The Year’s Best Environmental Photography

The Chartered Institution of Water and Environmental Management in the UK has announced its Environmental Photographer of the Year Awards after being inundated with entries from around the world. 'Flight of the Rays' (above) by Florian Schulz took out the top gong. The breathtaking photo of thousands of devil rays was captured when the German photographer took to the skies in an aerial expedition in Baja California Sur, Mexico. The phenomenon is yet to be explained and has never been documented before.

Here are some of our favourite shots from the selection of finalists.

The Young Environmental Photographer of the Year title went to Radoslav Radoslavov Valkov, who took this shot of a fly drinking from a dew drop on a blade of grass in his back garden in Bulgaria.

Bence Mate's picture of a hummingbird attacking a green pit viper won the Natural World prize.

Bela Nasfay's 'Birthplace' captures the European Common Brown Frogs laying their eggs in a small spring-fed lake on a Hungarian mountain.

G.M.B. Akash's picture 'Life for Rent (Child Sex Workers in Bangladesh)' shows a fifteen-year-old girl working in a brothel in Faridpur after she was sold to the brothel's owner by her stepmother.

Julienne Bowser's picture of a wave at Snapper Rocks on the Gold Coast of Australia was a finalist in the Natural World group.

The winning photos will be showcased in a free international exhibition, which launches at The Air Gallery, Dover Street, London from 25^th to 30^th October.

[via Trendhunter]