“I spent three days and three nights at around 4,500 metres above sea level, giving myself the best possible chance of photographing the area under ideal conditions,” says winner of the world’s biggest panoramic photography competition

But capturing this extraordinary scene was no easy feat. Garcia spent three days and three nights at high altitude, waiting for the right conditions to photograph the landscape. His patience paid off when he caught one of the final bursts of sunlight illuminating the volcanic peaks.

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The Sleeping Giant is a 360-degree aerial panorama assembled from 33 individual exposures. Garcia carefully refined the framing to focus the final composition on what mattered most: the volcanoes, the light and the landscape’s shapes.

He explains, “Parinacota Volcano was one of the main photographic goals of my trip to Chile.

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“Rising to more than 6,300 metres, its distinctive snow-covered cone has an almost perfect symmetry that immediately reminded me of volcanoes such as Mount Fuji.

“Beside it stands Pomerape, another giant reaching more than 6,200 metres, together forming one of the most impressive landscapes I encountered during the journey.

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“After allowing time for proper acclimatisation, I spent three days and three nights at around 4,500 metres above sea level, giving myself the best possible chance of photographing the area under ideal conditions.”