Natural landscapes are a universal source of inspiration, but it isn’t easy to convey a physical sense of awe with a photo.

For our Landscapes Quest, we challenged the 500px community to submit top-tier photos of awe-inspiring landscapes and scenery. The settings ranged from larger-than-life mountains (a 500px favorite) to winding roads and textured fields, but all of the finalists stopped us in our tracks.

The winner, The Spire by Simeon Pratt, caught the judge’s eye with thoughtful composition.

The Spire by Simeon Pratt on 500px.com

Here’s what Simeon had to say about the shot:

“I took this photograph a few hours after my arrival in Iceland. This was the first time flying my drone after I experienced some nearly-catastrophic battery failure, so this flight was mostly a test to see if my gear was still working. I was very lucky that all systems were still working, and that the very volatile Icelandic weather let up long enough for me to capture this gloomy, but striking, landscape.”

Get inspired with the finalists’ outstanding landscapes:

Scoresbysund Morning Light by Hans-Peter Deutsch on 500px.com

Patagonia dream by Luka Vunduk on 500px.com

Notre Dame de la Garde by A|L Photography on 500px.com

The train to the top by Yuyang Wang on 500px.com

Rainbow at Stokksnes by Saptashaw Chakraborty on 500px.com

Cannon Beach Redux by Nathaniel Merz on 500px.com

Dreaming of Tuscany by Crystal Stephens on 500px.com