Ebiowei, 48, carries an empty oil container on his head to a place where it would be filled with refined fuel at an illegal refinery site near river Nun in Nigeria's oil state of Bayelsa November 27, 2012. Locals in the industry say workers can earn $50 to $60 a day. Thousands of people in Nigeria engage in a practice known locally as “oil bunkering” – hacking into pipelines to steal crude then refining it or selling it abroad. The practice, which leaves oil spewing from pipelines for miles around, managed to lift around a fifth of Nigeria's two million barrel a day production last year according to the finance ministry. (Photo by Akintunde Akinleye/Reuters)

Usually, we can only expect mischief from a group of overactive students. However, three talented students from Germany have amazed us with their dedication for beautifying their hometown. The electrical towers were always considered to be big ugly things. Most of the time, the electrical towers look awkward and completely ruin the beautiful landscape behind them. Nevertheless, the young minds have thought of a way to turn these towers into multicolored lighthouses, which immediately draw the attention of all the passersby and look as if they were brought here from a different world. All that was needed to achieve this was a little bit of imagination, colored plastic, and some spare time. Let us hope that this is only the beginning of the journey of these young artists. (Photo by Günter Pilger)

Exhilaration beyond imaginable, intense concentration on a single point, and complete freedom of soul – all these things very accurately describe the art of highlining. Highlining is a branch of a new sport called slacklining, which involves walking on special webbing secured between two points. Andi Lewis is one of the most famous slackliners in the world, particularly due to his performance during Superbowl Halftime Show in 2012. He never fails to surprise people with an amazing stunt or a project. This time he and his friends have created a completely incredible hand-knitted hammock located hundreds of feet above the ground. Just getting to this hammock requires immense skills and bravery. But once you’re finally there, you can rest a while, before mustering up the courage to go back across a narrow line with nothing but thin air beneath your feet.

In his newest series of photos called Low Tech, Kevin Twomey artfully captures the complexity of old-style typewriters and similar machines. Despite being completely outdated, you cannot help being amazed at how complicated those “simple” devises really are. Hundreds of little parts were meticulously put together to form a machine that would perform such “basic” functions by today’s standards. Similarly, very few modern people actually think about how complicated the current technology really is. We take for granted streaming videos, GPS, and countless devises that we use every day, while in reality, these things would seem like magic to even the most prominent scientists from only half a century ago. (Photo by Kevin Twomey)

Snakes are collected and rolled before putting into the oven on March 2, 2014 in the village of Kertasura, Cirebon, Indonesia. At slaughter house snake skins measuring in the hundreds of metres, are sold to bag factories in the West and Central Java provinces on a monthly basis. From snake skin was manufactured into bags, shoes, wallets and belts. The price of a bag made from snake skin costs between 150,000 rupiah ($15 USD) and 300,000 rupiah ($30 USD), depending on its size. When snake skins reach Western fashion houses their price can increase dramatically and sell for up to $4,000 USD. (Photo by Nurcholis Anhari Lubis/Getty Images)

An Armatix employee holds a “smart gun” by the company at the Armatix headquarters in Munich May 14, 2014. The gun is implanted with an electronic chip that allows it to be fired only if the shooter is wearing a watch that communicates with it through a radio signal. If the gun is moved more than 10 inches (25 cm) from the watch, it will not fire. A Maryland gun shop owner has dropped his plan to be the first in the United States to sell the so-called “smart gun” after a backlash that included death threats. (Photo by Michael Dalder/Reuters)

Elio Angulo (bottom C) lies inside a cardboard coffin next to Alejandro Blanchard as they introduce their product to potential customers at a mortuary in Valencia, in the state of Carabobo, Venezuela August 25, 2016. When Venezuelan entrepreneurs Alejandro Blanchard and Elio Angulo decided to create cardboard coffins, they were looking for an ecological selling point to compete against classic wood and brass caskets. Three years on, with the oil-rich country mired in deep economic crisis, their “bio-coffins” are becoming a viable option because of high prices for wooden coffins and shortages of brass ones. (Photo by Marco Bello/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)