“Himalayan Dog”. This dog just appeared out of nowhere and followed us for an entire week during our trekking trip in the Himalayan outback. He always used to sleep in front of our tent and guarded us in the nights. When I decided to get up at 4 a.m. to climb the next 5000 m peak for sunrise he accompanied me as well. On the top he was sitting for the entire 30 minutes on this place looking straight into the countryside. Photo location: Ladakh, India. (Photo and caption by Sebastian Wahlhuetter/National Geographic Photo Contest)

Wide-angle category winner. Part of the Illusion by Marcus Blatchford (UK). Location: National Dive & Activity Centre, Chepstow, Wales. “This is the deepest inland dive centre in the UK. The dive plan was to explore the deep end, but this time I dived ‘unplugged’ (without my strobes). With the exception of this change to my camera technique, there were no planned shots I wanted to achieve – just a fun dive with ad-hoc photos along the way. Shortly after this photo was captured, in 6C water and two hours of decompression ahead of us, we turned and started the long ascent back to the surface”. (Photo by Marcus Blatchford/Underwater Photographer of the Year 2016)

A singer drinks from a huge bowl of beer on-stage as he pays tribute to the customers after performing at an entertainment club in Beijing, on May 8, 2014. (Photo by Jason Lee/Reuters)

“Artist of the light”. While shooting sunrise in the Vermilion lakes area of Banff national park, Canada, I met a fellow photographer on the scene. Most of the time, we tried not to get in each other's way, however, just by accident, I snapped a picture with him in it working on his tripod settings, and it turned out to be a great photo compared to my sunrise shots. (Photo and caption by Victor Liu/National Geographic Traveler Photo Contest)

ATTENTION! All pictures are presented in high resolution. To see Hi-Res images – just TWICE click on any picture. In other words, click small picture – opens the BIG picture. Click BIG picture – opens VERY BIG picture.

A sun bear reacts to triple-digit temperatures at the Henry Doorly Zoo in Omaha, Nebraska, where the temperature reached 103 degrees Fahrenheit on July 6, 2012. (Photo by Nati Harnik/Associated Press)

Daniel Fox inside the Mendenhall Glacier, in September 2014, in Juneau, Alaska. Driving in an open-roofed jeep is no longer the fashionable way to see wildlife – as this adventurer shows. A keen wildlife photographer has circled islands in the south of Alaska, the United States, in a kayak to see spectacular scenery and animals. Daniel Fox, 40, from San Francisco spent three months travelling around the islands by kayak, meeting sea lions and brown bears along the way. (Photo by Daniel Fox/Barcroft Media)

Tourists walk amongst beach foam in the wake of cyclonic conditions at Currumbin Beach on December 15, 2020, after wild weather lashed Australia's Northern New South Wales and South East Queensland with heavy rain, strong winds and king tides. (Photo by Patrick Hamilton/AFP Photo)

A woman stands next to a giant jandal on Tamarama Beach as giant sculptures are installed ahead of the “Sculpture by the Sea” exhibition in Sydney on October 19, 2016. Celebrating it's 20th anniversary, Sculpture by the Sea is the world's largest annual, free-to-the-public, outdoor sculpture exhibition. (Photo by William West/AFP Photo)