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)

Military vehicles surround a wreckage of a trolleybus, in Volgograd, Russia, Monday, December 30, 2013. A bomb blast tore through a trolleybus in the city of Volgograd on Monday morning, killing at least 10 people a day after a suicide bombing that killed at least 17 at the city's main railway station. Volgograd is about 650 kilometers (400 miles) northeast of Sochi, where the Olympics are to be held. (Photo by Denis Tyrin/AP Photo)

Waverly Fire's Tell Hanes, left, and Southeast Fire's Trey Wayne, right, jump over freezing water to high five while participating in a Surface Ice rescue technician course on Friday, January 6, 2023, at Holmes Lake Park in Lincoln, Neb. The International Rescue and Relief department at Union college held rescue training course at Holmes Lake for students and local fire departments. (Photo by Kenneth Ferriera/Lincoln Journal Star via AP Photo)

A Kathakali dancer in Kochi, India, performs a traditional story play on August 10, 2023. Kerala Kathakali originated in the Early 17th Century. A story acted that contains Mime, Acting Drama and music, The Stories are mainly taken from Hindu Mythology and Puranas. (Photo by Paul Quezada-Neiman/Alamy Live News)

A girl picks catkins at a field amid the COVID-19 pandemic in Sarighat, on the outskirts of Dhaka, Bangladesh, October 2, 2020. (Photo by Mohammad Ponir Hossain/Reuters)

Lava erupts from a crater of Mt. Etna, Europe's largest active volcano, behind Santa Maria della Guardia church in Belpasso, near Catania, in southern Italian island of Sicily, early Friday, June 18, 2021. Since Feb. 16, 2021, Mt. Etna has begun a series of spectacular eruptive episodes. (Photo by Salvatore Allegra/AP Photo)

A child sleeps inside a makeshift hammock made of a saree which is a tradition Indian costume worn by women, along a road in New Delhi on August 19, 2021. (Photo by Sajjad Hussain/AFP Photo)

Aerial view of tourists in life vests and rubber rafts in the Grand Canyon of western Henan, Sanmenxia, China on August 5, 2017. (Photo by Imaginechina/Rex Features/Shutterstock)