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)

Tourists from Holland peak through a crack in a still-existing portion of the Berlin Wall at the main memorial to the Wall in Bernauer Strasse on the 22nd anniversary of the fall of the Wall on November 9, 2011 in Berlin, Germany. The Berlin Wall, erected by the communist authorities of then East Germany in 1961, divided the city and prevented East Germans from travelling west until the collapse of the Eastern Bloc in 1989. (Photo by Sean Gallup/Getty Images)

At first, British photographer Martin Usborne just wanted to do some reporting on people who leave their dogs locked up in cars. But as he went around scouring parking lots, “making barking noises to try and awaken sleeping dogs that were not actually there,” his project took on a new artistic direction. “The Silence of Dogs in Cars” was inspired by a “childhood memory of waiting in a car whilst his parents were shopping in a supermarket, and the youthful fear that they would not return.”

In this handout image provided by Disney Parks titled, “A Tale As Old As Time”, Disney Parks invites guests to “Let the Memories Begin”, spectacular new images have been created by acclaimed photographer Annie Leibovitz. Penelope Cruz and Jeff Bridges appear as Belle and the transformed prince, recalling the final scene from “Beauty and the Beast”. The celebratory moment's tagline reads, “Where a moment of beauty lasts forever”. The campaign premieres as a special insert in the April issues of O, The Oprah Magazine, People, People En Espanol, Real Simple, Essence, and InStyle. (Photo by Annie Leibovitz/Disney Parks via Getty Images)

Italian architect Giovanni Pesamosca’s work is reaching scenic new heights. His cabin is perched on the edge of Foronon Buinz in Italy’s Julian Alps. The pre fabricated structure was placed at the spectacular location in memory of deceased climber Luka Vuerich, and is now providing free accommodation complete with jaw dropping panoramic views for up to nine people… the intrepid kind willing to make a long trek to 8303 feet (2531 meters) above sea level.

A local miner wades through water as he walks down from a mountain in Benguet a day after Typhoon Haima struck northern Philippines, October 21, 2016. Super Typhoon Haima slammed into the northeastern Philippine coast late Wednesday with ferocious winds and rain that rekindled fears and memories from the catastrophe wrought by Typhoon Haiyan in 2013. (Photo by Erik De Castro/Reuters)

Michael Massaia's photographs are as nostalgic as they are disturbing. His long-exposure images capture a subject matter familiar to most. From a SpongeBob SquarePants popsicle to a Neapolitan ice cream sandwich, he frames the frozen treats most people's summer memories are made of. Yet, Massaia doesn't just realistically render his ice cream. He distorts the childhood favorites by melting them before his lens, until the pops resemble ominous pools of paint or celestial snapshots.

In the remote Argentine Pampas you can find an incredible forest formed in the shape of a guitar. More than 35 years ago, Pedro Ureta unexpectedly lost his wife to a brain aneurysm. Devastated by the loss of his love, he decided to create a shrine to her memory in their field that could only be seen above-head from an airplane. Ureta chose a guitar because it was his late wife’s most loved instrument.