Intimate portraits of Namibia's Himba tribe and the rock churches of Lalibela in Ethiopia earned Kent-born Philip Lee Harvey the title of 2014's Travel Photographer of the Year from a field of entries that capture Earth both at its most majestic and brutal.
While Harvey's subjects are hardly original, the award's judges admitted, they said the way the British photographer captured them in his two sets of four images was elegant, beautiful and striking.
'The two sets of images are shot in very different styles,' said a statement on behalf of the judges. 'The Lalibela portfolio uses the portrait format to show the depth of the rock-hewn churches and this is complimented by the photographer's angle of view in this difficult lighting. The portraits of the Himba woman are beautiful in their detail and limited colour palette, capturing the tribal shapes and patterns in strong compositions.'
Two portraits from Namibia's Himba tribe that helped earn Philip Lee Harvey the overall Travel Photographer of the Year awards
This elegant image of two elderly women at a rock church in Lalibela, Ethiopia, was among Harvey's other set that caught the judges' eyes
Harvey's prize was the pinnacle of a host of honours, including the Young Travel Photographer of the Year which was awarded to 17-year-old Samuel Fisch from New York City's Bronx.
Fisch's series of boldly coloured images of seemingly mundane objects where panoramic landscapes would be the more conventional choice on the Venetian island of Burano in Italy - he is the first person to win the title twice after he picked it up in 2012.
'He has elegantly captured the essence of the place whilst staying away from the obvious canals and boats to create a clean, cohesive portfolio,' the judges said.
Australian Joshua Holko's winning image in the Wild and Vibrant category captures the incredible moment a polar bear looks up from consuming a recent seal kill, its bloodied face and the deep red-coloured seal carcass standing out vividly against the white fur and snow.
Joshua Holko, from Melbourne, Australia, shot this magic moment of a polar bear just after it devoured a seal. The judges said: 'The elegance of the setting contrasts with the gruesome natural way of life in this harsh environment of Svalbard (between Norway and the North Pole)'
The dramatic ice and water scene from Poland's Jakub Rybicki won Best Single Image in a Portfolio in the Earth, Air, Fire, Water category
Simplicity was key in the work of Marsel van Oosten, of the Netherlands, these eerie dead camelthorn trees in the Namib Desert
From pilgrims making perilous progress 14,000ft up in the Himalayas to cave divers exploring the cenotes of Mexico, from the bleak beauty of skeletal trees to colourful bands of rock in Northumberland, and from bicycle adventures in Norway to the lives of honey-hunters in Bangladesh, thousands of entries from professional and amateur photographers from over 100 countries were judged by an international panel that included the UK's own award-winning photographers Eamonn McCabe and Chris Weston.
Malaysian oral implantologist Nick Ng Yeow Kee won the Tribes category with his intimate black and white portraits of elderly people in China, while Dutch photographer Marsel van Oosten took top honours in the Earth, Air, Fire, Water category, with his eerie images of dead camelthorn trees in the fog in Namibia.
Underwater photographer Terry Steeley, who is based in Oxfordshire, UK, was runner-up in the Creative Travel Portfolio category
The 'wonderfully mature' work of Georgia Mulholland in Mykonos, Greece, won her Young Travel Photographer (15 to 18 years) Destinations
Malaysian oral implantologist Nick Ng Yeow Kee made time stand still to win the People & Cultures Portfolio - Tribes category with a set of images, including this one, from the Han Community old people's home in Liuyi Village, Yunnan, China
Indonesia's Michael Theodric was just 12 when he took this shot for the set that won him Young Travel Photographer (under 14 years)
Samuel Fisch, from the Bronx in New York City, won the overall Young Photographer prize for his series on seemingly mundane objects in the colourful surrounds of the Venetian island of Burano in Italy. 'He has elegantly captured the essence of the place whilst staying away from the obvious canals and boats to create a clean, cohesive portfolio,' said the judges
Previously trained as an architect, Italy's Massimiliano Fabrizi captured Cuba's 'faded beauty' to win the New Talent Portfolio - Travelogue
This is the Best Single Image in a Portfolio - Tribes winner by Kent-born Timothy Allen. It shows a group of pilgrims high in the Sinakara Valley, in Peru, as they sit around candlelight at the foot of a sacred glacier during the Quyllur Rit'i Festival
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