“Impressive Architecture of India”. Very impressive architecture attract me...when a women was sweeping the floor, I took the picture. Photo location: Jaipur, India. (Photo and caption by Raymond Liu/National Geographic Photo Contest)

“Northern Curtain”. Stunning Aurora Borealis seen just on the outskirts of Tromsø in Norway. Photo location: Tromsø, Norway. (Photo and caption by Gabor HGabor/National Geographic Photo Contest)

“Gavroche”. The serious boy helps people to build barricades in Kiev. He came with friends from a neighboring town. Thousands of people had four months of anti-mafia rally on Euromaidan, on the main square of the ukrainian capital. On the boy's hat pasted stickers “Kiev, wake up!”. Photo location: Kiev, Ukraine. (Photo and caption by Vadym Kulykov/National Geographic Photo Contest)

“The look”. The straordinary color upon the faces of the Hamer tribe in Jinka Ethiopia gived by the ground – Lo straordinario colore rosso che riflette la terra sui volti della tribu degli Hamer. Photo location: Jinka, Ethiopia. (Photo and caption by Adam Ferlin/National Geographic Photo Contest)

“Final touch”. This was taken near from a quarry, he is the oldest sculpture use to make godess sculptures in this area. Photo location: Koorkanpaara, Kunnamkulam, Trissur, Kerala, India. (Photo and caption by Nishar Mohammed/National Geographic Photo Contest)

“Torrent”. “Torii” built as a marine guardian deity. It is a building which symbolizes Japan. A long time ago, there is a legend that the wreck at sea decreased greatly, thanks to this torii. Photo location: Shosanbetsu，Hokkaido, Japan. (Photo and caption by Mitsuhiko Kamada/National Geographic Photo Contest)

“Clouds Over Eyjafjallajokull”. On a cloudy day we traveled to the west end of the Vatnajokull Glacier in Iceland, when the clouds opened it showed us this amazing valley with Eyjafjallajokull and Katla standing over a river floor layered with black ash, sand and lava from years of furious eruptions and flooding. Photo location: Iceland. (Photo and caption by Adam Henning/National Geographic Photo Contest)

“Staying warm in Yamal”. A young Nenet girl waits for the reindeer herders to finish their task before setting off on the northward migration to new pastures. Photo location: Yamal, Siberia. (Photo and caption by Gordon Esler/National Geographic Photo Contest)

“Larung Gar Buddhist Academy”. Houses for monks and nuns sprawl all over the valley at the Larung Gar Buddhist Academy. Larung Gar is located in the Larung Valley at an elevation of 4,000 meters. It is one of the largest and most influential centers for the study of Tibetan Buddhism in the world. Photo location: Sertar, Sichuan, China. (Photo and caption by Jørgen Johanson/National Geographic Photo Contest)

“Deadliest Catch”. It is no wonder the labor department has named crab fishing on the Bering sea the single most dangerous job in America. Freezing temperatures and radically changing weather conditions account for the high rate of casualty. Despite the high pay, 80% of “greenhorns” do not return after their first sortie. Photo location: Bering Sea, Alaska. (Photo and caption by Sebastian Copeland/National Geographic Photo Contest)

“Akasia”. Bambuti are one of several indigenous pygmy groups in the Democratic Republic of the Congo Bambuti are pygmy hunter-gatherers, and are one of the oldest indigenous people of the Congo region of Africa. During the Congo Civil War, the Bambuti were hunted down and eaten as though they were game animals. Both sides of the war regarded them as “subhuman” and some say their flesh can confer magical powers. Photo location: Ituri forest, DRC. (Photo and caption by Passarini Mattia/National Geographic Photo Contest)

“The father and the son”. Summer 2013 was dedicated fully for following a fox family with 5 cubs and a strangely bald father fox. This photo is probably the culmination of my effort to capture that family. All the elements of the photograph came together as it rarely happens: light, poses of foxes, background, the blur of the grass on the foreground and even a spiny shrub on the foreground works well. Photo location: Ben Shemen forest, Israel. (Photo and caption by Alex Geifman/National Geographic Photo Contest)

“Sean Connery from Cuba”. As I was passing by the streets of Havana Vieja I noticed a face staring at me. I kindly asked for a portrait on my bad Spanish, but it turned out he spoke English pretty well. He's 85 years old, and there's a lot of life left in him. I asked him if there's something he regrets, he said yes. Being born somewhere else. Photo location: Habana Vieja district, Cuba. (Photo and caption by Marko Marinkovic/National Geographic Photo Contest)

“Butterflies of Ipanema”. An image taken just before sunset on Ipanema beach in Rio. This work encapsulates essences of youth, travel and summer whils it's monochromality adds a layer of conception. Photo location: Ipanema, Rio de Janeiro. (Photo and caption by Jeremy Spierer/National Geographic Photo Contest)

“Crossing”. Tsugaru Railway is a local line of Aomori Japan. Tunnel of cherry tree is completed in the spring. On the right it is the platform of the station unmanned. There is a railroad crossing with no barrier in front of the station. Local people will usually cross train even if getting closer. Photo location: Aomori, Japan. (Photo and caption by Sho Shibata/National Geographic Photo Contest)

“Far above the clouds”. Rio de Janeiro viewed from above the clouds on Sugar Loaf Mountain. Photo location: Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. (Photo and caption by Tony Burns/National Geographic Photo Contest)

“Shepherd”. In many societies, shepherds were an important part of the economy. Unlike farmers, shepherds were often wage earners, being paid to watch the sheep of others. Shepherds also lived apart from society, being largely nomadic.Shepherds would normally work in groups either looking after one large flock, or each bringing their own and merging their responsibilities. They would live in small cabins, often shared with their sheep and would buy food from local communities.This photograph taken during tea time in side of shepherds house an available light. Photo location: Kashmir valley, J&K State, India. (Photo and caption by Pradip Mahapatra/National Geographic Photo Contest)

“On cloud nine”. On my trip to the small island Heligoland in the north sea, i was able to take a few pictures of these fantastic northern gannets. Photo location: Heligoland, Germany. (Photo and caption by Robert Sommer/National Geographic Photo Contest)

“The Lost City in the Clouds”. Even though the weather was not so good for my visit here, the clouds were swirling through the mountains quick enough to take this mystical shot of Machu Picchu. Photo location: Machu Picchu, Peru. (Photo and caption by Ben Caldwell/National Geographic Photo Contest)

“Time Traveler”. We live in a information society. I want to tell the world about Japanese culture. Natural style of Japanese. My feelings for you. Photo location: Atami, Sizuoka, Japan. (Photo and caption by Masahiko Futami/National Geographic Photo Contest)

“Solitude and Silence”. Storm clouds illuminated by soft sunset light above the snow covered Karwendel group with beginning Alpenglow, all reflected in this calm alpine lake called Geroldsee (Wagenbrüchsee) in Bavaria. Photo location: Geroldsee, Alps, Bavaria, Germany. (Photo and caption by Dave Derbis/National Geographic Photo Contest)

“Water War”. This game the children uses the kray leaves in his belt as a weapon. Photo location: Rumpin, Bogor, West Java. (Photo and caption by Saiful Shyrazy/National Geographic Photo Contest)

“Faith”. A dedicated man praying all alone under a heavy snowfall, at the usually crowded Western Wall in Jerusalem. The Western Wall, the only remnant of the Holy Temple of Jerusalem (destroyed in 70 CE), is the holiest site for the Jewish people. It is visited by huge crowds of worshipers and tourists almost every day. Photo location: Jerusalem, Israel. (Photo and caption by Noam Chen/National Geographic Photo Contest)

“Beautiful morning”. Taken at Lake Shirakawako, Japan. Beautiful lake in Yamagata Prefecture. When it comes to spring, the lake is Freshet by melting snow water and trees will be submerged. For taking its charming atmosphere, I am going to this place every year. Photo location: Iide, Yamagata Pref, Japan. (Photo and caption by Teruo Araya/National Geographic Photo Contest)

“The white Hijacker”. There on the coast of Kuwait, especially in mud places hundreds of thousands of Mudskipper fish ... and the mudskipper is the favourite food's for Egrets and seagulls ... and while i was taking photo shots for this poor mudskipper one of Little Egrets coming to put the End for the life of this fish! Photo location: Northeast of Kuwait. (Photo and caption by Abdulaziz Alyousef/National Geographic Photo Contest)

“The Net thrower”. The fisherman are conducting activities on Situgunung Lake. Photo location: Situgunung lake, Sukabumi, West Java, Indonesia. (Photo and caption by Dody Kusuma/National Geographic Photo Contest)

“Upwelling – Mackarel in The Trawl Net and Mullet”. Upwelling, a phenomenon in which the deep waters in the ocean rise to the surface with the blowing winds, can be observed in so many places in the World. It causes the fish jammed in the shores of only Sinop and the Strait. It is known as fish murrain in the Strait and it is named as (upwelling) in Sinop, where it causes the rapid decrease of the temperature of water along the coasts from 27°C to 6-8°C. I found a chance to frame the shoals of Mullet and the fishermen who are fishing with the nets of the fishing boats in the shore. Therefore, upwelling has been documented for the first time. Photo location: İnceburun, Sinop, Black Sea, Turkey. (Photo and caption by Sertaç Çelik/National Geographic Photo Contest)

“Affection”. A giraffe showing affection for another. Photo location: Namibia. (Photo and caption by William Chua/National Geographic Photo Contest)

“Portraits from the Mara”. The masterpiece of my series Mara. A cheetah was roaming around the savannah. Our guide drove us close to the animal and instead of getting scared, the cheetah started walking toward us, maybe just out of curiosity. In this shot I managed to get him looking at me. A really incredible, majestic animal, with such fierce eyes. The effective focal length for the shot was 640mm resulting from an APS-C sensor combined with an effective 400mm lens. I used my Manfrotto tripod as a monopod in order to stabilize myself while shooting from the jeep. Photo location: Masai Mara, Kenya, Africa. (Photo and caption by Paolo Altomare/National Geographic Photo Contest)