Nature's sheer force and beauty has always captured the attention of its mesmerized viewers. The 2020 Budapest International Foto Awards saw some of the strongest entries in nature, reflecting not only nature as it is, but as viewed by the talented photographers. Here is our selection of some of the finest photographs taken.
The series started in the summer of 2019. It all began with a single rose. The rose that the photographer's daughter received for her 18th birthday. This rose prompted her to think about youth, beauty, transience… In addition to rose petals, she began experimenting with other flowers, leaves, twigs, grasses, seeds - everything she would find in her garden.
Today, the worldwide network of roads connects almost every place and every city. The photographer personally has been fascinated for years by the inconspicuous, often unpaved or only rarely used roads and tracks in some of the most remote places in the world. Roads through lava fields, dried up salt lakes or even wetlands.
This photo was taken in the Similan Islands of Thailand. At this time the visibility of the water was not so good, and this whale shark suddenly appeared in front of the photographer. He describes it looking like a UFO.
This truly stunning crater row is located in Iceland. The intense red on the rims is caused by the scoria being colored by the oxidation of the iron minerals in the lava. This is turn contrasts sharply with the surrounding basalt. An other-wordly scene, with a tiny white vehicle driving on the lower road.
Heartbreaking scene of a polar bear family, they are standing on the last pieces of ice in eastern Svalbard. Without ice, the mother is unable to hunt and feed her cubs.
A photo series portraying the impact of humankind's destructive industrial practices on the natural environment. The Rio Tinto river flows to the gulf of Cadiz carrying high acidity levels and heavy metals, in effect making this an environment disaster, a toxic reminder of human’s ability to irreversibly destroy the landscape in the name of corporate profits, a legacy of greed for future generations.
A photo taken at just the right moment, in the winter, just one hour before sunset.
Like a scene from another planet, this dead marshland is located in the middle of the desert near Sousslevei. It is characterized by orange sand dunes that surrounds a white dried floor and darkened thorn trees thought to be as old as 900 years. This scene was captured at sunset, when the shadows started growing into the sunny areas.
An underwater photograph series taken in the waters of Egypt and Indonesia.
The photo was taken over a post-industrial area in central Poland. As a result of human activity and natural biological processes, amazing forms are created that we can only see from an aerial perspective. A peculiar different world emerges - the cosmos.
Taken at a diving point in the Philippines, Second Place winner in the Nature category at the Budapest International Foto Awards captured a whale shark floating peacefully under the boats above it. Its size can reach up to 10 meters and it is one of the most tranquil fish on Earth.
Taken while on holiday in Brittany visiting the family, the photographer decided to get to the beach to practice film. He was so busy composing images of seagulls on shore that he didn’t pay too much attention to the sky. All of a sudden he realised a giant wave-shaped cloud was approaching.
A dream-like beauty, this Arctic fox appeared in Svalbard on a perfectly snowy day, - 40 degrees Celsius.
Almost like magic: the turquoise lake in the crater of the Kawah Ijen volcano looks serene and inviting. It also happens to be the world's largest acidic lake. The main highlight on this occasion was watching the Milkyway rise on the crater summit.
