# Spiral: Runner-Up In Landscapes At Nature Photographer Of The Year 2026

URL: https://jvn.photo/spiral-runner-up-nature-photographer-of-the-year-2026/
Last updated: 2026-11-14

> My drone image Spiral, taken from the shore in Qeqertarsuaq during my 2025 West Greenland workshop, is runner-up in Landscapes at Nature Photographer of the Year 2026, out of 27108 entries.

This afternoon the winners of [Nature Photographer of the Year 2026](https://naturephotographeroftheyear.com/) were announced at the Nature Talks Photo Festival in Ede, in the Netherlands, and **I’m really happy to share that my image Spiral was named runner-up in the Landscapes category**.

I took Spiral with my drone during **my West Greenland photo workshop in September 2025**, on a very stormy day. Big swells kept curling around the sharpest edge of an iceberg, and **it took me more than an hour** to get the timing and the shape of that spiral right.

This year the competition received **27108 images** across 13 categories, so I’m very grateful to see Spiral finish second in Landscapes. It’s also the second time this year one of my images placed second in a landscape category, after [the FEP Awards in April](https://jvn.photo/fep-awards-2026-2nd-place-in-landscape-3rd-place-in-nature/).[image_with_animation image_url=”1181244″ image_size=”full” max_width=”100%” max_width_mobile=”default” animation_type=”entrance” animation=”None” animation_movement_type=”transform_y” hover_animation=”none” alignment=”center” img_link_large=”yes” border_radius=”none” box_shadow=”none” image_loading=”default”]

*Spiral, runner-up in Landscapes at Nature Photographer of the Year 2026. Taken from the shore in Qeqertarsuaq, West Greenland, with the DJI Mavic 4 Pro.*

## How Many Entries Were There?

This year the competition received **27108 images** from photographers around the world. They were spread over **13 categories**: eleven open categories, a youth category and the Fred Hazelhoff Portfolio Award for a series of images. Last year’s edition had 24781 entries, a record at the time, so this year was bigger again.

Each category ends with a Top 5: **a winner, a runner-up and three Highly Commended images**.

The jury was chaired by Theo Bosboom, alongside Lana Tannir, Steffen Foerster, Louis Guillot and Ilse Koks, and they spent three full days going through the entries. Back in August I got the email that **two of my images had made the Top 10 in Landscapes**: Spiral and Cloudy Rivers. Nine days later I heard that Spiral was in the Top 5, but which place it had earned stayed a secret until this afternoon.

## The Story Behind Spiral

I took this image in September 2025 during my [West Greenland photo workshop](https://jvn.photo/photo-workshops/greenland/), from **the shore in Qeqertarsuaq on Disko Island**. It was a very stormy day and the group was with me. While I was photographing an iceberg from a wider view with my drone, I noticed that every now and then **the big swells rolling in would curl into a spiral around the iceberg’s sharpest edge**.

So I stayed with it, for **more than an hour**. It was windy, but still manageable for the drone. **It took many attempts** to get both the timing and the shape of the spiral right.

To me, that’s what this image is about. **Spending more time looking around and truly seeing the landscape can be of so much value in photography.** I only saw the spiral because I kept watching the water around the iceberg. If you’d like to see more from that week, I wrote about it in [my report from the 2025 West Greenland workshop](https://jvn.photo/whales-icebergs-photography-adventure-west-greenland/).

## Gear And Settings

Spiral was taken with the [DJI Mavic 4 Pro](https://jvn.photo/review-dji-mavic-4-pro-after-3-months-of-intense-photography/) on its main 1x camera (28mm equivalent), at **1/1000s, f/2.8 and ISO 160**. That shutter speed was fast enough to freeze the swell. If you’re planning to fly there yourself, I’ve also written about [the rules for flying a drone in Greenland](https://jvn.photo/flying-a-drone-in-greenland/).

## Why I Wasn’t At The Ceremony

I couldn’t be in Ede myself: **I start a workshop in Iceland tomorrow**, and one delayed flight home would’ve meant not being there when my group arrives. That’s a risk I couldn’t take. A big thank you to the Nature Talks team for understanding, and to the jury for picking Spiral.

Congratulations to all the other winners too. There’s some incredible work among them, and you can [see all the Nature Photographer of the Year 2026 results](https://naturephotographeroftheyear.com/previous-editions/npoty-2026-results/) on the competition website. Spiral also has [its own finalist page](https://naturephotographeroftheyear.com/npoty-2026-jeroen-van-nieuwenhove-spiral/) there.

## My Other Awards This Year

It’s been a good year for competitions. Earlier in 2026 I placed [second in Landscape at the FEP Awards](https://jvn.photo/fep-awards-2026-2nd-place-in-landscape-3rd-place-in-nature/) and [second in Nature’s Studio at GDT’s European Nature Photographer of the Year](https://jvn.photo/gdt-nature-photographer-of-the-year-2nd-place-in-natures-studio/). And last December I won [first place in “The World” at the Lowland Photo Festival](https://jvn.photo/lowland-photo-festival-1st-place-world/) with a drone image of a polar bear in East Greenland. You can find the full list on my [awards page](https://jvn.photo/about/awards-certifications/).