The 2014 Smithsonian Photo Contest Finalists

Smithsonian has just announced the 60 finalists for their 11th Annual Photo Contest. The winning entries were selected by Smithsonian editors from over 50,000 submissions by photographers from 132 countries around the world.

Ten finalists were selected from the following six categories: The Natural World, Travel, People, Americana, Altered Images and Mobile, a new category this year.

A coastal brown bear hunts for salmon on Silver Salmon Creek in Lake Clark National Park and Preserve. According to D’Auria, “she epitomizes the raw beauty and awesome power of the Alaskan wilderness.” (Lake Clark National Park, Alaska, August 2012, Canon 1D Mark IV)

McGeorge spent a quiet 6 hours trying to get the perfect image of this eastern screech owl out of its nest. (Okefenokee Swamp, Georgia, April 2013, Canon 1D Mark III)

Terraced fields during harvest season. (Mu Cang Chay, Vietnam, September 2012, Canon 5D Mark II)

A red-eyed tree frog underwater. (El Arenal, Costa Rica, March 2013, Canon 5D Mark III)

Frank says what strikes him most about this image of the abandoned Woodward Avenue Presbyterian Church is, “the sense of stillness. A stillness marked by anticipation, not unlike the stillness felt in a theater between acts.” (Detroit, Michigan, October 2013, Canon 7D)

An eagle hunter on a steppe in Mongolia rests with his Golden Eagle. (Mongolia, February 2013, Nikon D700)

Penguins on Ice. “Although my photo hardly does justice to describing the tenuous balance in Antarctica’s ecosystem, it has served to crystallize in my memory one of the last stretches of untamed and inarticulate lands on earth,” says Wang. (Antarctica, December 29, 2010, Canon PowerShot SX1 IS)

Neist Point Lighthouse at dusk. (Isle of Skye, United Kingdom, October 2011, Nikon D600)

Dust swirls around citizens of Black Rock City as they peek into the “Black Rock Bijou Theatre,” an art installation at the 2013 Burning Man festival. (Black Rock City, Nevada, August 2013, Nikon D7100)

During their annual migration, wildebeests are forced to find new river crossings in the Serengeti-Mara region. “The animals were being taken by the unfamiliar currents of deep water and had to struggle to get close to the far bank. There were few rocks on which to land and the initial orderly progression soon became a desperate struggle of clambering,” says Lunney. (Mara River, Masai Mara National Reserve, Kenya, September 2013, Leica M240typ)

Snails in Argentina. (Pinamar, Buenos Aires, Argentina, January 2012, Canon EOS 5D)

“Navajo Bridge” is an image overlooking the Colorado River’s Marble Canyon. (Page, Arizona, August 2012, Canon 5D Mark II)

“Absolute Head Scratcher” is an image of a blue macaw. (Quebec City, Canada, July 2012, Canon EOS 60D)

Coming Over, shows a cold morning sunrise on Pohorje Hills. (Šmartno, Slovenia, December 2012)

While taking this image in rural Vietnam, the wind was so strong it knocked over Bảo Sơn. After quickly standing up, Bảo Sơn made this image.
(Phan Rang-Thap Cham, Ninh Thuận, Vietnam, November 2011, Canon 4000D)

The fog slowly lifts while tour guides in traditional antebellum dress get ready for their tours at Oak Alley Plantation. (Oak Alley Plantation, Vacherie, Louisiana, October 27, 2013, iPhone 5)

Sunrise at Mormon Row, Grand Teton National Park. “The barn in the photo is the John Moulton Barn, built by Mormon settlers who arrived in the area in the 1890s. Behind the barn is the Teton mountain range,” says Faist. (Grand Teton National Park, Wyoming, June 27, 2013, Nikon D5100)

Meeting face to face with a snow monkey, Gamble says he was able to get within a foot of this Japanese macaque at the Jigokudani Monkey Park. (Nagano, Japan, December 2012, iPhone 5)