See the winners of The Post’s 25th annual Travel photo contest

We combed through more than 1,000 photos this year to pick the best shots. Here are the three winners and 12 honorable mentions, along with the photographers’ stories in their own words.

Captions have been edited for length and clarity.

Winner

Julie Gould, Falls Church

While on a dog photography workshop in Iceland this past June, I had a chance to photograph Atlantic puffins at the Ingolfshofdi Nature Reserve. The reserve is an isolated headland on the south coast where thousands of puffins and other seabirds come to nest in the summer months. To get there, I took a tractor-drawn haycart ride for four miles over streams, marshes and sand. After climbing a steep black sand dune to the top of the cape, the puffins were in full view nesting and flying along the jagged rocky cliffside facing the Atlantic Ocean. They paid no attention to us humans. This puffin was coming straight at me to land but gracefully dropped to the cliff below.

Second place

Jonathan Fleuchaus, Alexandria

In April, I visited Vancouver Island in British Columbia. For most of my visit, I stayed near the Fairy Lake Recreation Site, which includes a dwarf fir tree that is growing out of a half-submerged log in a small lake (the “Fairy Tree”). I had the chance to photograph the Fairy Tree on numerous occasions over several days in all types of conditions and at various times of day. I liked this photo the best because the white stripe, created by moonlight illuminating an isolated ripple streaming across the lake, seems to underline and thus emphasize the tree.

Third place

Mike Warren, Leavenworth, Wash.

In February, I traveled to Brazil during Carnival, a celebration of Brazilian cultures and traditions held before Lent each year. In Rio de Janeiro, there are many celebrations of Carnival, but none larger than the parades of the samba schools through the Sambadrome. Elaborate floats and costumed dancers parade past 100,000 people each evening. Here I captured some of the intricate costumes of the dancers of one of the parading samba schools.

Honorable mentions

Jude Goergen, Chicago

Cambodia is my favorite place on earth. The people, the sights, the sounds, the smells — an unexplainable fusion of beauty and chaos. It’s one of the most photogenic places I’ve ever been to, especially during golden hour. I was lucky enough to grab this little break during rush hour, exposing the long shadow of a single coconut cart driving toward the sunset on Street 278 in the capital of Phnom Penh.

Kateryna Topol, Toronto

I have always found beach people fascinating; the leisurely comfort seems so peaceful. This location on Italy’s Amalfi Coast was particularly interesting with the brightly colored umbrellas neatly lined up. I must have taken 100 images from different angles, but this one was a favorite.

Cynthia Dommisse, Annapolis

On a trip to Queensland, Australia, my husband and I walked right past this tree on a trail in the Daintree Rainforest, when our guide stopped suddenly and called our attention to these two spiny rainforest katydids (Phricta spinosa),, each approximately 14 inches long. They were so well camouflaged that it took us a while to see them on the lichen-covered tree trunk. We learned that the spiny rainforest katydids can be found in New Guinea and the adjacent Maluku Islands, as well as Queensland. We were told that it is unusual to see two at once, and we felt very fortunate to see and photograph them.

Braden Parsons, Round Hill, Va.

I was around 4,000 feet of elevation on Grouse Mountain in British Columbia, and a cloud had rolled over the bear sanctuary, which gave it a transcendent feeling. I was impressed with how the bears ignored the people around them and continued to do their own thing, walking around the sanctuary and playing with one another. I love this shot because although it seems scary, in reality, the bear, named Coola, was just yawning and went to take a nap after this photo.

John Balthis, Falls Church

During our family’s 14-day trip to Africa, including South Africa, Kenya and Tanzania, we spent a week on safari in Serengeti National Park and the Ngorongoro Crater. On the second day in the Serengeti, we embarked on a sunrise hot air balloon ride over the grasslands. The zebras in that early-morning light produced some of my favorite images. What a great way to see and enjoy the unique vastness and beauty of the park.

Liliane Blom, Rockville

I was visiting an artist/fashion designer friend in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, and we went to the Kariakoo market with a group of her friends. There were stalls with fabric as far as the eye could see, with textiles stacked from floor to ceiling. As we left the labyrinthine market, we ran into this woman carrying and selling pineapples to shoppers, fighting her way through the crowd. I was snapping pictures as I was running with my fabric to catch up with the group.

David Fourney, Gaithersburg, Md.

We were visiting the Bean (Cloud Gate) in Chicago, and I immensely enjoyed taking numerous pictures from various angles. Many tourists were also there and became part of all our pictures. Chicago was one of our stops on our five-week road trip to various locations in the United States.

Jill Dietrick, Alexandria

This photo was taken on a once-in-a-lifetime trip to see emperor penguins in Antarctica. The weather was great, the penguins were adorable and the scenery was breathtaking. I loved the contrast of this shot between the penguin and the humans — in both size and coloring.

Gary Zieses, La Quinta, Calif.

I was scuba diving in Cozumel, Mexico, and turned the corner of the reef about 45 feet and saw a very large blue angelfish. Normally they will not face you head-on but rather they turn sideways. I was very fortunate to have been ready to shoot when we came face to face.

Laura Schonfeld, Silver Spring

On a tour of Iceland at the end of the winter, our guide brought us to the Katla ice caves. The entire experience was extraordinary, and this photo was one of the most magical views. Seeing a tunnel that had melted into an iceberg that was as big as a building but totally natural was amazing. The colors and textures were amazing to see, and I’m happy I was able to catch one of my fellow tourists in front to show the scale.

John Taylor, Annapolis

We were walking in the Alice Springs Desert Park in the Australian outback in August 2023 when we saw this lizardlike creature that looks more like a tiny (about 8 inches long) dinosaur. It has several names, including the spike-crested lizard, thorny devil, thorny dragon and moloch. The Latin name is Moloch horridus. The lizard also has a false head on the back of its neck that the lizard displays to predators by lowering its real head.

Matt Weinstein, Arlington

We arrived in Istanbul a few hours before I took this photo. We sat down for drinks at a hotel, where we had a fantastic view of the incomparable Hagia Sophia. I snapped a picture of it as the sun was setting and as three seagulls flew above three of Hagia Sophia’s minarets. Lucky timing.