Smoke rises from a house days after part of the ground it was resting on collapsed into Lake Whitney, Texas in this June 13, 2014 file photo. I was covering the controlled burn of a house slowly falling into Lake Whitney due to the decaying cliff underneath. Asked to take photos from an aerial perspective, an instructor and I took off from Grand Prairie Municipal Airport around 9am. The burn, scheduled to start an hour later, was delayed. I love flying, but patience proved challenging as circling for nearly three hours gets boring fast. Once the fire started we only had 15 minutes to take photos because the plane was booked at 1pm. The owners invested their retirement savings in the house and were even advised by geologists that the ground was stable. To watch your investment literally go up in flames must take its toll emotionally. The owners said they don't expect their insurance to cover the loss. (Photo and caption by Brandon Wade/Reuters)

A daredevil photographer is determined to capture London in a whole new light – by scaling the city’s many rooftops. Jacob Riglin, from Richmond Upon Thames, photographs the nation's capital from above – hanging from scaffolding, dangling his legs over the edge of buildings and looking down from perilous heights. Such images have gained the photographer, 20, an incredible fan base on Instagram, which has seen his follower count rise to more than 150,000. He said, “I had always been interested climbing and getting that adrenaline rush from feeling on top of the world”. Here: Jacob looking out to the London skyline. (Photo by Jacob Riglin/Caters News)

South Korean Lee Jung-sook (L), 68, wipes the tears from her North Korean father Lee Heung-jong, 88, as they bid each other a sad farewell at a resort on Mount Kumgang, North Korea, 22 October 2015. About 390 South Koreans arrived at the resort two days ago for the first face-to-face reunion of families separated by the 1950-53 Korean War in nearly 20 months. A second group of some 260 South Koreans will do the same for three days starting on 24 October. (Photo by Yonhap/EPA)

A boy runs with a burning barrel soaked in tar at the annual Ottery St Mary tar barrel festival on November 5, 2015 in Ottery St. Mary, England. The tradition, which is over 400 years old, sees competitors (who must have been born in the town to take part) running with burning barrels on their backs through the village, until the heat becomes too unbearable or the barrel breaks down, starting with junior barrels carried by children and continuing all evening with ever larger and larger barrels. The event, which has been threatened with closure on previous years due to increasing public liability insurance costs, raises thousands of pounds for charity and attracts spectators from around the world. (Photo by Matt Cardy/Getty Images)

Members of the new BFEplus anti-terror unit of the German federal police holds a G36C automatic weapon after taking part in a capabilities demonstration at a police training facility on December 16, 2015 in Ahrensfelde, Germany. The BFEplus, whose acronym stands for Beweissicherungs und Festnahme Einheit, or Evidence Safeguarding and Arrest Unit, is to support the GSG9 police special forces unit in containing domestic terror threats. Germany is on high-alert following the November Paris terror attacks and a credible threat at the Germany vs. Holland football match in Hanover. (Photo by Sean Gallup/Getty Images)

Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, a member of the feminist punk band, p*ssy Riot, right, reads papers at a district court in Zubova Polyana 440 km southeast of Moscow in Russia's province of Mordovia, Friday, April 26, 2013. A Russian court is to consider whether one of the jailed p*ssy Riot members is eligible for early release. Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, in custody since her arrest in March 2012, is serving a two-year sentence for the band's irreverent protest against President Vladimir Putin in Moscow's main cathedral. Tolokonnikova's lawyer Irina Khrunova is at right. (Photo by Mikhail Metzel/AP Photo)

The eruption of Cordon Caulle began on June 4, 2011, located in the Region of Los Rios in Chile. For about 12 months, people and animals became accustomed to living with the daily fall of ash, which also caused problems in the air traffic in South America. The explosions and lightning during first days of the eruption could be seen from hundreds of miles around. This photograph was taken on the second night of eruption from the town of Lago Ranco. (Photo and caption by Francisco Negroni/National Geographic Traveler Photo Contest)

ATTENTION! All pictures are presented in high resolution. To see Hi-Res images – just TWICE click on any picture. In other words, click small picture – opens the BIG picture. Click BIG picture – opens VERY BIG picture.

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)