A participant with a demon mask brandishes a stick with fireworks among revellers during the traditional Correfoc (fire-run) festival in Palma de Mallorca on January 29, 2023. The Correfoc is a night of revelry in which participants dress up as demons and devils, and run through the streets scaring people with fire and fireworks. (Photo by Jaime Reina/AFP Photo)

Residents carry their belongings during a fire at Tondo in Manila on November 24, 2024. Raging orange flames and thick black smoke billowed into the sky, as fire ripped through hundreds of houses in a closely built slum area of the Philippine capital Manila. (Photo by Jam Sta Rosa/AFP Photo)

“Lofoten Glow”. I was desperately searching a good sunrise spot this particular morning. Normally Storvatnet Lake is completely covered in snow, so you can only imagine my surprise when I saw these crazy ice formations almost being shot out of the frozen lake. I put my crampons on and took a big risk walking out. I could hear the ice cracking underneath my feet, and when you’re all alone in a fjord/canyon like this – the cracks are echoed and sound really frightening. Was it worth it? I sure think so! Photo location: Storvatnet, Lofoten Islands in Northern Norway. (Photo and caption by Stian Klo/National Geographic Photo Contest)

Ten-year-old panda Xin Yue channels Kate Winslet in Titantic at Taihu Lake National Wetland Park in the Jiangsu Province of China.

We are all drawn to fire, entranced by its beauty and ferociousness. Its brilliance draws us in like moths to a candle flame. Thus, many of the celebrations that humans have involve lighting fires. They can be big or small; there could be many little lights or one giant inferno; they may float on water, burn on land, or rise high into the skies. Loi Krathong is a festival that is held each year in Thailand and a number of other places. During this festival thousands of little fires are lighted, presenting a marvelous sight for all the onlookers. It is believed that this tradition is an adaptation of Brahmanical festival, which was adopted by Thai Buddhists to honor Buddha.

A woman uses a tree branch to fight a fire on the road leading to the village of Parada, near Mortagua, northern Portugal, Thursday, August 11 2016. Firefighters in Portugal are battling multiple blazes fed by brush in a hot, dry summer for a sixth straight day. Major fires have also been raging in northwestern Spain and southern France. (Photo by Sergio Azenha/AP Photo)

British captain A. Gatti and two pygmies with a 500lb gorilla strung from a pole, which the captain shot in the Tchibinda forest in the Lake Kivu region, Democratic Republic of the Congo, circa 1930. (Photo by General Photographic Agency). P.S. All pictures are presented in high resolution.

A paddle boarder watches a hot air balloon flying low over Lake Burley Griffin on the 30th anniversary of Canberra's Balloon Spectacular festival in Australia's capital, March 14, 2016. (Photo by Lukas Coch/Reuters/AAP)