A dramatic photo of a volcano erupting has won the 13th annual Smithsonian magazine photo contest. The judges chose Albert Ivan Damanik's shot of ash clouds billowing out of Indonesia's Mount Sinabung from more than 46,000 submissions from photographers in 168 countries and territories, with eight other winners in categories including Mobile, Altered Images and Sustainable Travel.
Grand Prize winner: Remaining on the Slopes of Mount Sinabung by Albert Ivan Damanik. Volcanic material flows from Mount Sinabung, as seen from the village of Jeraya, North Sumatra, Indonesia on 26 June 2015. Mount Sinabung intermittently spewed burning ash and gas a week after authorities told residents to evacuate the danger zone that lay with within a radius of 4.4 miles from the crater."Albert Ivan Damanik
Photographers were invited to submit images in seven categories: Natural World, The American Experience, Travel, People, Altered, Mobile, and Sustainable Travel. Smithsonian readers were invited to choose their favourite image, and Alice van Kempen's image of her bull terrier, Claire, in an abandoned train received the highest percentage of nearly 40,000 reader votes, earning her the Readers' Choice award.
Readers' Choice winner: Orient Express by Alice van Kempen. "My bull terrier Claire photographed in an abandoned train, one of a series that I am currently working on."Alice van KempenNatural World category winner: A Little Monkey on the Cliff by Hidetoshi Ogata. "A cold front hit the Nagano Prefecture. I saw a little monkey enduring the cold in Jigokudani Monkey Park. This little monkey is really cute."Hidetoshi OgataAmerican Experience category winner: Trucker Chapel by Lauren Pond. Location: Lodi, Ohio, US. Truck driver Ben Blackburn, 46, participates in a Bible study session at the Transport For Christ (TFC) mobile chapel. TFC chaplains helped Blackburn enrol in trucking school after he lost his job during the recent economic recession. TFC, an international trucker ministry, has placed 45 mobile chapels at truck stops across the US. The chapels offer Bible study, worship services and counselling from volunteer chaplains. They also give drivers a break from the struggles and solitude of life on the road.Lauren PondTravel category winner: Women's Compartment of a Suburban Train by Tamina-Florentine Zuch. "Every day, 7.5 million people make use of the suburban trains in Mumbai. Therefore, it is the biggest suburban network of the world. Almost every train has separate compartments for women to avoid sexual abuse."Tamina-Florentine ZuchPeople category winner: Lay Off by Benedetta Ristori. Location: Kyoto, Japan. "This picture was taken while I was wandering in the streets of Kyoto in January 2015. My intent was to capture the life of night workers. Shift work, even at night and on holidays, often affects workers psychophysically. The requirements imposed by the “society of work” do not recognise the natural alternations of day and night and workers' biological clocks."Benedetta RistoriSynchronous Fireflies by Radim Schreiber. Location: Great Smoky Mountains National Park, Tennessee, US. "I took this photo of fireflies [lightning bugs] in almost complete darkness using the latest low-light camera technology. I was completely surrounded by the fireflies and witnessed one of the most amazing and magical natural phenomena: fireflies that synchronise. Alteration note: I took several long exposures over several minutes and merged them together to preserve detail and clarity."Radim SchreiberSustainable Travel category winner: My Time by Tihomir Trichkov. "In February and March of 2014, I took a month off and went to work as a photographer/videographer in an orphan school in Likoni, one of the poorest neighbourhoods in Mombasa, Kenya. My videos and pictures helped raise money to finish the building of the school for 150 children and a sleeping building for 30 orphan kids. This is the school director's daughter on her break, while at school."Tihomir TrichkovMobile category winner: Red China by Jian Wang. Location: Beijing. Category: Mobile. "A lady in a red dress walks in front of a red wall."Jian Wang
