“The Independence day”. While on storm chasing expeditions in the Tornado Alley in USA I have encountered many photogenic supercell storms. This photograph was taken while we were approaching the storm near Julesburg, Colorado on My 28th, 2013. The storm was tornado warned for more than one hour, but stayed an LP storm through all its cycles and never produced a tornado, just occasional brief funnels, large hail and some rain. Photo location: Julesburg, Colorado, USA. (Photo and caption by Marko Korošec/National Geographic Photo Contest)

Hot air balloons fly over Igualada during an early flight as part of the European Balloon Festival on July 10, 2014 in Igualada, Spain. The early morning flight of over 30 balloons was shorter than expected due to windy weather. This flight is organised as a curtain raiser for the four-day European Balloon Festival. Now is the 18th year of the most important hot air Balloon event in Spain and one of the biggest in Europe. (Photo by David Ramos/Getty Images)

Layers of breathtaking colour streak the rolling hills of this vast desert, making the landscape appear as though it has been tie-dyed. The natural phenomenon, nicknamed the “Painted Desert”, was formed when the area was once a river floodplain. Each colour corresponds to a different underground geological feature – rocks which have seemingly dyed the layers of earth above. Formed from volcanic activity, the hills at the John Day Fossil Beds National Monument in East Central Oregon, USA, are almost bursting with colour. Pictured: The colourful hills at the John Day Fossil Beds National Monument in East Central Oregon, USA. (Photo by Mark Brodkin/Solent News/SIPA Press)

A pro-democracy demonstrator fights with a Soviet soldier on top of a tank parked in front of the Russian Federation building on August 19, 1991, after a coup toppled Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev. The same day, thousands in Moscow, Leningrad, and other cities answered Russian Republic President Boris Yeltsin's call to raise barricades against tanks and troops. (Dima Tanin/AFP/Getty Images)

Hot air balloons take to the skies over Bristol city centre on August 6, 2012 in Bristol, England. The early morning flight of over twenty balloons over the city was organised as a curtain raiser for the four-day Bristol International Balloon Fiesta which starts on Thursday. Now in its 34th year, the Bristol International Balloon Fiesta is Europe's largest annual hot air balloon event in the city that is seen by many balloonists as the home of modern ballooning. (Photo by Matt Cardy)

An adorable 11-week old lion cub named Karis had a very exciting day playing in a pile of autumn leaves that her keeper swept into her enclosure at the Blair Drummond Safari and Adventure Park in Scotland. This proved to be a very wise decision on her keeper’s part, as she seems to have had the time of her life frolicking around in the pile of leaves

Artist and photographer Carl Warner began his career in landscape and still photography, working many years in the advertising industry. Seeking new inspiration and direction one day, he happened upon a market with Portobello mushrooms that reminded him of trees from an alien world. This would become his first foodscape and the start of a new and exciting direction in his career.

Angel Falls is the world’s highest waterfall as well as the inspiration for Paradise Falls in the Pixar film Up. Unless you’re planning on visiting the falls in the heart of Venezuela in person, the next best thing might be this stunning series of 360° aerial panoramas recently captured by photographer Dmitry Moiseenko over two days from a helicopter. Pan around, zoom into the scene, and become immersed in the otherworldly landscapes found at Angel Falls.