National Geographic Nature Photographer of the Year Contest // Landscape winner // Photograph by Jacob Kaptein // Last year I participated in the National Geographic photo program known as the Marius van der Sandt Beurs. This scholarship supports photography by young photographers. For a whole year I was guided by some excellent nature photographers to realize a project I wanted to accomplish. I chose a natural stream restoration project of a nature organization in the Netherlands. The first time I entered this patch of forest, I immediately saw this little beech tree. I came back several times to photograph it. One evening, just after sunrise, all the light conditions were perfect. I stood in the cold water for more than an hour making many photos while I experimented with different shutter speeds.