IN PICS | Tour the world through the best panoramic photos of 2021

The winners of the 2021 Epson International Pano Awards were recently announced and anyone who loves a bit of armchair travel would do well to browse the shortlist gallery.

Essentially, it is a tour of wonderfully captured places from the US to Dubai, from Australia to Russia, from Namibia to Slovenia and everywhere in between.

And with the competition divided into four main categories — natural and built environments for both amateurs and pros — the subjects are incredibly diverse, sweeping from mountains to museumgoers, from fishing boats to copper mines, from cloud-covered skyscrapers to exploding spring blossoms. 

Founded in 2009 by Australian landscape photographer David Evans, the competition is the world’s largest dedicated solely to panoramic photography. This year it attracted 5,378 entries from 1,245 professional and amateur photographers in 97 countries, which the organisers call “amazing stats for a competition held in the middle of a global pandemic”.   

The overall professional winner in the nature category is American Joshua Hermann for three moody, misty entries showing cypress trees growing in the swamps of Louisiana. Hermann said part of his purpose with the photographs was to raise awareness about the region's unique beauty and the need to protect the swamps.   

“One of the great things about photography is its ability to inform. Growing up in south Louisiana and coming to know the swamp and marshlands from an early age, the unique beauty and interesting ecology of the area has stuck with me throughout my life.

“I hope to share the beauty of these places through my imagery, allow people to get a closer look into the uniqueness of these areas and ultimately to inform them of the importance of protecting these wetlands.”

Below we bring you the winners in the other categories, along with a selection of showstoppers from the shortlist.