Are you ready to have your breath taken away? The winners of National Geographic's 2008 International Photo Contest are in, and although some are inspiring, and some are sad, all are beautiful and just the thing to take your Monday blues away.

Here are some of our favorites:

Places Winner

The photograph is the result of unbelievable coincidences during a trip around France in August, while exploring Paris and divided between the religious Lourdes and childish Disneyland. The tiredness after a full day of walking was gone in a moment when the Sun touched the horizon and spilled the light over the Jardin de Tuileries. A few shots were enough to capture the magic of the moment and cheerfulness of the Luna Park in our minds and hearts forever.



Places Honorable Mention

In Japan, ancestral spirits come back to their families in mid-August every year. People gives repose to the ancestors' spirits for three days and send them back to where they came from by putting them on lanterns to drift down river. Ms. Setsuko Sugino took this picture of a small girl praying for ancestral spirits and lanterns waiting to be set adrift into foggy river in Shikoku, Japan.



Places Honorable Mention

This photo was taken in Antigua, Guatemala. On each note is the message, "Te amo, Cristina."



People Honorable Mention

This shot shows a captured moment of a little Vietnamese girl during a journey to America for a medical treatment.



Nature Honorable Mention

Under a beautiful light, a monkey rests on the milennary stones of the Angkor temples, in Cambodia. The image talks about animal behavior, and about the very moving feeling of proximity between us and our nearest relatives in nature.



Nature Honorable Mention

There's a painting on the wall. It describes a house on the lawn and a shadow of a child touching a leaf with a bird flying. The image stresses the importance of harmony between nature and human beings.



Nature Honorable Mention

This is a shot of three eagles fighting over a fish in Homer, Alaska, from March 2008. You can see the fish at the top of the image flying by itself, but it was caught in its fall by another eagle.

To see all the winners and honorable mentions, click here.

via BoingBoing