National Geographic has made a name for themselves with their amazing photos, so it was no surprise that they made Instagram history as the first brand to reach 100 million followers (those are almost Kim Kardashian numbers). To celebrate in true Nat Geo fashion, they opened up a photography contest across the photo-sharing platform - using the hashtag #natgeo100contest. In the 24-hour contest window, the magazine received more than 94,000 photograph submissions. The photo editors and photographers at Nat Geo went through the entries and narrowed them down to the top 10 best photos and then let their 10 million followers vote on who would be the grand prize winner. Below you can view the contest-winning Instagram photo, the top finalists along with some other gorgeous entries that didn't make the cut but are still just as mind-blowing. Voting for #natgeo100contest may be over but don't forget to upvote the most beautiful photos for Bored Panda!
#22 Andri Laukas
Always looking for new perspectives at these famous places
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125points
#24 Finalist Sara Stein
This image depicts the frantic momentum of wildebeest crossing the Mara River in Tanzania.
Photographer Tasneem Alsultan: I enjoy photos that aren't that obvious. Is it wasps of hair? Or shards of wood? The mass of horns rushing my way seem lethal, and yet the photographer made us see the image from an artistic view.
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120points
#25 Ulla Lohmann
Another one of my all time favorite images: Munganau walks home. The erupting Tavurvur volcano has destroyed beautiful Rabaul town. The people showed amazing resilience against the odds of nature and stayed with the hope, that their paradise will one day return. Fingers crossed that the volcano stays quiet! .
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118points
#27 Ken Geiger
it's time for breakfast! Backlit by the early morning sun a southern yellow-billed hornbill snags a grasshopper for a snack.
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106points
#28 Finalist Khatia Nikabadze
A pair of lambs stare out a car window at a livestock market in Marneuli, Georgia.
Photographer David Guttenfelder: This photograph wasn’t made in the wild, yet the picture, in one moment, tells the seemingly bittersweet story of the young lambs.
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101points
#29 Finalist Felice Simon
Families glide on an ice rink in Brooklyn, New York’s Prospect Park on an unseasonably warm January day.
Photographer Maggie Steber: This photograph of skaters large and small somehow reminds me of a memory from childhood. The way the pristine light shoots across the ice creating long shadows feels symbolic of how we have to stay the challenging course of raising our children, always being there to catch them if they fall.
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76points
#30 Arvind Patwal
"NAGA ". Believes that the twinkle in her eye may be the reflection off her lost marbles.
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52points