ROAM’s Best Action Shots of 2020

Eliane Zürrer caught the mid-air bliss of a Snow Canyon dunes day, plus more fabulous photos of families on the road and on the move.

By Liliia DeCos

There is no family traveling without action. Whether it’s jumping, hiking, biking, diving, running – or, well, you name it! – there’s no stopping the movement on a trip with kids.

The hard part is to get a good photo that captures the fun and excitement of the action (not to mention one that is in focus and well framed). Photographers know great action shots can be really tricky because we all know that the best ones are not staged.

ROAM’s 2020 Best Family Travel Photo Contest had a large number of entries that managed to capture a sharp action snap, which is why it was so hard to recognize just five photographers.

Best Action Shot

After many discussions, the judges agreed that Red Dunes Jump by Eliane Zürrer had to be ROAM’s Best Family Travel Action Shot 2020.

The Swiss mom and world traveler behind elianezuerrer was vacationing with her family in Snow Canyon State Park when she caught this shot.

“This gorgeous little state park is not very well known, so it was just us and beautiful nature all around us,” says Zürrer.  “The kids loved playing in the sand dunes so they started a jumping contest. By the end of the day, all of us had red, itchy sand everywhere.”

We couldn’t agree more with Eliane: What could be more fun than being silly with your kids? Well done capturing that feeling in this fabulous shot!

“This picture shows how much fun it is to explore beautiful new places with your kids – they don’t just look, they jump right in. It’s contagious.”

Action Photos – Honorable Mentions

Four more photographers were awarded honorable mentions in the Action category for their exciting snaps:

Shipwreck SUP by katiekasumovic

Katie from katiekasumovic  and her mesmerizing picture of her child paddling over a ship wreck.  “The mystery of this shot grabs me!” says Crystal Engstrom, judge and ROAM Photo Editor. “It screams ‘family adventure’!”

White Sand Surf by ___reddirtwanderers___

Andrea Campbell got props for her winning shot from the dunes of Lancelin in Western Australia. “We were three months into our twelve-month lap of Australia. We had been to Lancelin before five years ago and loved the huge sand dunes in the area. We knew we had to go back there again, and get our ‘surf’ on. We hired sand boards and carted them up the mountainous dunes and flew down them, the girls squealing with delight, and sometimes face planting. It was extremely tiring work and we only lasted an hour or two but it was great memories right there that we knew would last a lifetime!”

Jumping Baby by polashka

Vladivostok dad Vitaliy Jazvenko got this happy shot of his baby’s first walk in the Khabarovsk forest in the Far East region of Russia. The smiles that both mom and baby are wearing made us smile too! “This was our seven-month-old daughter’s first time in the forest – and it was our first time using this type of baby carrier – so for our little one it was her first time ‘seeing the world.’”

Broome Sunset by lapofthemapfishingaustralia

Mom Kylie heads up the Australian family behind lapofthemapfishingaustralia, who is RVing for a year around their country. One of her favorite parts is when her kids make friends on the road. “The kids had been coming up with dance routines with some new friends they made on the road. This was just them all mucking around mid-dance!” So all you have to do is to take a snap! (Oh, and it doesn’t hurt to have a pack of camels walking behind you on picturesque Cable Beach in Broome – at sunset!)

Check out all the Action prize-winners photos in the gallery below (turn mobile devices to “landscape” for the best view) and click here to see the winning photos from 2019.