a91df5ab-e353-4139-91c1-9d976097cd88

e4fab77a-5555-479e-9185-c0a2b7b2be0d

3c272c7b-f15d-4c94-a05e-6fd9510e539e

b08c54ef-eab4-434f-acea-82de5c6966ea

2223da61-d850-4c40-a750-3317e9e20c03

The ghost town in the Arctic

Olaf Düber

Germany

9500b92a-bbe3-49a2-bfd9-220e78b7843a

Aerial shot of Laguna Agua Calientes in the Altiplano. No region on Earth deserves the ascription 'extraterrestrial' more than this part of the Andes. In fact, there is more than one lagoon of this name, with this one being numbered as three.

b10d570a-edd4-49a2-9705-9dc486b9ffbf

Honorable Mention

Altiplano I

Lithium evaporation ponds in northern Argentina. Contrary to most such sites, these newly installed ponds are curved. The increasing activity of mining companies in the region creates mixed reactions among the population.

029b434c-d4e3-4e6c-b3cd-414bd48e2867

Nominee

Lithium I

Ghosts live here, spending their eternity at Dagverðará, Iceland. Tied to what was their home in another life, they tell their story to the one who wants to listen, see and feel.

9f4ce8bf-06ba-47e0-b6e2-3cbfe05a96bd

Home by the sea

The ghost town of Pyramiden on Svalbard once was a Soviet coal mining settlement on the soil of a NATO member state - a geopolitical anomaly that has its roots in the Treaty of Svalbard from 1920. It was abandoned in 1998, but has gained renewed attention in the wake of the Russian war on Ukraine.

Bronze