Man and Eagle captures hearts, grand prize

It's unlikely that Makanau Tumanbek, an eagle trainer living deep in the mountains of the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region, knows that a picture of him gently nuzzling the beak of his eagle Red Eye has gone viral on the internet.

The photo, captured by Niu Siyuan with his iPhone 5s in southern Xinjiang's Kezilesu Kirgiz autonomous prefecture, won the grand prize in this year's iPhone Photography Awards contest on July 7.

Niu, 29, the first Chinese to ever win the grand prize of the annual IPPAwards, said, "Makanau's move was to calm down the startled eagle. I noticed the tough 61-year-old Kyrgyz man, who rarely smiles, suddenly became so soft with his eagle. Immediately, I took my phone out and took the picture. There was no time for me to think."