"Whale Whisperers" by Anuar Patjane Floriuk, showing divers with a humpback whale and her newborn calf in Mexico, won this year's National Geographic Traveler Photo Contest.
A stunning underwater image of divers swimming alongside a humpback whale has taken out this year's National Geographic Traveler Photo Contest grand prize.
Anuar Patjane Floriuk of Tehuacan, Puebla, Mexico, shot "Whale Whisperer" near Roca Partida, an island off the western coast of Mexico.
Floriuk beat 17,000 other entries to
take out the top prize, an eight-day National Geographic Photo Expedition to Costa Rica and the Panama Canal for two.
"The photo wasn't planned," Floriuk said. "I was taking photos near the head of the whale, and all of a sudden she began to swim toward the rest of the diving team. The divers gave the whale and her calf space, and I just clicked at the moment when the flow and composition seemed right."
Second place went to Faisal Azim of Chittagong, Bangladesh, for his picture of three gravel workmen looking through a window surrounded by dust and sand, while the third place shot of camel racing in Oman, was taken by Ahmed Al Toqi of Muscat, Oman. Seven others were awarded merit prizes.
