The shortlisted entries in the Sony World Photography Awards have just been revealed, highlighting a stunning variety of images compiled from almost 320,000 submissions from more than 200 countries.
The Awards consist of two primary competitions, Professional and Open. Each competition spans ten different categories including Architecture, Landscape and Natural World. The Professional competition judges photographers on a body of work, while the Open competition concentrates on one single image.
There is also a Youth competition for photographers aged between 12 and 19, with a thematic focus this year on "my environment," and a Student competition for those studying photography at university.
The winners, to be announced later in April, have been judged by an international panel including Mike Trow, ex Picture Editor of British Vogue and Naomi Cass, Director of the Centre for Contemporary Photography in Melbourne, Australia.
These remarkable photos form not only a snapshot of the state of contemporary photography today, but create a stunning portrait of the planet we live on. In this impressive collection you will find stark brutalist architecture, colorful drone photography, and abstract impressions of cities, animals and nature.
Take look through through our gallery at some of the shortlisted highlights in this massively impressive, and impressively massive, photographic competition.