Artists perform during the opening show directed by German director Volker Hesse, on the opening day of the Gotthard rail tunnel, at the fairground Rynaecht at the northern portal in Erstfeld, Switzerland, Wednesday, June 1, 2016. The construction of the 57 kilometer long tunnel began in 1999, the breakthrough was in 2010. After the official opening on June 1, the commercial operation will start in December 2016. (Photo by Ruben Sprich\Pool Photo via AP Photo)

National Diving School director Jerome Vincent, wearing a Gandolfi space suit, executes training procedures in a swimming pool in Marseille October 22, 2014. The underwater test session develops European expertise in spacewalk simulations under partial gravity for exploring the Moon, asteroids and Mars.The training is organised by Comex, a French company specializing in engineering and deep sea diving operations, in collaboration with the European Space Agency (ESA) and with Apollo XI “Under the sea”. (Photo by Jean-Paul Pelissier/Reuters)

English actor Emma D’Arcy, English film and television director of Argentine origin, and former storyboard artist Miguel Sapochnik, and Australian actress Milly Alcock pose with the award for Best Television Series in Drama for “House of the Dragon” at the 80th Annual Golden Globe Awards in Beverly Hills, California, U.S., January 10, 2023. (Photo by Mario Anzuoni/Reuters)

Artist Pyotr Pavlensky sits on the wall enclosing the Serbsky State Scientific Center for Social and Forensic Psychiatry after he cut off a part of his earlobe during his protest action titled “Segregation” in Moscow October 19, 2014. Pavlensky protested against the usage of forensic psychiatry for politically motivated purposes. He cut off his earlobe to demonstrate how authorities could “cut off” an unwanted individual from society by using psychiatric and medical diagnosis to forcefully send a person to a penitentiary hospital, according to Pavlensky. (Photo by Maxim Zmeyev/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)

A woman from the Tarahumara ethnic group cuts firewood with an ax while preparing for winter in Caborachi village, in Guachochi, Mexico, December 17, 2016. (Photo by Jose Luis Gonzalez/Reuters)

Border between Sweden and Norway at Moldusen. An approximately 20-meter wide clearing in the forest separates the two Scandinavian nations, consequently cutting Finnskogen in two. Grue Finnskog 2016. (Photo by Terje Abusdal/The Washington Post)