International Landscape Photographer of the Year crowned
The winners of the 8th International Landscape Photographer of the Year competition have been announced, with the winner, Turkey's Aytek Çetin, taking out top honours from more than 4,500 entries in the global competition.
Aytek shares in a prize pool valued at US$18,000, including $10,000 cash.
According to Aytek, Cappadocia in Turkey, where his portfolio was captured, is a truly magnificent place.
“The 60-million-year-old story of fairy chimneys and the fact they have been home to different civilizations for tens of thousands of years, makes Cappadocia extremely mysterious for me.
If you are lucky, you can visit there during hazy, atmospheric conditions with a soft light pushing through at sunrise or sunset.”
“The reason I chose this location is because I love the excitement inside me when the sun first hits the fairy chimneys and how it makes me feel like I'm living in the bronze age.”
Second place in the competition was awarded to photographer Max Rive of the Netherlands.
The 2021 International Landscape Photograph of the Year award (for the best single image) was taken on Mt. Tamalpais, located in Marin country, just north of San Francisco by photographer Tanmay Sapkal.
“It is quite a special place for photographers as it stands above the local landscape which is engulfed in low coastal fog almost every summer evening," explained Tanmay.
"After shooting there tens of times over the last four years, I realised that I really liked the way fog looks when it is lit from underneath. I also realised that the comet would become visible in the north west sky, so I started planning this shot.
“It wasn’t possible to line up the comet exactly above the foreground I wanted, so I decided to take two separate exposures. It took a couple of visits to get just the right amount of fog on the hills to create the dreamy setting and then I waited patiently for some cars to drive by and create a blanket of light under the fog.
“After shooting for more than a few hours that night, my friend and I hurried back down to the car. Little did we know that parking on the mountain after sunset meant getting a parking ticket! But now, in my opinion, it's the best $80 I have ever spent on parking! Ha ha!”
As in previous years, a number of special awards were given, with Adelaide's Chris Kirby taking out the 'Hand of Man' category.
The competition was judged by David Burnett, Tim Parkin, Kelvin Yuen, Kaye Davis, Jim M Goldstein, and Peter Eastway.
You can see all the finalists on the ILPOTY website here.