This mind-blowing photograph of an erupting volcano hit by a lightning bolt has just won Mexico's Sergio Tapiro Velasco the distinguished title of 2017 National Geographic Travel Photographer of the Year. Take a moment to just absorb how inconceivable that shot is.
His prize-winning photo, titled The power of nature, was taken outside Colima, Mexico. Velasco has been studying and photographing the Volcán de Colima for over a decade, and for good reason — known as the 'Volcano of Fire', it is one of the most active volcanos in Latin America.
As the award recipient, Velasco received a envy-inducing ten-day trip for two to the Galápagos Archipelago with National Geographic Expeditions, along with a cool $2500 USD prize.
Selected from over 15,000 entries from participants in more than 30 countries, this year's contest recognised photos in three categories — 'Nature', 'People' and 'Cities'. Velasco's photograph was so impressive that it didn't only win the grand prize, but was also awarded top prize in the 'Nature' category.
In order to capture the photo, Velasco closely tracked the increase in activity around the volcano for nearly a month. On the night this photograph was shot, Velasco was stationed only 12 kilometres away from the crater.
"When I looked on the camera display, all I could do was stare," says Velasco. "What I was watching was impossible to conceive, the image showed those amazing forces of nature interacting on a volcano, while the lightning brightened the whole scene. It's an impossible photograph and my once in a lifetime shot that shows the power of nature."
Apart from the grand-prize winner, other top photos were selected in each of the three categories, with first, second and third place winners also awarded sizeable sums of $2500, $750 and $500 USD, respectively. The entries must have been taken in the past two years to be considered. In the 'Cities' category, Hungarian Norbert Fritz was awarded the top prize for his photo titled Levels of reading, and Turkey's F. Dilek Uyar took home the top prize in the 'People' category with his photograph, Worship.
Judges for this year's competition included Nat Geo's senior photography editor Molly Roberts, award-winning underwater photographer Benjamin Lowy and award-winning adventure sport and documentary photographer Jody MacDonald,
The rest of the winning and honourable mention photographs are included in our photo gallery above, or can viewed on the Nat Geo website. There's some real good'uns in there.