Over the past nine years, Smithsonian magazine judges have seen over a quarter million photos from more than 90 countries in their annual Photo Contest. Technical quality, clarity, and composition are all important to winning, but it’s the flair for the unexpected—and that perfect moment—that will take the prize in the contest’s 2012 10th edition.
As voting for its Readers’ Choice voting wraps up at 2pm EST on March 29, we present the 10 finalists in the Travel category that had us dropping our jaws and grabbing for our passport. These images are nothing short of art.
Which is your favorite? Click here to vote.
Photographer Hai Thinh Hoang (Hanoi, Vietnam)climbed up a mountain for two hours, reaching an altitude of 617 meters, to achieve this shot of an early fog floating over yellow rice paddies.
A young boy participates in the “tiger dance,” a 200-year-old colorful folk art performance. Painting tigers onto performers’ bodies takes six to seven hours, according to the photographer, Indranil Sengupta (Hooghly, West Bengal).
Photographed in Thrissur, Kerala, India, August 2010.
A hiker looks onto the path before him in Bryce Canyon National Park in the middle of the night as the Milky Way stretches upward above. The photographer, Jason J. Hatfield (Lakewood, CO), had been shooting the day’s solar eclipse.
Photographed in Bryce Canyon National Park, UT, May 2012.
Musicians arrive at the bullring before all other guests to secure their seats. “It was a magical, beautiful frame and did not last long,” says the photographer, Raul Amaru Linares (Bogota, Colombia). “Everything happens so fast. When faced with a beautiful scene, you are afraid of losing the moment.”
Photographed in Quito, Ecuador, October 2011.
A lone acacia tree stands in the burnt sienna sands of the Namibian desert against the rising sun. “The acacia tree provided a sense of scale and a sense of the beautiful desolation of the place,” says the photographer, Bob Bush (Altadena, CA).
Photographed in Namibia, May 2010.
“The image of diligent women working the salt fields reflects the hardship of this job,” says the photographer, Hoang Giang Hai (Hanoi, Vietnam).
Photographed in the Ninh Hoa District, Khanh Hoa Province, Vietnam, August 2012.
Photographer Han Tha (Yangon, Myanmar) captured this misty landscape while visiting Bagan with her daughter. "I have been to Bagan several times," Tha said, "But I hadn't previously had a chance to take a photo like this."
Photographed in Bagan, Myanmar, January 2011.
Monks release glowing lanterns into the night sky during the Loy Krathong Buddhist Festival in Thailand. According to photographer Daniel Nahabedian (Chiang Mai, Thailand), the photo captures “the essence of peace and serenity” of the event as the monks release their negative thoughts through the flying lanterns and focus on the future.
Photographed in Chiang Mai, Thailand, November 2012.
A river ferry moves along Xiaodong River at dawn. “The red lanterns against the blue misty morning provided the contrast and strengthened the image as a whole,"says the photographer, James Khoo (Shah Alam, Malaysia).
Photographed in Xiao Donjiang, China, August 2010.
The photographer, Vo Anh Kiet (Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam), says hundreds like him rush to the area each year to capture the life cycle of the grain.
Photographed in La Pan Tan, Mu Cang Chay, Yen Bai, Viet Nam, September 2012.
Artful images from Smithsonian magazine’s 10th Annual Photo Contest make us want to pack our passport