Stunning Milky Way images from Kiwi photographers named among world's best

Three New Zealand photographers have been lauded for their images of the Milky Way.

The annual competition from travel photography blog showcases images of the galaxy taken from around the world.

Of the 25 highlighted this year out of hundreds of entries, three come from New Zealand photographers, the most from any one country: Nick Faulkner, Rachel Roberts, and Evan Mckay.

Christchurch-based Faulkner runs which specialises in landscapes and astrophotography.

His image, Solitude, is of Castle Hill in Selwyn.

In his summary he described the region as remote but stunning: “This Alpine region is one of my favourite places to photograph the stars, as it is to so many other passionate dark sky enthusiasts.

“The formations of hundreds of giant weathered limestone tors that erupt from mother earth, make for incredible subjects to capture. Add a late winter snowfall to that and it doesn’t get much better.”

For , her image of Motukiekie on the West Coast showcases the region’s “darkest and most underrated skies” in New Zealand.

She was incredibly happy with her image, The Rocks, as she had a baby six weeks before the shoot and “the sleep deprivation I was feeling was next level!”

It was second time lucky for and his image of Taranaki Maunga.

After a less-than-impressive previous attempt, he was “pleasantly surprised to find the skies had cleared up by the morning and proceeded to hike up and shoot from this spot on The Puffer”.

“It was still my first setting arch of the year. There were even a few meteors flying around and I caught some of them on my frames. I arrived a bit late, so the foreground shots ended up being taken during twilight, which required plenty of colour, temperature, and exposure adjustments to merge them into a panorama.”

This year’s competition attracted entries from around the world including the US, Australia, Egypt, Chile, and Argentina. Last year, New Zealand photographer Larryn Rae of was named among the

To view more of the finalists, click on the video at the top of this story.

More details of the competition can be found