Travel & Humanitarian Photos
The photo above was taken three years ago on the descent from Annapurna Base Camp in Nepal. I’ve posted it here to introduce the 2007 National Geographic Best Mountain Photos competition, the winners of which were announced this month.
The seven photos you can see on the National Geographic site were all taken in the Americas, six in North America and one in Bolivia. I’m not sure if entries were restricted to that continent but it seems strange to me that there were no winners from the Alps or the Himalayas or any of the other mountain ranges across the globe. Perhaps it’s just another example of an American institution being America-centric. Nonetheless, the photos are interesting. I’m not sure about the photo of the plane dropping fire retardant, it seems more than a little artificial to me, but the picture of the grizzly bear holding the head of a caribou in its mouth is fascinating.
The photo above might not win any prizes and yet it’s a favourite of mine as it was taken by a Dutch friend as we walked down from Annapurna Base Camp. I had been up before dawn that day to watch the sun come up over the Annapurna range. It was bloody freezing but one of the most memorable things I’ve done.