Japan Self-Defense Force (JSDF) soldiers and firefighters make rescue works among mountain lodges, covered with volcanic ash near the peak of Mt. Ontake, which straddles Nagano and Gifu prefectures in this September 28, 2014 photo taken and released by Kyodo. More than 30 people were feared dead on Sunday near the peak of the Japanese volcano that erupted a day earlier, sending a huge cloud of ash and rock tumbling down its slopes, while packed with hikers. (Photo by Reuters/Kyodo News)

Gothic rock music enthusiasts walk the streets between venues during the annual Wave Gotik music festival on June 11, 2011 in Leipzig, Germany. The festival began in the 1990s and has since grown into one of the biggest gatherings of Goth scene followers in Europe with around 20,000 participants. Many of those attending wear elaborate outfits and make-up for which they require hours of painstaking preparation and that also show a departure from the traditional black of the Goth scene. Punk remains a strong influence in today's Goth style as witnessed in Leipzig, but newer trends, with names like Cybergoth and Steampunk, have emerged that blend bold colors, Victorian fashion elegance and 19th and 20th century factory accessories into a look reminiscent of a mutated Venetian carnival. The five-day festival includes performances by around 200 bands. (Photo by Carsten Koall/Getty Images)

A man sits at the back of his car in the city centre of Yangon on September 15, 2023. (Photo by Sai Aung Main/AFP Photo)

“By 1969, the fashion choices of tens of millions of young American men and women were as variegated and ever-evolving as the world around them. Cultural transformation was an irresistible force during the Sixties, and across America and around the globe civil rights, women’s and gay liberation, the sexual revolution and, of course, the explosive soundtrack of R&B, soul and rock and roll informed everything from politics to fashion”. – LIFE. Photo: Corona del Mar High School students Kim Robertson, Pat Auvenshine and Pam Pepin wear “hippie” fashions, 1969. (Photo by Arthur Schatz/Time & Life Pictures)

A brave photographer managed to get within metres of an active volcano despite it spewing out lava waves over 140 metres high. Silhouetted against a fiery fountain of red, Icelandic photographer, Tómas Freyr Kristjánsson, 37, braved blistering temperatures to get as close the volcano as possible. Although very few were brave enough to get so close, Tómas managed to photograph nearby tourists to give some scale to the spraying molten rock, including that of a nearby motorcyclist. (Photo by Tómas Freyr Kristjánsson/Caters News)

These stunning images reveal the remains of a more than century-old sunken ship that has been preserved beneath freezing Lake Superior. The ship looks almost exactly the same as it did the day it sunk beneath waves all those years ago. At 60 meters long (approximately 198 feet), the «Gunilda» sunk after it struck some rocks and was not saved. Now, these stunning images have been captured 107 years after the sinking when a small group of divers revisited the vessel. (Photo by Becky Kagan Schott/Caters News Agency)

Buddhist nuns watch a parade during a Novitiation Ceremony at the Hlegu Township in Yangon on March 15, 2025. (Photo by Sai Aung Main/AFP Photo)

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)