Members of Taliban take pictures of the devastated village of Mazar Dara following a deadly magnitude-6 earthquake that struck Afghanistan, Kunar province, Afghanistan, on September 1, 2025. (Photo by Sayed Hassib/Reuters)

Participants take part in a Christmas day swim in the sea at Brighton beach, southern England on December 25, 2024. (Photo by Ben Stansall/AFP Photo)

Dancer Beth Bracegirdle of the Balbir Singh Dance Company practises at the Billingham Forum pool in Billingham, UK on July 20, 2016, ahead of the 52nd Billingham international folklore festival of world dance in August. (Photo by Owen Humphreys/PA Wire)

Second Place Winner: “Thunderstorm at False Kiva”. I hiked out to these ruins at night hoping to photograph them with the Milky Way, but instead a thunderstorm rolled through, creating this dramatic image. – Max Seigal. National Geographic Traveler Director of Photography Dan Westergren, one of this year's judges, shares his thoughts on the second place winner: “This photo combines two different scenes into one: the small kiva in a cliff dwelling and the grand vista of Canyonlands National Park across the valley. I really like the two different color palettes – warm inside and purple outside. This two-for-one scene was caused by the lightning storm outside the dwelling, which lit up the landscape like it was a huge electronic flash. Looking at this picture I can imagine what a wonderful sight it must have been for the ancient people who lived here. It doesn't seem too amazing now in our modern world, but might have been mind-blowing for the prehistoric residents”. Location: Utah. (Photo and caption by Max Seigal/National Geographic Traveler Photo Contest)

A boy looks back while he and another boy play on a Syrian military tank, destroyed during fighting with the Rebels, in the Syrian town of Azaz, on the outskirts of Aleppo, Sunday, September 2, 2012. (Photo by Muhammed Muheisen/AP Photo)

A young anoa, also known as midget buffalo, named Tycoon runs around at the Zoo in Berlin, Germany, on November 9, 2012. (Photo by Maurizio Gambarini/EPA)

A hungry cow smiles for the camera in Salzburg, Austria. One of a series of funny animal mugshots taken by Chanel Cartell and Stevo Dirnberger during their travels around the globe. (Photo by Chanel Cartell/Stevo Dirnberger/Rex Features/Shutterstock)

Indian mourners perform a cremation on the roof of a building overlooking The Manikarnika Ghat in Varanasi on August 23, 2016. India's holy city of Varanasi has been forced to halt cremations along the banks of the sacred river Ganges as deadly floods from monsoon rains hit parts of the country, an official said. More than 100,000 people have been forced from their homes in recent days in northern Uttar Pradesh and neighbouring Bihar states as rain-swollen rivers burst their banks. (Photo by Sanjay Kanojia/AFP Photo)