National Geographic reveals its top pictures of 2015

The photographer, James Smart of Melbourne, Australia, captured the image, titled 'Dirt,' after 15 days of storm-chasing.

Smart has been awarded $10,000 and a trip to National Geographic headquarters in Washington, D.C., where he will participate in the annual National Geographic Photography Seminar in January 2016.

'Dirt,' along with other winning photos and honourable mentions, can be viewed at natgeo.com/photocontest.

The winning photo was taken last spring, outside of Simla, Colorado. Smart, along with his brother and some meteorologist friends, chased storms for 15 days before the captured the breathtaking moment.

'The tornado was slowly getting bigger as it picked up the dust and soil from the ground on the farmland,' Smart said.

'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. 

'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.'

The contest accepted submissions from the magazine's photography community, Your Shot, across three categories: People, Places, and Nature.

First place in the People category was awarded to Joel Nsadha of Binghamton, New York.

In this photograph, called 'At the Playground,' a young man in a Ugandan slum sits on his most cherished possession, his bicycle.

In the Places category, Francisco Mingorance's 'Asteroid,' was chosen as the winner. The photographer, from Andalusia, Spain, captured a marsh in Spain that has been partially destroyed by radioactive waste.

(dailymail.co.uk)