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The most beautiful landscape photos

The most beautiful landscape photos

The most beautiful landscape photos

reflection clouds
Australian Ben Goode took third place for the best single images with his photo “Reflector” 

Impressive picture worlds: The “International Landscape Photographer of the Year” awards show the (photographic) fascination of our earth. Since 2014, the expert jury has chosen the most spectacular landscape snapshots from all over the world.

For the eighth time, the jury of the photo competition “International Landscape Photographer of the Year” (ILPOTY-Award) chose the most beautiful landscape photos. The jury chose the top 101 from more than 4504 entries from all over the world. This will now also be published in a book . We show the winning photo in the category “Best Single Photo” and which three photographers were awarded.

The best photographers 2021

Aytek Cetin from Turkey won this year’s “International Landscape Photographer of the Year Award”. His photos show the facets of Cappadocia – bathed in mystical light or in wafts of fog. Aytek Cetin says about his photographs and homeland: “The 60 million year old history of the fairy chimneys (earth pyramids in Cappadocia, editor’s note ) and the fact that they have been home to different civilizations for tens of thousands of years is what makes Cappadocia so mysterious to me .”

However, to win the category “International Landscape Photographer of the Year”, an extraordinary photo is not enough. A portfolio is wanted. Based on four photographs, the jury finally voted Cetin at the top. The reason: his photos are carried by a wonderful tension and mood.

Fairy Chimneys Cappadocia
“Breaking the Time”: One of the four photos by Aytek Cetin with which he won the competition for best photographer 2021 

Max Rive from the Netherlands secures second place in the Best Photographer competition. Andrea Zappia from Italy came in third.

high alps
“The Dark Lord”: The photo by runner-up Max Rive shows the Vallée de la Clarée valley in the high Alps in the French-Italian border region and almost seems picturesque 
Above the clouds

“Above the Clouds” is one of four photos by third-place winner Andrea Zappia 

The best single picture of 2021

The winner of the best international and therefore most beautiful landscape photo 2021 is Tanmay Sapkal from the USA. He understands not only photography, but also the editing of the photos as an artistic process: “I am firmly convinced that art should only be bound to the imagination of its creator. In landscape photography, there is an ongoing debate about composition versus natural shots. I think there is room for all kinds of art.”

The jury of the competition also follows this attitude. Jury chairman Peter Eastway emphasizes: “Our philosophy is that all approaches to landscape photography are valid. […] Some of the landscapes come straight out of the camera, others are the stuff of the photographer’s imagination.” Accordingly, the ILPOTY jury also selects the most beautiful landscape photos that “only” came from the mind of the photographer.

comet above the clouds
Comet NeoWise Setting: The winning photo was taken on Mount Tamalpais near San Francisco and shows a comet in the northwest sky above dense coastal fog