Photographer Vincent Jansen travels throughout Europe, visiting beautiful abandoned places. He explores churches, factories, sanatoriums, mortuaries, villas and theaters, all quietly waiting for renovation or demolition. His photos show a unique perspective on what is happening behind the “no trespassing” signs: where nature is slowly gaining ground and the desolation, loneliness and decay leave their stunning traces. Photo: This piano was located in one of many rooms of a huge chateau in Poland. (Photo by Vincent Jansen)

Merit Prize Winner: “A Well Earned Rest in the Sahara”. This photo of Moussa Macher, our Tuareg guide, was taken at the summit of Tin-Merzouga, the largest dune (or erg) in the Tadrat region of the Sahara desert in southern Algeria. Moussa rested while waiting for us to finish our 45-minute struggle to the top. It only took ten minutes of rolling, running, and jumping to get back down. The Tadrat is part of the Tassili N'Ajjer National Park World Heritage area, famous for its red sand and engravings and rock paintings of cattle, elephants, giraffes, and rhinos that lived there when the climate was milder. Photo location: Summit of Tin-Merzouga, Tadrat, Tassili N'Ajjer National Park, Algeria. (Photo and caption by Evan Cole/National Geographic Photo Contest)

A devotee immerses an idol of elephant-headed Hindu god Ganesha in an artificial pond during Ganesh Chaturthi festival in Mumbai, India on September 20, 2023. (Photo by Aditya/NurPhoto/Rex Features/Shutterstock)

American rapper from Memphis GloRilla attends the 2024 iHeartRadio Music Awards at Dolby Theatre on April 01, 2024 in Hollywood, California. (Photo by Frazer Harrison/Getty Images)

A man falls from his motorcycle after hitting a water buffalo on his way to work outside Phnom Penh, Cambodia, Friday, September 6, 2024. Cambodian animal owners have been warned to keep their animals, which often cause traffic accidents, leashed and could face prison time if relatives of those who die or are injured in such accidents initiate legal proceedings. (Photo by Heng Sinith/AP Photo)

Devotees gather to take part in the celebrations to mark the Krishna Janmashtami festival at a temple in Jalandhar on August 26, 2024. (Photo by Shammi Mehra/AFP Photo)

People cool off as they dance in a swimming pool in an event at a local restaurant during a heatwave on July 2, 2023 in Beijing, China. China's capital city and northern parts of the country have experienced unseasonably high temperatures in the last days, sometimes reaching more than 40 degrees celsius, causing local governments to issue heat warnings. (Photo by Kevin Frayer/Getty Images)

Pupils Antonio Marin-Kalisz, 10 (left) and Zofia Krolikwska, 11 (right) from St Mary's Primary School in Leith, UK with local celebrity chef Tony Singh at the unveiling of Edinburgh Community Food's new educational tuk-tuk on Wednesday, October 2, 2024. The tuk-tuk will serve as a mobile educational initiative to teach communities about nutrition by making healthy cooking fun and accessible, and taking it into the heart of the community. (Photo by Jane Barlow/PA Images via Getty Images)