8 ‘Outdoor Adventure’ Picture Winners From 2025’s Nature’s Best Photography Competitors

From cowboying within the snow to portray underwater, see the eight award successful “outdoor adventures” from this 12 months’s Nature’s Best Photography contest.

By © David Swindler of Kanab, Utah, USA

Each 12 months, the Nature’s Best Photography Awards showcases a few of the most stunning and infrequently seen facets of wildlife. But within the Outdoor Adventure class, we don’t simply get to admire landscapes; we additionally get an understanding of the braveness it takes to really enter them.

From frozen summits to tropical seas, right here’s eight award-winning photographs that can make you itch to pack a bag, tighten your boots and step into the wild.

1. Skiing The North (Rogers Pass, British Columbia) — Category Winner

In this picture, we see a lone skier arcs throughout an unlimited, untouched slope beneath the winter solar, excessive in Canada’s Selkirk Mountains. As seen in Skiing the North, Rogers Pass lies inside Glacier National Park: an alpine hall of almost 521 sq. miles (1,350 km²) that’s famed for its deep powder, avalanche chutes and breathtaking isolation.

Glacier National Park, as a complete, is the proper pilgrimage web site for backcountry skiers and mountaineers alike. It calls for each technical talent and humility earlier than nature’s energy.

2. Reflected Serenity (Honeymoon Island State Park, Florida)

In this picture, we see the seaside within the aftermath of a summer season rainstorm: cleared, with a sundown vibrant sufficient to remodel the sand right into a golden mirror. “I captured my husband’s reflection in a shallow pool of light — a brief moment of calm that became Reflected Serenity,” explained the photographer behind the shot, Tiffany Glöckner.

Honeymoon Island State Park is a protected space that spans throughout 385 acres (156 hectares) of the Gulf of Mexico. At sundown, it mirrors the sky in rose and gold. As we will see from this picture, an outside journey could be so simple as standing nonetheless, however provided that you do it lengthy sufficient to note the world respiration again at you.

3. Night With The Ancients (Baobab Alley, Madagascar)

Under a sprawl of southern stars, right here we see the towering silhouettes of Madagascar’s legendary baobab timber (Adansonia grandidieri). These timber are so outdated that a lot of them predate recorded historical past. Their large trunks — a few of that are over 100 toes tall and 30 toes huge — glow fantastically towards the evening sky. Madagascar, particularly, is residence to over six of all eight species of the baobab.

4. Cowboy Riding In The Snow (Shell, Wyoming)

Shot at dawn within the huge basins of Wyoming, Cowboy Riding within the Snow is photographer David Swindler’s (who additionally shot the class winner) tribute to the rugged spirit of the West. Silhouetted towards a horizon washed in gold, we see a horse and its rider crest a hill by way of windblown drifts.

The Bighorn Basin stretches throughout greater than 10,000 sq. miles. It’s a panorama of untamed openness, the place journey requires equal components grit and beauty. The scene we see right here feels timeless. For vacationers and photographers alike, scenes like these are what show the Bighorn Basin to be bucket-list nation.

5. Whitewater Boating (Mt. Robson Provincial Park, Canada)

In Whitewater Boating, we see Canada’s Fraser River at its absolute wildest. This is the longest river in British Columbia, at over 850 miles, the place turquoise water turns white and aerated because it churns towards historic rocks. Here, within the shadow of Mount Robson — which towers at 12,972 toes, the best peak within the Canadian Rockies — we see a staff of courageous rafters captured from above in excellent sync.

6. Spy Hopping Humpback Whale (Monterey Bay, California)

In Spy Hopping Humpback Whale, photographer Torie Hilley has captured a panoramic second of connection between species. A humpback whale (Megaptera novaeangliae) rises vertically from the ocean’s floor, attempting to catch a peek of the individuals aboard a ship. This quirk, generally known as “spy hopping,” is a standard cetacean surfacing conduct.

Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary is an unlimited 6,094-square-mile haven that teems with marine life. The whale’s proximity to the whale-watching boat reveals simply how fragile the boundary is between us and the wild.

7. Underwater Artist (Ari Atoll, Maldives)

Deep beneath the Indian Ocean, we see a second of artistic willpower. In Underwater Artist, a scuba diver kneels on the seabed of Ari Atoll, with a brush at hand, portray away on a canvas propped towards the coral-strewn ground.

Ari Atoll, divided into North Ari (Alifu Alifu) and South Ari (Alifu Dhaalu) is nothing in need of a pure marvel throughout the Maldives archipelago. Its heat, nutrient-rich waters assist an astonishing array of marine life, from the whale sharks (Rhincodon typus) and reef manta rays (Mobula alfredi) to elusive scalloped hammerhead sharks (Sphyrna lewini). Painting underwater is not any small feat, both. The diver should take care of buoyancy, water resistance and extremely restricted visibility.

8. Snorkeling With Penguins (Booth Island, Antarctica)

Beneath the frigid Antarctic waters, a gaggle of gentoo penguins (Pygoscelis papua) shoot like dwell arrows by way of blue mild of the ocean. Each chook slices by way of the present, leaving trails of silver bubbles of their wake. Above them, daylight filters down in shimmering bands.

For von Ritter Zahony, this picture is the belief of a lifelong fascination with the world beneath the floor. “Even as a child,” he recalls, “I discovered my passion for the world ‘under the surface.’” That curiosity developed right into a lifelong pursuit of underwater pictures, “Man only protects what he sees and knows,” he says. Through his lens, we’re reminded of our shared responsibility to guard the pure world.

Thinking of including adventures like these to your bucket checklist? Take this science-backed check to seek out out in the event you’re one with nature: Connectedness To Nature Scale