Environmental photography is fast becoming one of the most powerful ways to call attention to issues about our planet, be it melting ice caps, city-leveling earthquakes or the innate beauty of our natural surroundings. Now the Royal Geographical Society is bringing together some of the most impressive photography of the year to award the best Environmental Photographer of 2015.
The exhibition brings together a shortlist of 111 inspiring images, whittled down from over 10,000 submitted by photographers and filmmakers spanning 60 countries. The competition, organized by the Chartered Institution of Water and Environmental Management (Ciwem), and sponsored by Atkins, will select the winning photographers 25th June.
Displaying the vast range of subjects that encompass the art of environmental photography, the overall winner will receive £5,000, with the under 25 and film winners also receiving £1,000. Documenting everything from vast natural landscape to the environmental impacts of overcrowding and urbanisation, check out some of the shortlist below.
You can see further details for the exhibition, which runs from June 22nd to July 10th, on the Royal Geographical website here.
Sandstorm in Kuwait.
Photograph: Rizalde Cayanan/Courtesy of Atkins CIWEM Environmental Photographer of the Year
Life in a tidal flood Chittagong, Bangladesh
Photograph: Jashim Salam/Courtesy of Atkins CIWEM Environmental Photographer of the Year
Checking fishing net in Vietnam.
Photograph: Hoang Long Ly /Courtesy of Atkins CIWEM Environmental Photographer of the Year
Staged image of a former worker returning following the Fukushima disaster.
Photograph: Carlos Ayesta and Guillaume Bression/Courtesy of Atkins CIWEM Environmental Photographer of the Year
Plastic tree, Bolivia
Photograph: Eduardo Leal/Courtesy of Atkins CIWEM Environmental Photographer of the Year
Beauty salon in Lagos, Nigeria.
Photograph: Petrut Calinescu/Courtesy of Atkins CIWEM Environmental Photographer of the Year
The Devil’s Gold, Indonesia
Photograph: Luca Catalano Gonzaga/Courtesy of Atkins CIWEM Environmental Photographer of the Year
Glacier in 1987 , Mount Kenya.
Photograph: Simon Norfolk/Courtesy of Atkins CIWEM Environmental Photographer of the Year
Cladonia forest, USA.
Photograph: Matthew Cicanese/Courtesy of Atkins CIWEM Environmental Photographer of the Year
A barber shop in Turkey 2011.
Photograph: Hayri Kodal/Courtesy of Atkins CIWEM Environmental Photographer of the Year
Collecting crabs in Satkhira, Bangladesh.
Photograph: Kazi Riasat Alve/Courtesy of Atkins CIWEM Environmental Photographer of the Year
The abandoned village of Geamana, Romania.
Photograph: Glyn Thomas/Courtesy of Atkins CIWEM Environmental Photographer of the Year