The phenomenal winners of the 2022 panoramic photo awards revealed

From San Francisco submerged in fog to ferocious waves pounding the New South Wales coast: The epic winners of the 2022 panoramic photography awards revealed

• The Epson International Pano Awards 2022 received 4,129 entries from more than 1,000 photographers 
• Photographer Jinyi He has been named the overall winner for his amazing photos of his homeland in China 
• The contest’s curator says this year’s winners have shown a ‘leap in both creative vision and technical skill’

These photographers will leave you wide-eyed with wonder.

Their work has been honoured at the Epson International Pano Awards 2022, the ‘largest competition for panoramic photography’ worldwide. 

This year, the judges plucked the winners from 4,129 entries from more than 1,000 professional and amateur photographers in 98 countries. A shot of the Golden Gate Bridge emerging through the fog of San Francisco, a picture of an ‘otherworldly’ desert in Iran and an eye-catching Tokyo cityscape are among the photographs to pick up accolades in the awards. 

However, it’s Chinese photographer Jinyi He who has been named the overall winner thanks to a series of breathtaking photographs that were captured in Xinjiang, China, where he grew up. 

Remarking on the award-winning pictures, competition curator David Evans says: ‘What stands out this year is the quality of the entries, both generally and for the top placing images. The Pano Awards has always been about the journey of each and every photographer who enters. We can travel the world through their eyes and it’s the translation of each unique perspective into these works of art which seems to become more incredible each year. The year 2022 represents a leap in both creative vision and technical skill and I can’t stop staring at the images!’ 

Below is a selection of the standout photography that impressed the judges – scroll down to the very bottom to see a shot by the overall winner…

U.S photographer Ray Cao captured this breathtaking bird’s eye picture of San Francisco. ‘If you look close enough, you will see [the] Golden Gate Bridge, Salesforce Tower, Sutro Tower and even Mount Diablo,’ he says. It ranks joint 28th in the Amateur Nature Landscapes category

Spanish photographer Pedro Nogales photographed this epic snowy scene in the mountains of Cantabria in northern Spain. The picture is fourth in the Amateur Nature Landscapes category 

Nogales also snared this pink-hued shot – which is joint 33rd in the Amateur Built Environment category – of the ancient Spanish city of Toledo 

Sliding into joint 44th place in the Open Nature Landscape category is this sensational picture of Grand Teton National Park, Wyoming, captured in the springtime by American photographer Greg Boratyn 

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U.S photographer David Swindler was behind the lens for this spellbinding shot of Chimney Rock in Shell, Wyoming, which ranks 13th in the Open Nature Landscape category

The 2022 Raw Planet Award goes to this astonishing picture of ‘a dense cypress-filled shoreline on the side of a small backwater pond’ in the swamps of Louisiana, captured by U.S photographer Joshua Hermann. The photographer, who was last year’s overall winner, recalls: ‘Fall comes late to the southern United States. It was a quiet Halloween morning when I paddled my kayak into the cypress trees to take this photo, and one of the first northerly cold fronts of the year had just rolled in’

Ranking joint 49th in the Open Built Environment category is this dynamic cityscape by Hin Kau Chan. Titled ‘Geometric City’, it shows the glittering lights of Hong Kong by night

An amazing bird’s eye view of Hong Kong captured by native photographer CP Lau. It ranks 43rd in the Open Built Environment category

Guilin, a city in south China that’s famous for its spectacular hills, is portrayed in this mesmerising picture by UAE photographer Mo Kamal. It places joint 15th in the Amateur Built Environment category

The dramatic Tre Cime di Lavaredo mountains in the Dolomites in northeastern Italy are the subject of this stunning picture by Spanish photographer Ricardo Gayan, which is joint 39th in the Amateur Nature Landscapes category

U.S photographer Nickolas Warner took this eye-opening picture of a desert in Tabuk, Saudi Arabia, while on a camping trip. Catching the judges’ attention, it places ninth in the Open Nature Landscape category 

Spanish photographer Mariano Belmar Torrecilla snared this eerie woodland picture in the Spanish province of Albacete. It lands 13th in the Amateur Nature Landscapes category

Falling into 15th place in the Open Nature Landscape category is this beautiful picture by Vietnamese photographer Ky Nhan Cao. Titled ‘Ripe Rice Valley’, it shows the mountainous Cao Bang province in northeast Vietnam

This evocative shot bags the 2022 Nikon Australia Award. While flying over Aoraki Mount Cook National Park in New Zealand, Australian photographer Craig McGowan clicked the camera shutter at a moment when the ‘mountains could be viewed through broken clouds’. He reveals that he could spy ‘snow-covered mountain ranges for as far as the eye could see’, adding: ‘Some mountains were in full sunshine… others [had] a heavy cloud base hanging over them, obliterating the scene in front of me’

Landing in 50th place in the Amateur Nature Landscapes category is this enchanting picture of a wooded scene in the Portuguese archipelago of Madeira. When German photographer Jens Ober took the shot, conditions were ‘perfect’, with ‘sun and clouds in the mix’. ‘I can’t wait to return,’ he says 

You can feel the chill in this shot of the snow-covered ruins of the 13th-century Lednica Castle in northwestern Slovakia. Taken by Slovakian photographer Marek Hajkovsky, it earns joint 41st place in the Open Built Environment category

Fog drifts over Ho Chi Minh City, the largest city in Vietnam, in this incredible picture – 20th in the Open Built Environment category – by Vietnamese photographer Ky Nhan Cao

Slovenian photographer Ales Krivec turned his lens on Slovenia’s Lake Bled on a winter morning to capture this tranquil photograph, which takes 12th place in the Open Built Environment category

The isle of Kalsoy in the Faroe Islands was the setting for this magical shot – which ranks 40th in the Open Nature Landscape category – by Taiwanese photographer Yunhsuan Lee. Kallur lighthouse can be seen perched in the centre of the picture 

This spectacular shot of Tokyo’s skyline, with snowcapped Mount Fuji in the background, is fifth in the Amateur Built Environment category. German photographer Krzysztof Baranowski was behind the lens 

Behold the recipient of the 2022 Curators Award, captured by German photographer Judith Kuhn. It shows the Alps in the Bernese Oberland region of Switzerland, an area ‘known among wildlife photographers’ for its ibex, a species of wild goat. Kuhn was on a wildlife tour when she witnessed the spectacular scene in the picture. From her vantage point at the summit of Burgfeldstand mountain, the view ‘opened up to the northeast’ and she saw hills and valleys ‘stagger in the light haze in the backlight of the rising sun’, she recalls 

This photo of Argentina’s Los Glaciares National Park is impressive, but it’s all the more breathtaking when you learn that it was captured on a smartphone. Taken by U.S photographer William Lekki, it’s the recipient of one of the 2022 Special Awards, topping the podium as the ‘highest scoring smartphone’ panoramic shot 

Taiwanese photographer Shirley Wung snared this beautifully-lit picture of Taipei, Taiwan, which is joint 44th in the Open Built Environment category

Landing joint 35th in the Open Nature Landscapes category is this atmospheric photograph of Castle Mountain in Alberta, Canada. It’s the handiwork of Slovenian photographer Luka Vunduk, who describes the peak as ‘impressive’, adding: ‘It is like a defence wall’ 

Australian photographer Daniel Tang captured this striking picture by the coastal town of Kiama – which is known for its geological formations and blowholes – in New South Wales, Australia. The picture ranks 44th in the Open Nature Landscape category

A spectacular shot of the Kiama coastline by Australian photographer Timothy Moon. Titled ‘Storm Surf’, it ranks joint 28th in the Amateur Nature Landscapes category

New Zealand photographer Bikram Ghosh snared this picture, which is joint 22nd in the Open Nature Landscape category, in the West Coast region of New Zealand’s South Island

A summer storm was passing over Monument Valley in Arizona when American photographer Elliot McGucken clicked the shutter and took this breathtaking picture, which is joint 44th in the Open Nature Landscape category

Australian photographer Callie Chee captured this picture – titled ‘City of Emptiness’ – in the ‘strange, otherworldly’ Lut Desert in Iran. It ranks 16th in the Open Nature Landscape category

French photographer Julian Elliott is the mastermind behind this spellbinding shot of Torres del Paine National Park in Chile. It ranks joint 50th in the Open Nature Landscape category

This remarkable picture is one of the shots that has earned photographer Jinyi He the title of 2022 Open Photographer of the Year. It was taken in Tianshan Stone Forest, an area of unique rock features in the west of China’s Tianshan mountains. ‘In the morning, a rainbow was hanging in the sky after rain… I was amazed by this beautiful scenery,’ the photographer says of the shot 

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