Every year National Geographic, the American magazine dedicated to exploring the world and nature, honours the best shots in international amateur nature photography. The National Geographic nature photographer of the year is the competition that aims to document the environment of our planet and the species that inhabit it, while at the same time exposing the pressures they face — all too often caused by humankind.

Grand prize and first prize wildlife. The grand prize winning shot portrays an orangutan peering at its surroundings from behind a tree as it crosses a river in Borneo, Indonesia © Jayaprakash Joghee Bojan/2017 National Geographic Nature Photographer of the Year

First prize, aerials. In Sydney, Australia, the Pacific Ocean at high tide crashes against a natural rock pool dating back to the 1930s. To avoid the city's crowded beaches, a local takes advantage of it to swim a few lengths © Todd Kennedy/2017 National Geographic Nature Photographer of the Year

First prize, landscapes. Before dusk in Kalapana, Hawaii, a section of a lava tube broke open, sending molten rock shooting out in a powerful spray for about half an hour before returning to a normal flow © Karim Iliya/2017 National Geographic Nature Photographer of the Year

First prize, underwater. The stroboscopic blue lights filtering through the water stimulate fluorescent pigments in the tentacles of an anemone in Hood Canal, in the US state of Washington © Jim Obester/2017 National Geographic Nature Photographer of the Year

Second place, aerials. Snow-covered sequoias line a road in Takashima, Japan © Takahiro Bessho, 2017 National Geographic Nature Photographer of the Year

Second place, landscapes. Sunbeams illuminate the multi-coloured mineral layers of the Dushanzi Grand Canyon, China © Yuhan Liao, 2017 National Geographic Nature Photographer of the Year

Second place, underwater. Typically a shy species, a Caribbean reef shark inspects a remote-controlled camera in Cuba's Gardens of the Queen marine protected area © Shane Gross/2017 National Geographic Nature Photographer of the Year

An adult American flamingo feeds its chick in the Yucatán, Mexico. Parents take turns feeding their young, first with a liquid called crop milk and then with regurgitated food © Alejandro Prieto/2017 National Geographic Nature Photographer of the Year

Third place, aerials. On the flank of Kilauea volcano in Hawaii, the only lava ocean entry pours molten rock into the Pacific. After the eruption in early 2016, the lava took about two months to reach the sea, six miles away © Greg C./2017 National Geographic Nature Photographer of the Year

Third place, landscapes. A summer thunderstorm creates lightning over the Grand Canyon A summer thunderstorm © Mike Olbinski Photography/2017 National Geographic Nature Photographer of the Year

Third place, underwater. Carried aloft by the Gulf Stream, a flying fish arches through dark waters at night off Palm Beach, Florida © Michael Patrick O'Neill/2017 National Geographic Nature Photographer of the Year

Third place, wildlife. Three grey herons squabble, watched by a white-tailed eagle in Hungary © Bence Mate/2017 National Geographic Nature Photographer of the Year

People's choice, aerials. Vegetation flourishes on the riparian banks of a river in a meandering canyon in Utah © David Swindler/2017 National Geographic Nature Photographer of the Year

Special mention. Migratory gulls take flight from a cedar tree carried along by the current of a glacial river in British Columbia, Canada © Agathe Bernard/2017 National Geographic Nature Photographer of the Year

Special mention, landscapes. Morning mist shrouds the trees of Lake Cuejdel in Romania, a nature reserve created by landslides © Gheorghe Popa/2017 National Geographic Nature Photographer of the Year

Special mention, underwater. Poised to strike, an Atlantic tarpon cuts through a school of jacks off the coast of Bonaire in the Caribbean Sea © Jennifer O'Neil/2017 National Geographic Nature Photographer of the Year

Special mention, wildlife. A Japanese macaque indulges in a grooming session in the famous natural hot springs © Lance McMillan/2017 National Geographic Nature Photographer of the Year

People's choice, landscape. The setting sun illuminates a lighthouse and paints a rainbow over the Faroe Islands © Wojciech Kruczyński, 2017 National Geographic Nature Photographer of the Year

People's choice, underwater. A Portuguese man o' war drifts towards the shore on a summer morning. Thousands of these jellyfish wash up on the east coast of Australia every year © Matthew Smith/2017 National Geographic Nature Photographer of the Year

People's choice, wildlife. A great grey owl dives to hunt in a field in New Hampshire © Harry Collins/2017 National Geographic Nature Photographer of the Year

National Geographic's most beautiful photograph of the year was taken in Borneo

The winning photograph of 2017, taken in the Tanjung Puting national park in Borneo by photographer Jayaprakash Joghee Bojan, is symbolic in this sense, as it portrays an orangutan in its habitat — increasingly fragmented and reduced due to deforestation. "Travelling in Borneo, you realise that 60 or 70 per cent of the orangutans' habitat has been destroyed by oil palm cultivation," said Bojan. "I am moved that the competition was won by this very photograph, because I believe the orangutans need to win more than I do. They need more help than they are currently receiving."

The competition and the other winners of the 2017 edition

Every year the competition opens to amateur photographers from around the world, who can upload their images through Your Shot, National Geographic's photography community page, and is divided into four categories: wildlife, landscapes, aerials, and underwater.

This year's winners, chosen from more than 11,000 entries, captured a wide variety of subjects — from an erupting volcano in Hawaii to an underwater anemone, from a monkey resting in the warm waters of a natural hot spring in Japan to a rock pool amid a stormy sea in Australia. The result is a photographic gallery that takes us on a journey of discovery through the wonders of animal species, landscapes, and terrestrial and marine ecosystems, prompting us to reconsider the space we occupy when measured against the greatness of nature — and that, ultimately, takes our breath away.