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)

A man rides a golden motorbike on a street in Bangkok, Thailand on August 14, 2020. (Photo by Jorge Silva/Reuters)

British fashion designer Mary Quant, right, waves as she poses with models wearing her Mod creations in Little Rock, Ark. on October 25, 1968. The models, from left, are, Amanda Tear, Rory Davis and Penny Yates. (Photo by AP Photo)

Palestinian bedouin shepherds pull their lambs into the water to wash them, in Gaza City, on April 29, 2016. Every year before the beginning of the summer, shepherds wash their herds in the sea. (Photo by Mohammed Abed/AFP Photo)

The driver of a Maerlitram (fairy tram), dressed as a Santa Claus, walks past a car which crashed into the tram in Zurich, Switzerland December 7, 2017. (Photo by Angelika Gruber/Reuters)

An employee works on a glass sphere for Christmas and New Year decoration at the “Biryusinka” toy factory, which has been producing decorations and toys for the festive season since 1942, in the Siberian city of Krasnoyarsk, Russia, November 16, 2016. (Photo by Ilya Naymushin/Reuters)

A Naga man carries fish in his teeth after it was stunned by dynamite, which fishermen threw in a creek between Donhe and Lahe township, in the Naga Self-Administered Zone in northwest Myanmar December 27, 2014. (Photo by Soe Zeya Tun/Reuters)

Eddy the badger is pictured as Nicanor goes to leave water and fruits for the animals affected by the fires, in San Buenaventura, Bolivia on November 26, 2023. (Photo by Claudia Morales/Reuters)