NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC have unveiled the winners of the 2017 Nature Photographer of the Year contest.

The grand prize winner is ‘Face to face in a river in Borneo’, an image of an orangutan crossing a river in Indonesia’s Tanjung National Park.

The photo, chosen from 11,000 entries, was captured by Jayaprakash Joghee Bojan of Singapore.

He has won $10,000 and will have his image published in an upcoming issue of National Geographic magazine and featured on the @NatGeo Instagram account.

Photographer Bojan took the photo after waiting patiently in the Sekoyner River in Tanjung Puting National Park in Borneo, Indonesia.

After spending several days on a houseboat photographing orangutans in the park, Bojan found out about a location where a male orangutan had crossed the river –­ unusual behaviour that he knew he had to capture.

After waiting a day and night, a ranger spotted the orangutan the next morning a few minutes up the river.

As they drew near, Bojan decided to get into the water so the boat did not scare the primate.

About five feet deep in a river supposedly home to freshwater crocodiles, Bojan captured the photo when the orangutan peeked out from behind a tree to see if the photographer was still there.

On capturing the photo, Bojan said, “Honestly, sometimes you just go blind when things like this happen. You’re so caught up. You really don’t know what’s happening. You don’t feel the pain, you don’t feel the mosquito bites, you don’t feel the cold, because your mind is completely lost in what’s happening in front of you.”

Karim Iliya won first place in the Landscapes category for a photo from Hawai’i Volcanoes National Park; Jim Obester won first place in the Underwater category for a photo of an anemone and Todd Kennedy won first place in the Aerials category for a photo of a rock pool in Sydney at high tide.

The judges for the contest were National Geographic magazine’s senior photo editor of natural history assignments, Kathy Moran, National Geographic photographer Anand Varma, and photographer Michaela Skovranova.

natgeo.com/photocontest

See the winners of the 2017 Nature Photographer of the Year below 

Wildlife

First Place – Wildlife 

Second Place – Wildlife 

Third Place – Wildlife

Honourable Mention – Wildlife

People’s Choice – Wildlife

Landscapes

First Place – Landscapes 

Second Place – Landscapes 

Third Place – Landscapes 

Honourable Mention – Landscapes 

People’s Choice – Landscapes 

Underwater 

First Place – Underwater

Second Place – Underwater

Third Place – Underwater 

Honourable Mention – Underwater 

People’s Choice – Underwater 

Aerials 

First Place – Aerial 

Second Place – Aerial 

Third Place – Aerial

Honourable Mention – Aerials 

People’s Choice – Aerials