Breathtaking photos from the 2017 Sony World Photography Awards

Sony has announced the shortlist of the best photos competing in the biggest photography contest in the world. As always, these include best shots not only by professionals but by amateur photographers as well.

It’s the tenth Sony World Photography Awards and this year it managed to outpace the record-breaking last year’s event and gathered photographers from 49 countries; with the shortlist being drawn from 227,596 images, entered from 183 countries, including – for the first time – Armenia, Cuba, Iceland, and Saudi Arabia.

Below are just a few of the winners and finalists click here to see them all.

#1 Masayasu Sakuma, Japan (Open Competition, Nature)

#2 Barry Tweed-Rycroft, United Kingdom (Open Competition, Architecture)

#3 Rob Wilson, Canada (Open Competition, Travel)

#4 Francesco Russo, Italy (Open Competition, Nature)

#5 Andreas Hemb, Sweden (Open Competition, Wildlife)

#6 Zhu Jianxing, China (Open Competition, Travel)

#7 Christian Vizl, Mexico (Professional, Natural World)

#8 Meniconzi Alessandra, Switzerland (Open Competition, Wildlife)

#9 Luo Pin Xi, China (Professional, Sport)

#10 Lars Sivars, Sweden (Open Competition, Architecture)

#11 Nigel Hodson, United Kingdom (Open Competition, Wildlife)

#13 Dina Alfasi, Israel (Open Competition, Street Photography)

#14 Maximilian Conrad, Germany (Open Competition, Nature)

#17 Stacy Anguiano Cain, United States (Open Competition, Motion)