Sunrise over Haleakala Crater, Haleakala National Park, Maui, Hawaii on April 26th, 2011. (Photo by Robert Bush/Alamy Stock Photo)

A gibbon drinks from a soft drink bottle, given by a tourist, at a zoo in Kunming, Yunnan province, June 18, 2015. (Photo by Wong Campion/Reuters)

In this March 15, 2012 file photo, a Chinese woman poses for photos near a sculpture depicting a Chinese yuan note at an art district in Beijing, China. China devalued its tightly controlled currency on Tuesday, August 11,2015, following a slump in trade, triggering the yuan's biggest one-day decline in a decade. The central bank said the yuan's 1.3 percent fall was due to a change aimed at making its exchange rate controls more market-oriented. But any change raises the risk of tensions with China's trading partners. (Photo by Ng Han Guan/AP Photo)

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 migrant carries his belongings as he arrives at the Beijing railway station to catch a train in Beijing, Friday, February 13, 2015. (Photo by Andy Wong/AP Photo)

Solid Light, an exhibition of the immersive works of Anthony McCall, opens at Tate Modern in London on June 25, 2024. Installations use beams of light projected through a thin mist to create large three-dimensional forms. (Photo by Guy Bell/Alamy Live News)

A dog is decorated with bracelets in the city centre in Vienna on Thursday, August 8, 2024. Organizers of three Taylor Swift concerts in the stadium in Vienna this week called them off on Wednesday after officials announced arrests over an apparent plot to launch an attack on an event in the Vienna area such as the concerts. (Photo by Heinz-Peter Bader/AP Photo)

October 25, 2009; London,UK; The mascot for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers watches a cheerleader during the NFL International Series game against the New England Patriots at Wembley Stadium. (Photo by David Wilkinson/Offside Sports)