“Winter Climbing from inside Ben Nevis”. The view from inside the mountain, as a winter climber passes through the cave on Minus Three gully. Photo location: Ben Nevis, Fort William, Scotland. (Photo and caption by Daniel Wildey/National Geographic Photo Contest)

“Thunderstruck”. Summer stom. A super cell formed off the coast of New Zealand, intensified and swept across Christchurch and North Canterbury, February 23, 2014. Photo location: Christchurch, New Zealand. (Photo and caption by David Hardy/National Geographic Photo Contest)

The Boeing 747-8 cargo plane pilot has seen thunderstorms, shooting stars and sunsets from up above the clouds and has looked down on mountaintops, carpets of cloud and cities lit up at night. The incredible pictures give a glimpse of the view from the pilots are treated to every day. Here: Shooting stars over India. (Photo by Christiaan van Heijst/Caters News Agency)

These Northern Lights “rainbows” have turned the sky greener than the Earth below. Vitaly Istomin, 26, spent several nights in freezing conditions under the stars in northern Russia’s Khibiny Mountains to capture the aurora’s “rainbows”. (Photo by Vitaly Istomin/Caters News Agency)

The sun rises between Sgurr nan Gillean and Knight’s Peak, Black Cuillin, Isle of Skye. (Photo by Adrian Trendall/Mountain Photo of the Year)

A photographer has created a series of paw-traits of hungry dogs pulling hilarious faces as they try and catch treats. Using a unique technique, the shots are captured at the exact moment the adorable pooches attempt to catch an airborne piece of food. The dogs appear surprised, happy, sad, confused – and sometimes even so blasé they miss the treat entirely. The images were taken by Christian Vieler, a photographer from Waltrop, Germany. Here: A labrador retriever. (Photo by Christian Vieler/Caters News)

Winner. “I took this picture of a woman in traditional clothing in Cartagena, Colombia”. PAUL GOLDSTEIN, JUDGE: “The blaze of colour from every angle, the boldness of the picture, taken from behind, which gives it so much more allure and frankly a superb get up. Did I mention the colours? Oh, and that looks suspiciously like a Nokia”. (Photo by Stanislav Shmelev/The Guardian)

“What did I know about Chechnya before last week? For someone who grew up in the 1990s the very word Chechnya meant a string of grainy images on TV showing people in battered camouflage outfits, shooting at each other amid destruction and ruin. Fear, wahhabis, Shamil Basayev, terrorism, mountains: these were the words that used to spring to my mind when someone mentioned Chechnya”. – Maxim Shemetov. Photo: Special forces officers stand guard during a government-organised event marking Chechen language day in the centre of the Chechen capital Grozny April 25, 2013. (Photo by Maxim Shemetov/Reuters)