2015 National Geographic Photography Contest Winners Countdown

In celebration one of the of the greatest photography contests on Earth, GOOD counts down the top 13 winners of the 2015 National Geographic Photography Contest. The winning picture, Dirt, by James Smart of Melbourne, Australia, is a dramatic photo of a vicious tornado that was selected from more than 13,000 entries. According to the photographer, “The tornado was slowly getting bigger as it picked up the dust and soil from the ground on the farmland.” Smart added, “It wasn’t moving very fast, so we kept getting closer as it tracked next to the home, as you can see in the image. Driving down a Colorado dirt road, we were lucky enough to be on the west of the tornado, so it was front-lit. This really helped to get great detail out of the image and the perfect light for the sky and foreground.”