Romanian military doctors and medical students sit on a bus behind steamy windows before the National Day parade in Bucharest, Romania, Thursday, December 1, 2016. Military planes and helicopters flew over the Romanian capital Thursday as thousands turned out to celebrate the national day, marking the date when the country reunified with Transylvania in 1918. (Photo by Vadim Ghirda/AP Photo)

Syrians gather during an evacuation operation of rebel fighters and their families from rebel-held neighbourhoods on December 15, 2016 in the embattled city of Aleppo. A convoy of ambulances and buses left rebel territory in Aleppo in the first evacuations under a deal for opposition fighters to leave the city after years of fighting. The rebel withdrawal will pave the way for President Bashar al-Assad's forces to reclaim complete control of Syria's second city, handing the regime its biggest victory in more than five years of civil war. (Photo by Karam Al-Masri/AFP Photo)

A member of Iraqi rapid response forces fires a rocket launcher during a battle with Islamic State militants in the district of Yarimja in southern Mosul, Iraq, January 18, 2017. (Photo by Alaa Al-Marjani/Reuters)

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)

Chamrock, an Irish wolfhound, sports a green coat as he waits for the start of the St. Patrick's Day parade on March 17, 2012 in Chicago, Illinois. Tens of thousands took advantage of record high temperatures and sunny weather to attend the city's annual St. Patrick's Day celebration. (Photo by Brian Kersey/Getty Images)

“Sergey Mikhaylovich Prokudin-Gorsky (August 30 1863 Russian Empire – September 27, 1944 Paris, France) was a Russian chemist and photographer. He is best known for his pioneering work in color photography of early 20th-century Russia”. – Wikipedia

Photo: Dinner during haying. Russian Empire, Novgorod province, county Cherepovets, 1909. (Photos by Sergey Prokudin-Gorsky via US Library of Congress and Prokudin-Gorsky.org)

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Passengers take photos at a wildfire while traveling on a train in Zamora, Spain, Monday, July 18, 2022. When Francisco Seoane's train unexpectedly stopped in Spanish countryside that was being engulfed by a wildfire, he and other passengers got a fright when they looked out at flames encroaching on both sides of the track. The Spaniard told The Associated Press it was scary to see how quickly the fire spread. Video of the unscheduled – and unnerving – stop shows about a dozen passengers in Seoane's railcar appearing alarmed as they look out of the windows Monday. (Photo by Francisco Seoane Perez/AP Photo)

A person wearing a mask of Elmo walks around Times Square during the pass of the snowstorm on January 31, 2021 in New York City. New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio declared a state of emergency order due to the arriving storm that's expected to wallop New York, where airports are expected to cancel the majority if their flights. (Photo by Eduardo Munoz Alvarez/VIEWpress)