Photographer Mihaela Noroc travelled the world from Ethiopia to the US and from Guatemala to France in search of natural and authentic beauty. She introduces some of the inspiring women she met on her journey. Here: Ecuador. “More and more tribes of Amazonia are starting to adopt modern clothes for everyday life. But they are still keeping their traditional clothes for important events. I photographed this young woman in her wedding outfit”. (Photo by Mihaela Noroc/The Guardian)

Residents move the wreckage of cars that were swept away by flood in Bekasi, West Java, Indonesia, Friday, January 3, 2020. Severe flooding in greater Jakarta has killed scores of people and displaced tens of thousands others, the country's disaster management agency said. (Photo by Achmad Ibrahim/AP Photo)

A graffiti, portraying a woman, is seen in Medellin, Colombia on November 19, 2017. Mural graffitis from different artists, street art can be seen in almost every city on Earth, but street arts raw power and potential for change was felt by me most intensively in Medellins Comuna 13, previously one of Colombias most dangerous neighbourhoods, in fact Communa 13 was constant battleground between gangs, narcos, paramilitaries and the government, but today you would hardly recognise it. (Photo by Juancho Torres/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images)

A customer plays “Red Light, Green Light” game from the Netflix show “Squid Game” at Strawberry Cafe in Jakarta, Indonesia, October 15, 2021. (Photo by Ajeng Dinar Ulfiana/Reuters)

School children wear face masks as they take part in an awareness rally against the use of tobacco on “World No Tobacco Day” in Kolkata on May 31, 2022. (Photo by Dibyangshu Sarkar/AFP Photo)

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)

Conservation staff members move the eight-years-old White Rhino Seha into a truck in Johannesburg, South Africa, 28 July 2017. Seha is the only survivor after five rhinos where poached on the same game farm. South Africa has the world's largest population of Rhinos in the world. (Photo by Kim Ludbrook/EPA/EFE)

Three cabaret dancers sit glum-faced in the Windmill Theatre's canteen upon hearing the news that the theatre's owners have sold out to a cinema company, on October 02, 1964. The theatre, which was the first to include nudity in its shows, has been able to cope with competition from a growing number of West End strip clubs. (Photo by Hulton-Deutsch Collection/CORBIS/Corbis via Getty Images)