A carnival member performs during a carnival procession of the closing carnival night in the town of Strumica, southeastern North Macedonia, 16 March 2024. North Macedonians are marking Trimery, an Orthodox Christian holiday, when evil spirits are chased away with dance rituals. The holiday marks the beginning of the fasting period ahead of Easter. (Photo by Georgi Licovski/EPA/EFE)

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)

Photograph of model Aly Dunne dressed in Gianfranco Ferre' design taken by Italian photographer Gian Paolo Barbieri in Milan, Italy, 1992. (Photo by Gian Paolo Barbieri/Fondazione Gian Paolo Barbieri/29 ARTS IN PROGRESS gallery/Handout via Reuters)

An alpaca Satsuki looks at a pet dog at a park while Alpaca Fureai Land's staffs walk the alpaca during early morning in Tokyo, Japan on June 21, 2023. (Photo by Kim Kyung-Hoon/Reuters)

Charli XCX performs at Hype Hotel on March 17, 2016 in Austin, Texas. (Photo by Lorne Thomson/Redferns)

Elizabeth Svensson (right), 35 and Klaudia Zakrzewska, 27, from London, arrive back in the UK at Heathrow Terminal 2, after being on holiday in Dubai for 15 days, during England's third national lockdown to curb the spread of coronavirus on Friday January 29, 2021. (Photo by Yui Mok/PA Images via Getty Images)

Models Lara Stone, Doutzen Kroes, CEO of l'Oreal Cyril Chapuy, Actress Eva Longoria, Models Karlie Kloss and Isabeli Fontana attend amfAR's 22nd Cinema Against AIDS Gala, Presented By Bold Films And Harry Winston at Hotel du Cap-Eden-Roc on May 21, 2015 in Cap d'Antibes, France. (Photo by Pascal Le Segretain/amfAR15/WireImage)

A waxworks artist retouches one of the wax figures at the unveiling of Little Mix waxwork figures at Madame Tussauds, in London, Britain, July 28, 2021. (Photo by Peter Nicholls/Reuters)