in Vama Veche"
11
The sunrise in Vama Veche, Romania, has a magical beauty.
On one side it casts the beach in a vast and hazy light,
on the other it makes the blue sea shimmer with sparkling waves.
(Photographer: George Bufan)
Perhaps beauty, through differences and contrasts,
stands out even more.
12
Award-Winning Work "The Curves of Namibia"
12
Taken at dusk in Namibia,
sunlight forms beautiful curves on the Sossus Salt Pan,
an indescribable beauty of composition leaps off the image.
(Photographer: Paul Zizka)
Any artificially contrived beauty
cannot compare to even one ten-thousandth of nature.
13
Award-Winning Work "Energy and Fire"
13
Taken at the Colima Volcano in Comala, Mexico,
just as the Colima Volcano erupted, showing the world its power.
Small volcanic eruptions can reduce global warming.
(Photographer: Hernando Alonso Rivera Cervantes)
It is useless for humans to lose their temper,
but if nature keeps raging, humanity will not escape disaster.
Besides protecting nature, humanity must also have awe.
14
Award-Winning Work "My City, My Home"
14
Taken at Lion Rock in Hong Kong, China,
Lion Rock is a symbol of Hong Kong, China,
representing the never-say-die spirit of the people of Hong Kong, China.
(Photographer: Kwok Kui Andus Tse)
Even if the city lights never go out,
you should still calm your mind once in a while.
15
Award-Winning Work "Reclaim"
15
Taken in this uninhabited small town in the United Arab Emirates,
the desert has invaded human houses; if humans want to complain,
then why invade nature in the first place.
(Photographer: Jesse Yang)
If you seize what does not belong to you,
When the price must be paid, may you not regret it.
16
Award-winning work "Welcome to My Humble Abode"
16
Photographed in southern Scotland,
Even a humble little mushroom has delicate, beautiful patterns,
An unseen inner world, where the world of insects lies.
(Photographer: Duncan McNaught)
To see a world in a grain of sand,And a heaven in a wild flower,
Hold infinity in the palm of your hand, And eternity in an hour.
17
Award-winning work "Mother Earth"
17
Photographed in Juan de Acosta, Atlantico Department.
A model holds a dried leaf; is she expressing Mother Earth's generosity,
or that all things ultimately return to silent withering? Only the photographer knows.
(Photographer: Ruben Dario Mejia)
Unlike what you and I see, between blooming and withering,
there lies only a fleeting moment of splendor.
18
Award-winning work "Volcanic Eruption"
18
Photographed on Kalapana Island,
The lava of Kilauea volcano flows gently into the sea,
triggering small explosions on the basalt.
Acidic steam rushes into the southern sky, scorching lava evaporates the cold seawater,
Molten rock scatters in all directions, forming a cloud of mixed acidic seawater vapor,
hydrochloric acid and volcanic glass fragments known as "lava haze."
(Photographer: Elyse Butler)
Sometimes one kind of destruction may give rise to new beauty.
Photography is about capturing beauty to move people's hearts
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