The Travel Photographer of the Year (TPOTY ) awards have been honouring excellence in the field of photography since its inception in 2003. In spite of the pandemic, The TPOTY awards 2021 saw nearly 20,000 entries from 151 countries. The winning photos are now up on their website (https://www.tpoty.com/). From abstract photos of stunning natural beauty to stark depictions of social realities, these pictures seem to hold a mirror up to the various aspects of humanity and nature. Some other photos tell stories and depict paradoxes in fine bits of &lsquostorytelling&rsquo. Encouragingly enough, TPOTY also honours the future crop of budding photographers with a slew of different awards for those under 18&mdashand if the best photos in these categories are any indication, the future of photography is bright indeed.