Flooded Cave

This amazing scene won International Landscape Photographer of the Year 2022, beating plenty of traditional landscapes in the process. Amy Davies finds out more

- Martin Broen

International Landscape Photographer of the Year has been running for nine editions and seems to be going from strength to strength. In 2022, the competition received 3,813 entries, with the top 101 finding a place in the ILPOTY book, and a further 101 being published on the competition website.

Each year an overall Photographer of the Year is announced for the person with the best portfolio of four images, while an overall Photograph of the Year goes to a single image. The prize pot includes $10,000 worth of cash prizes, so as well as international kudos, it’s certainly worth considering entering next year.

In 2022, Photograph of the Year was awarded to this stunning image by American photographer Martin Broen. It was taken in one of the biggest flooded cave systems in the world, at the Yucatan peninsula in Mexico. It’s easy to see why an unusual shot like this stood out from the typical landscape photography shots the judges must be used to seeing. In fact, it arguably turns on its head the very notion of what landscape photography actually is.