Charging Inner Mongolia horseman sweeps top prize in National Geographic Travel Photographer of the Year 2016

Hong Kong photographer Anthony Lau also placed first in the People category

'Winter Horseman' by Travel Photographer of the Year winner Anthony Lau (Anthony Lau/National Geographic Travel Photographer of the Year)

A magnificent photo of a charging Inner Mongolia horseman has won a Chinese amateur photographer the prestigious title of National Geographic Travel Photographer of the Year 2016.

Anthony Lau from Hong Kong was announced as the winner after his awesome “Winter Horseman” was chosen from thousands of submissions. Lau shot the magical photo after stumbling upon a team of horsemen while enjoying an early morning drive through freezing snowy conditions.

“The snow was getting heavier, the wind was getting stronger, the morning snow was getting thinner and the light was moving away from its optimal position,” he said. “I knew I only had a couple of shots to get the best out of this encounter. With a bit of luck, one of my final attempts managed to capture the moment when one of the riders charged out from the morning mist along with his horses.”

Lau’s image also won the People category with second place awarded to Yasmin Mund for her colourful “Rooftop Dreams”, featuring Indian families sleeping on their roofs at 5.30am. Third place went to Mattia Passarini for the icy “Remote Life at -21 Degrees”, showing an old women in a remote Indian village carrying a huge log home for a fire.

Japan’s Hiroki Inoue triumphed in the Nature category with “Wherever You Go, I Will Follow You”, which sees two red foxes happily chasing each other, with second place going to Massimiliano Bencivenni for the wonderfully-detailed “Double Trapping”, showing a yacare caiman catching its prey, which is in turn catching a smaller fish. Third place went to Brazil’s Victor Lima for his otherworldly night-time photo of the Atacama Desert, “Lagunas Baltinache”.


 
 (Hiroki Inoue/National Geographic Travel Photographer of the Year Contest)

Tokyo’s Takashi Nakagawa won the Cities group for his peaceful Marrakesh architecture shot “Ben Youssef”, with Wing Ka H coming second for his intimidating photo of the South China Normal University dormitories, “Silenced”. Jeremy Tan was awarded third place in this category for “Celestial Reverie”, showing lightning striking the Komtar Tower in George Town, Penang.


 
 (Takashi Nakagawa/National Geographic Travel Photographer of the Year Contest)

Lau’s grand prize is a seven-day Polar Bear Photo Safari for two at Churchill Wild-Seal River Heritage Lodge, a National Geographic Unique Lodge of the World, while all category winners received a Sony a6300 camera.

Further photo submissions are available to see on the competition website here.