Photography Competition Winners Announced

Intrepid Travel Photography Competition Winners Announced

Intrepid travellers around the globe have been snapping their way to some fantastic prizes in this year's annual photography competition. With digital camera, a keen eye and a great travel spirit, entries sought to encapsulate a time and a place. Travellers have combed great cities and climbed mountain trails to capture special travel photos and we are very excited to celebrate their achievements and announce the winners of the 2009 Intrepid Travel Photography Competition.

"Praying to Allah," shot by overall winner David Lazar captured a rare moment of tranquillity at an otherwise pulsing fresh produce market in Egypt, as stall holders unfurled their prayer mats and turned to face Mecca. Lazar receives his choice of an Intrepid Travel group trip and a copy of Lonely Planet's pictorial "One People".

Other winners were announced in six different categories, among them the "Real life experience" category. Real life experiences are those moments you know you're really alive and experiencing something special and are at the heart of intrepid travels. Category winner James Gordon's adrenalin would have been pumping when he snapped his once in a lifetime shot of a scuba diver dwarfed by a whale shark in the waters off Koh Phi Phi in southern Thailand.

As you can imagine, trying to pick winners from so many fantastic entries was a very tough task for our panel of judges. Eventually they narrowed it down to a select few, but they wanted to pass on their congratulations to everyone who entered as the standard of photographs was exceptional. The love of travel and appreciation of real life experiences was evident in the images and we look forward to sharing as many as possible with you in our Intrepid publications.

Overall winner - David Lazar
Lonely Planet Images' choice award - Sudip Roychoudhury
Local friends - Somenath Mukhopadhyay
Landscapes - Josh Bornstein
Icons - Marc Ehrenbold
Real life experiences - James Gordon
Families - Sudipto Das

The winning photos, displayed on the Intrepid Travel website www.intrepidtravel.com provide a quick exotic escape for desk top travellers as well as inspiration for camera clad adventurers wanting to capture their own perfect travel moment. Now is the time to take part in our 2010 Intrepid Photography Competition. Prizes include an Intrepid Original trip of your choice, Kathmandu travel gear, camera vouchers and more.

Intrepid Travel encourages you to take photos responsibly when you are traveling. Always ask before photographing or videoing people and respect their wishes if they refuse. Send them back copies of photos to help make it a two-way exchange. The locals gain a great buzz from seeing themselves in photos and it encourages a 'sharing' rather than 'taking' attitude towards photography. Intrepid group leaders often hand deliver passenger photos the next time they are in the area and are humbled to see the pride of place they are given in a local family home.

ENDS

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