Photo Credit: Eduard Gutescu

Every year, the National Geographic Traveler Photo Contest is held, and the results from its 27th competition are absolutely stunning. Selected from over 17,000 entries around the world, both amateur and professional photographers are eligible to submit photos in the categories Travel Portraits, Outdoor Scenes, Sense of Place and Spontaneous Moments.

Pictured above, is merit winner Romania, Land of Fairy Tales, an image of white frost over Pestera village, taken by Romanian photographer Eduard Gutescu.

Whale Whisperers

Photo Credit: Anuar Patjane

This spectacular black and white image was taken by Anuar Patjane of Tehuacan, Puebla, Mexico of divers floating around a humpback whale and her newborn calf while cruising around Roca Partida in the Revillagigedo, Mexico.

Camel Ardah

Photo Credit: Ahmed Al Toqi

Ahmed Al Toqi of Ibra’, Ash Sharqiyah, Oman captured this photo of Camel Ardah, one of the traditional styles of camel racing between two camels controlled by experts. The faster camel is the loser so they must be running at the same speed level in the same track. The main purpose of Ardah is to showcase the beauty and strength of the Arabian camels and the riders’ skills.

A Night at Deadvlei

Photo Credit: Beth McCarley

Beth McCarley of Denver, Colorado shot this image that almost looks like a painting. She explained, “The night before returning to Windhoek, we spent several hours at Deadvlei. The moon was bright enough to illuminate the sand dunes in the distance, but the skies were still dark enough to clearly see the Milky Way and Magellanic Clouds.”

Sauna in the Sky

Photo Credit: Stefano Zardini

Life doesn’t get much better than this. Stefano Zardini of Cortina d’Ampezzo, Veneto, Italy took this photo of a sauna at over 6,560-feet high in the heart of Dolomites of the eastern Italian Alps.