Every year we are patiently waiting for a great photo contest organized by National Geographic. The one that is running now is related to traveling so if you have an interesting image, go ahead and enter the competition. If you just want to take look at some of the submissions, below you can see 30 superb photos.

Church and Rainbow

Photgraphed in 2011 while storm chasing north of Moose Jaw Saskatchewan

Photo and caption by Mark Duffy

Heart of Kauai

Kauai’s Mount Waialeale; generally considered the rainiest spot on the planet, drops much of its water down 3,000-foot walls so sheer, that there are only two days per year where the sun passes overhead; leaving no shadows on all of its walls. Lucky indeed to be overhead in an open cockpit airplane when this occurs. Luckier still to be there after one of the rainiest days of the year and after the clouds part for your photographic dream of a lifetime.

Photo and caption by Leona Boyd

Sicily

Early morning in Taormina, after rain.

Photo and caption by Marek Kubinek

Flower Vendor on Dal Lake

I was riding a sikara, a small rowboat, behind this boat with flowers. The flower vendor was going to the houseboats on Dal Lake to sell his flowers. I saw this beautiful scenery unfold in front of me.

Photo and caption by Anirudha (ROBI) Chakraborty

Twilight Tempest

I spent two months in Tanzania on a humanitarian engineering mission; we worked in Mwamgongo, a small village north of Gombe Stream National Park, for two weeks. Mwamgongo is accessible only by boat, and the entire economy is dependent on fishing sardines. During the rainy season, storms struck suddenly and violently. Here, one rolls in across Lake Tanganyika as the sun sets and men ready their boats for a night of fishing.

Photo and caption by Theodore Sumers

Reindeer breeder day

On the Reindeer breeder day in April, Yamal region, Russia

Photo and caption by Sergey Anisimov

Given to fly

As a child, I believed that dragonflies were the inspiration behind the invention of the helicopter, and since then have found the fascinating. I found this gold dragonfly on my mosquito net and decided to photograph the back of a dragonfly to get a better look at the mechanism that enables them to fly.

Photo and caption by tiziano hurni-cranston

Terror on the Plains

Travelers caught on the open road were forced to pull over and wait out this tornado as it crossed the road.

Photo and caption by Valarie Namen

81 Degrees North

On the fourth day of our expedition cruise, our ship turned north leaving the coast of Spitsbergen behind us and sailing north for the Arctic ice pack we encountered this polar bear deftly negotiating the unstable ice floes.

Photo and caption by Shannon Jensen

Golf Ball Iceberg

Iceberg in Southern Ocean near Antarctica Penninsula.

Photo and caption by Elaine Heron

Playful boy

I was visiting a Santhal tribal village in rural, West Bengal when suddenly this boy passed me by. I picked up my camera and captured him at play. I loved how the light fell on the hut and his body.

Photo and caption by Anirudha (ROBI) Chakraborty

Evolution

During a trip to Los Angeles, USA, I decided to wait outside this shop while my friends went inside for shopping. As I watched these 3 people standing together seemingly unrelated, it reminded me of how we evolve from childhood to old age, from playing with toys as a young child to organizing our lives as an adult to the care our bodies need more of as we grow older.

Photo and caption by Ali Ghorbani

Tibetan Paparazzi

The Friendship Highway connecting Lhasa and Kathmandu crosses the high Tibetan plateau. This desolate two-lane road sees much less traffic than its name implies and during one of the frequent road closures my husband leaned back for a nap. Instantly he was the center of attention for local villagers.

Photo and caption by Shannon Jensen

The Reverse Blessing

I took this shot in the famous Meenakshi Amman Temple in Madurai. There is a custom in all south indian temples where the pilgrims offer money or food to the temple elephant and get blessing from the elephant in turn. Usually the pilgrims will bow in front of the elephant and the elephant will tap its trunk in the pilgrims head which is treated as a blessing. The opposite happened here where a foreign pilgrim stood reverse and got blessing from the elephant. It was really funny.

Photo and caption by Vinoth Chandar

Sagaïe JUMP

Traditional fishing on the island of MARE in New Caledonia.

Photo and caption by Stéphane DUCANDAS

Car on the Malecon

Black car and wave during a storm on Havana’s Malecon waterfront, Cuba.

Photo and caption by Jonathan Clark

Man versus Wild

Somewhere to be? I hope not, because around 5 o’clock last night there was a seemingly audacious conflict of interest, when a flock of sheep tromped head to head with two moving vehicles. Luckily, the drivers decided to exercise some patience when they realized they were simply outnumbered. To my amiable surprise, no horns were used, no caterwauling necessary, even though some sheep were found dawdling amongst the shrubs. Congratulations to the drivers for practicing restraint and keeping things “mirë,” or good.

Photo and caption by Lauren Burke

Breakfast thief

A seagull stealing my muffin on a balcony in Capri, Italy

Photo and caption by Sergio Amiti

Jerusalem street scene

Jerusalem is the city where three major religions meet – or collide sometimes. During a normal day, different people keep on with their lives side by side.

Photo and caption by Rob Parente

Peek a boo

Young boy teasing the photographer.

Photo and caption by Linda See

Iguanas 1, Humans 0

I was taking a picture of my drink in St. Thomas when all of a sudden I heard a little kid scream at the top of his lungs: “He’s coming! Watch out!” I decided to acknowledge his warning by looking to my right and all of a sudden I saw this large iguana opening his mouth for my drink. He snatched the orange and quickly chomped it down. With out any fear he marched onwards proclaiming victory. Iguanas 1, Humans 0.

Photo and caption by Michael Procknal

Power of the MUSTANG!

Horse kicking on the shores of Assateague Islands in Maryland. These magnificent creatures usually take a morning walk on the beach. It was peak summer time and hot like crazy. I managed to reach to the shores at 5:30AM unfortunately without a mosquito repellent (Unaware of the fact that the island was full of mosquitoes). I was scratching my hands and fews for almost a week after that, but everything had paid off at the end. I had photographed a wonderful spontaneous moment in nature!

Photo and caption by Prithviraj Bhosale

Jenga

Cars are aligned in a precarious way at a parking deck in Manhattan. I’d hate to be the green mini-van driver who gets there too early.

Photo and caption by Brian Lewandowski

Eiffel’s view

This time made it to the top of the Eiffel Tower with my inseparable Panasonic Lumix. Held back from vertigo with arms quite straight and made several blind clicks for a cenital view.

Photo and caption by monica alvarez

Calcutta sunrise

Every morning just before the sunrise I would grab my camera and wonder the streets in order to capture everyday live. While visiting Calcutta earlier this year I came across this rickshaw puller on his way to work, which is not looked in favour by local authorities but remains one of the favourite forms of transportation in Calcutta, and most likely one of few able to move around the city’s old lanes, particularly during the monsoon season.

Photo and caption by Grzegorz Monkiewicz

The little red house

‘The little red house’ was captured on the Lofoten Islands at the beginning of the darkness period. In summer the sun shines above the little house for 24 hours, in winter it is surrounded by natures most beautiful twilight before standing in complete darkness for most of the day and night. And yet the house shines bright and gives out the feeling of warmth and home, no matter what time of the day or year it is.

Photo and caption by yenny huber

Magic Flying Carpet

The Magic Flying Carpet gliding along the desert at The Burning Man Festival.

Photo and caption by Jonathan Clark

Penguin Highway

This shot was taking in Antarctica in 2010. The road these penguins are traveling is almost like our highways. They make hundreds of them, connecting to each other. These compressed-snow “highways” make traveling much easier,since they aren’t the best walkers and traveling on the snow is not easy for them.

Photo and caption by Dmitri Markine

Discipline

Longshan Temple in Taipei, Taiwan is a temple like none other I have ever visited. As it is a multi-religious temple, there are many gods displayed, prayed to, and worshiped. This also brings in various groups of people; students praying and offering gifts to the god of education, women offering gifts and prayers to the god of fertility, etc, etc. And, of course, as in all temples, you find monks or nuns (in this case, both), and of course the tourists in between. The scene displayed is a somewhat typical scene, capturing the devoted, and those who just come to soak it all in.

Photo and caption by Courtney Cheatham

Haircut Line

Islanders wait patiently for their turn outside Port Mathurin, Rodrigues Island.

Photo and caption by Dean Yeadon