Earlier this week, the World Photography Organisation unveiled the finalists for the 2014 Sony World Photography Awards. The images were selected from 139,544 submissions by photographers in 166 countries (the highest number of entries in the awards' seven-year history), and they are characteristically superb.
You can peruse the entire collection of shortlisted images from the Professional, Open and Youth categories at the WPO's website, but Alan Taylor at In Focus managed to get his hands on thirty-three hi-res versions of the some of the competition's most captivating entries. You'll want to head there for the full roundup, but we've included a few of our favorites below.
Kenya's annual wildebeest migration, as captured by photographer Bonnie Cheung.
One of a series of images taken at Svalbard, Norway | Photo Credit: Wilfred Berthelsen
A Costa Rican frog and his Dynastinaen mount | Photo Credit: Nicolas Reusens
A man fans flames in Tanauan, Philippines in the aftermath of Typhoon Haiyan, one of the most powerful storms ever recorded | Photo Credit: Dan Kitwood
"Sylvinite mines are one of the most beautiful places of work I know," writes photographer Viktor Lyagushkin, who captured this image. "The miners work so hard that they do not see the beauty of the place they work at."
Aerial image of an Icelandic river delta | Photo Credit: Emmanuel Coupe
The interior of an abandoned cooling tower | Photo Credit: Jan Stel
Much, much more at In Focus and The World Photography Organisation