This year's National Geographic Photo Contest has revealed a selection of breathtaking images, including the winning photo titled 'Dirt'.
The picture captured by James Smart, shows a tornado in Colorado unleashing all its power on a vast piece of farmland.
Smart worked hard to get his winning shot, spending 15 days chasing storms with his brother and friends who are meteorologists.
He snapped the tornado last year but has only just been announced as the grand-prize winner, chosen from more than 13,000 entries.
Describing how he got his shot, Smart said: "The tornado was slowly getting bigger as it picked up the dust and soil from the ground on the farmland.
“It wasn't moving very fast, so we kept getting closer as it tracked next to the home as you can see in the image."
He added: "Driving down a Colorado dirt road, we were lucky enough to be on the west of the tornado, so it was front lit.
This really helped to get great detail out of the image and the perfect light for the sky and foreground.”
Here are the other winning images:
