A United aircraft rolls over the highway to its parking position after landing at the airport in Frankfurt, Germany, Thursday, February 15, 2024. (Photo by Michael Probst/AP Photo)

American socialite Kylie Jenner at the 2024 Met Gala: “Sleeping Beauties: Reawakening Fashion” held at The Metropolitan Museum of Art on May 6, 2024 in New York City. (Photo by Dia Dipasupil/Getty Images)

Colombian-American actress Sofia Vergara shows some skin while basking on then beach early December 2024. (Photo by sofiavergara/Instagram)

US surfer Koa Rothman rides a huge swell in training for the Da Hui Backdoor Shootout 2025 event held annually at Pipeline on the North Shore of Oahu, Hawaii, on December 26, 2024. The “Da Hui Backdoor Shootout” in 2025 is an invitation-only surfing competition held on the North Shore of Oahu, Hawaii, during a holding period from January 4 to 16, 2025. (Photo by Brian Bielmann/AFP Photo)

A woman looks at some of the 60 plane trees wrapped in a pink-and-white polka-dot design developed especially for Melbourne by Japanese contemporary artist Yayoi Kusama titled “Ascension of Polka Dots on the Trees”, in Melbourne on November 27, 2024. The National Gallery of Victoria’s (NGV) world-premiere blockbuster exhibition Yayoi Kusama will be on display from 15 December 2024 to 21 April 2025. (Photo by William West/AFP Photo)

DJ Drama (R) arrives at America's Got Talent is seen on March 28, 2025 in Pasadena, California. (Photo by Hollywood To You/Star Max/GC Images)

German model Emma Todt poses as she arrives for the screening of the film “Armageddon Time” during the 75th edition of the Cannes Film Festival in Cannes, southern France, on May 19, 2022. (Photo by Stephane Mahe/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)