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)

“We take rusty old junk and we put love into it”. The old Motor City has a unique style in bicycles these days: from fat wheels and fake fuel tanks to stretched cycles with powerful sound systems – and even a family-sized BBQ. “Detroit’s custom bike scene developed alongside Slow Roll, a weekly cycle ride started in 2010 by Jason Hall and Mike MacKool. Now upwards of 2,000 people turn up each Monday to cruise a different part of the city. The week I go the crowd seems evenly split between black and white, male and female, city and suburbs. It’s the most inclusive cycle event I’ve ever witnessed”. (Photo by Jason Walker/Slow Roll Monday Nights)

Girls of the Long Horn Miao ethnic minority group wear headdresses as they prepare gather for Tiaohua or Flower Festival as part of the Lunar New Year on February 6, 2017 in Longga village, Guizhou province, southern China. (Photo by Kevin Frayer/Getty Images)

Tourists take photographs as a wild sika deer eats a bag on June 6, 2019 in Nara, Japan. Nara's free-roaming deer have become a huge attraction for tourists. However, an autopsy on a deer that was recently found dead near one of the city's famous temples discovered 3.2kg of plastic in its stomach and caused concern at the effect of tourism as Japan struggles to cope with a huge increase in domestic and international tourists. (Photo by Carl Court/Getty Images)

Iranian Shiite Muslim women gather around a bonfire after rubbing mud on their body during the “Kharrah Mali” (Mud Rubbing) ritual to mark the Ashura religious ceremony in the city of Khorramabad, some 470 kms southwest of Tehran, early in the morning on October 1, 2017. “Khrreh Mali” or “Mud Rubbing” is a ritual that is held in the city of Khorramabad every year to commemorate the seventh century slaying of Prophet Mohammed' s grandson Imam Hussein, in which Iranian men roll over in mud and dry themselves by gathering around the bonfires before flagellating themselves. (Photo by Atta Kenare/AFP Photo)

Lush green rice terraces sprawl over 2,200 hectares of mountainside ready to be harvested. These stunning images, captured by photographer Saravut Whanset, show the incredible terraces throughout the course of the day, including at sunrise and sunset. Workers tend to the fields, with each terrace between 1 and 1.5 metres wide, while wooden huts stand on stilts on the mountainside. The beautiful panoramic pictures were taken in Mu Cang Chai, Vietnam, with the fields located at the foot of the Hoang Lien Son mountain range, 1,000 metres above sea level. (Photo by Saravut Whanset/Solent News and Photo Agency)

One of the worlds shortest models Mary Russell at 4 feet 1 inch with 6 foot model Georgia Meacham in London, UK on June 16, 2016. The 4ft1 beauty suffers with achondroplasia a medical term for dwarfism, which means she has as average sized torso but short arms and short legs, with an oversized head. As well as stifled growth, Mary also suffers with sciatica and spinal stenosis, an abnormal narrowing of the spinal canal – which cause agonising nerve problems, leaving her in excruciating pain and unable to stand for long periods of time. The condition leaves Mary, 47, struggling with everyday tasks things most people take for granted like going to the supermarket, getting cash from an ATM and ordering a drink at a bar become a challenge. (Photo by Simon Jacobs/Caters News Agency)

Kenyan photographer and art director Barbara Minishi (L) takes pictures of her room mate and fashion stylist Wambui Thimba (R) wearing a creation by a Kenyan fashion designer on the rooftop of their apartment in Nairobi, Kenya, on June 1, 2020. After their scheduled works was cancelled due to the spread of the COVID-19 coronavirus, Minishi and Thimba have started their own project called “the Kenya Fashion & Style Diary in 21 days” to showcase a Kenyan fashion brand everyday for 3 weeks on social networking services since May 22, 2020 by only shooting at their apartment. (Photo by Yasuyoshi Chiba/AFP Photo)