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)

Joseph Szabo was a frustrated high-school teacher in need of inspiration – so he started photographing his students, and captured all the angst and excitement of being caught between childhood and adulthood. Here: “Priscilla”, 1969. (Photo by Joseph Szabo/Courtesy of Michael Hoppen Gallery/The Guardian)

An owner poses with her Maine Coon cat in front of a mirror during a cat exhibition in Bishkek on April 19, 2015. Cat lovers from Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan took part in the exhibition. (Photo by Vyacheslav Oseledko/AFP Photo)

A Perseid meteor streaks across the sky over the community of Cold Creek on August 12, 2015 in the Spring Mountains National Recreation Area, Nevada. The annual display, known as the Perseid shower because the meteors appear to radiate from the constellation Perseus in the northeastern sky, is a result of Earth's orbit passing through debris from the comet Swift-Tuttle. (Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images)

An Indian soldier from the international peace keeping force (IPKF) instructs young Sri Lankan recruits in shooting, part of the training given to the citizen's volunteer force in the North-Eastern Sri Lankan city of Batticaloa, September 28, 1989. (Photo by Barbara Walton/AP Photo)

A mural depicting NHS nurse Melanie Senior, based on a photograph by Johannah Churchill, which The National Portrait Gallery commissioned artist Peter Barber to create in Manchester's Northern Quarter, on October 19, 2020 in Manchester, England. Greater Manchester's leaders including Mayor Andy Burnham will want better financial arrangements for workers affected before they agree for the region to be moved into a Tier 3 Covid-19 lockdown. (Photo by Christopher Furlong/Getty Images)

A person walks through the Brooklyn Bridge during a snow storm, amid the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic, in New York City, New York, U.S., February 1, 2021. (Photo by Brendan McDermid/Reuters)

American model Bella Hadid shares a behind-the-scenes photo from a lingerie shoot on December 28, 2021. (Photo by bellahadid/Instagram)