Lose yourself in our planet's beauty with the winners of Wiki Loves Earth – Wikimedia Foundation
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Lose yourself in our planet’s beauty with the winners of Wiki Loves Earth
17 December 2018
Bluesky
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Photo
by
Ekaterina Vasyagina
CC BY-SA 4.0
A lonely monastery. The sun rising over the desert. A walk through a national park. These are just a few of the spectacular sights captured in the winners of the international
Wiki Loves Earth photography competition
, announced today.
Coming in first place, seen at top, is a shot of the famed
columnar basalt
of
Cape Stolbchaty
, located in Russia’s
Kuril Islands
[1]
Ekaterina Vasyagina’s photo was praised by one competition judge for its “brilliant composition and depth,” with another saying that it simply “makes you want to breathe.”
Wiki Loves Earth focuses on natural heritage in
protected areas
—unique and special places like nature reserves, landscape conservation areas, national parks, and more. It asks photographers to contribute their work to
Wikimedia Commons
, a media repository that holds many of the photos used on Wikipedia and the Wikimedia ecosystem. All of the content on Commons is freely licensed, meaning that it can be used by anyone, for any purpose, with only a few restrictions.
[2]
Organized since 2013, Wiki Loves Earth’s sixth annual contest saw 7659 different users uploading photos, of which 83% were new accounts participating for the first time. These people contributed nearly 90,000 photo uploads, captured in at least 32 countries. Four thousand of these fall under Wiki Loves Earth’s partnership with UNESCO, which encourages photographers to capture life in
biosphere reserves
—internationally designated protected areas that encourage sustainable development.
All of the entries were judged by national juries; winners there were forwarded to the international jury, composed of members from seven different nations.
The contest’s second- through fifteenth-place images follow. You can learn more about Wiki Loves Earth on
its website
, and read
this year’s jury report
Second place:
Bell Island of
Franz Josef Land
and Eira Lodge, left over from
Benjamin Leigh Smith
‘s expedition to what is now the
Russian Arctic National Park
. The picture was taken as part of the scientific expedition
In the Footsteps of Two Captains
. One jury member called attention to the contrast between “permanence vs. impermanence” in the landscape vs. the structure.
Photo
by Ilya Timin,
CC BY-SA 4.0
Third place:
A person walking through
Satchari National Park
, located in far eastern Bangladesh.
Satchari
means “seven streams.” From the jury: “the light is magic.”
Photo
by Abdul Momin,
CC BY-SA 4.0
Fourth place:
Hoggar National Park,
Assekrem
, Tamanrasset, Algeria. One jury member called out the “lovely use of multiple opposing diagonals,” while another commended the photographer’s balance between hot and cold.
Photo
by AMRI MOHAMMED,
CC BY-SA 4.0
Fifth place:
Autumn is booming in
Hunza Altit Valley
, Pakistan, seen on a clear October day. “Simply beautiful,” the jury said.
Photo
by Nasr Rahman,
CC BY-SA 4.0
Sixth place:
Swamp cypress
near
Sukko
, Krasnodar Krai, Russia.
Photo
by Horoshilov Aleksandr,
CC BY-SA 4.0
Seventh place:
Sunset over Baixa Grande, an oasis or “
restinga
” in the middle of
Lençóis Maranhenses National Park
, Brazil—known among ecotourists for its wide range of species.
Photo
by Bruno Nonogaki,
CC BY-SA 4.0
Eight place:
This wood sandpiper is fearlessly wading through the water in
Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Safari Park
, Bangladesh.
Photo
by Abdul Momin,
CC BY-SA 4.0
Ninth place:
Walruses lying on
Northbrook Island
in the
Russian Arctic National Park
. Like the second-place photo, this was taken as part of
In the Footsteps of Two Captains
Photo
by Ilya Timin,
CC BY-SA 4.0
Tenth place:
The shore of
Solt Lake Elton
, Volgograd Oblast, Russia.
Photo
by Vladimir Medvedev,
CC BY-SA 4.0
Eleventh place:
bearded vulture
, the only known animal whose diet consists almost exclusively of bone, in flight over Italy’s
Gran Paradiso National Park
Photo
by Luca Casale,
CC BY-SA 4.0
Twelfth
place:
chestnut-tailed starling
in Satchari National Park.
Photo
by Md shahanshah bappy,
CC BY-SA 4.0
Thirteenth place:
Greater flamingos
at the
Lake of Tunis
, which in ancient times was Tunis’ main harbor but today is an extremely shallow lagoon.
Photo
by El Golli Mohamed,
CC BY-SA 4.0
Fourteenth place:
Tassili n’Ajjer National Park
, Algeria—a UNESCO
World Heritage Site
with what Wikipedia calls “one of the most important groupings of prehistoric cave art in the world.”
Photo
by Nabil CHETTOUH,
CC BY-SA 4.0
Fifteenth place:
The Meteora rock formation, located in central Greece, is host to six Eastern Orthodox monasteries and a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Photo
by Stathis floros,
CC BY-SA 4.0
———
Ed Erhart, Senior Editorial Associate, Communications
Wikimedia Foundation
Footnote
1. The islands’ status is disputed by Japan.
2. Please make sure to follow each image’s
copyright tag
. All of the images above, for instance, are available under a Creative Commons
CC BY-SA license
, meaning that you are free to share them for any reason so long as you give credit to the photographer and release any derivative images under the same copyright license.
Bluesky
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Read more:
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Photo contest
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UNESCO
Wiki Loves Earth
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Photo credits
Bothrops bilineatus PN Carrasco
File provided by Wikimedia Commons
Edunavia1
CC BY-SA 4.0
Open the Knowledge Journalism Awards - Exteded
ICFJ
Wikipedia 25 - Birthday blog header
Wikimedia Foundation
CC BY-SA 4.0
Мыс Столбчатый. После заката
File provided by Wikimedia Commons
Ekaterina Vasyagina/PhotoJourneys.ru
CC BY-SA 4.0
Остров Белл и Убежище Эйры
File provided by Wikimedia Commons
Ilya Timin
CC BY-SA 4.0
Satchari National Park, Habiganj, Sylhet
File provided by Wikimedia Commons
Abdul Momin
CC BY-SA 4.0
اسكرام 2 - تمنراست
File provided by Wikimedia Commons
Mohammed Amri
CC BY-SA 4.0
Hunza - Altit Valley - Nasr Rahman
File provided by Wikimedia Commons
Nasr Rahman
CC BY-SA 4.0
Болотные Кипарисы
File provided by Wikimedia Commons
HoroshilovAleksandr
CC BY-SA 4.0
Por do Sol em Baixa Grande
File provided by Wikimedia Commons
Bruno Osamu Nonogaki/brunononogaki.com
CC BY-SA 4.0
Лежка моржей на острове Нортбрук
File provided by Wikimedia Commons
Ilya Timin
CC BY-SA 4.0
Берег Эльтон с высоты птичьего полёта
File provided by Wikimedia Commons
Medvedevphoto (Владимир Медведев)
CC BY-SA 4.0
Gipeto adulto
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Luca Casale
CC BY-SA 4.0
Chestnut-tailed starling, Satchari National Park
File provided by Wikimedia Commons
Md shahanshah bappy
CC BY-SA 4.0
Sunrise Djanet
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Chettouh Nabil
CC BY-SA 4.0
Meteora`s monastery 2
File provided by Wikimedia Commons
Stathis Floros
CC BY-SA 4.0
Wiki-Loves-Earth-2024-gif
Photos 1 and 2 by MicheleIlluzzi and Rotadefterim (respectively)
CC BY-SA 4.0
Жук стрибун
File provided by Wikimedia Commons
Сергій Мірошник
CC BY-SA 4.0
Ilhéu de Cima e a moldura
File provided by Wikimedia Commons
Neide José Paixão
CC BY-SA 4.0
Art+Feminism Wikipedia edit-a-thon
File provided by Wikimedia Commons
Jens Mohr
CC BY-SA 3.0