Hong Kong amateur photographer Anthony Lau has been named as the grand prize winner of the 2016 National Geographic Traveler Photo Contest.

Lau bagged the grand prize for his photo “Winter Horseman,” which was awarded first place in the People category of the photo contest. The photo is of a horseman charging out of the morning mist during winter in Inner Mongolia.

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"The Winter in Inner Mongolia is very unforgiving. At a freezing temperature of minus 20 and lower with constant breeze of snow from all direction, it was pretty hard to convince myself to get out of the car and take photos. Not until I saw Inner Mongolia horsemen showing off their skills in commanding the steed from a distance, I quickly grab my telephoto lens and capture the moment when one of the horseman charged out from morning mist,” Lau said in an interview.

According to Lau, the photo was shot while he was staying in Mongolia in December 2015, when the temperature reached between 20 to -30 degrees Celsius (about -4 to -22 Fahrenheit). He added that the “Winter Horseman” photo was taken during his photography tour to the Saihanba National Forest Park.

The entries in the 2016 National Geographic Traveler Photo contest were taken from the previous two years. BBC reported that the photos, including Anthony Lau’s work, were selected from three categories: People, Cities, and Nature.

Aside from Anthony Lau’s winning photo, 2016 National Geographic Traveler Photo Contest also awarded top winners under the Cities and Nature categories. Tokyo’s Takashi Nakagawa won the Cities category for his picture of a tranquil moment at Ben Youssef Madrasa in Marrakesh and Hokkaido’s Hiroki Inoue Nature's entry won for his emotional portrait of two red foxes playfully racing each other in Biei.

Prizes for the winners include a seven-day Polar Bear Safari for two at Churchill Wild-Seal River Heritage Lodge and a National Geographic Unique Lodge of the World, according to CBS News.

The panel of judges that picked Anthony Lau’s entry was comprised of Corey Arnold, contributing photographer for National Geographic Magazine; Anne Farrar, National Geographic Travel director of photograph; and photographer and filmmaker Foster Huntington.

TagsHong Kong, National Geographic Traveler 2016 Photo Contest, National Geographic, photo contest, Hong Kong Anthony Lau, Anthony Lau Winter Horseman