Smoke rises from a house days after part of the ground it was resting on collapsed into Lake Whitney, Texas in this June 13, 2014 file photo. I was covering the controlled burn of a house slowly falling into Lake Whitney due to the decaying cliff underneath. Asked to take photos from an aerial perspective, an instructor and I took off from Grand Prairie Municipal Airport around 9am. The burn, scheduled to start an hour later, was delayed. I love flying, but patience proved challenging as circling for nearly three hours gets boring fast. Once the fire started we only had 15 minutes to take photos because the plane was booked at 1pm. The owners invested their retirement savings in the house and were even advised by geologists that the ground was stable. To watch your investment literally go up in flames must take its toll emotionally. The owners said they don't expect their insurance to cover the loss. (Photo and caption by Brandon Wade/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)

A Tenggerese shaman praying for worshippers at Widodaren cave during the Tenggerese Hindu Yadnya Kasada festival on July 31, 2015 in Probolinggo, East Java, Indonesia. The festival is the main festival of the Tenggerese people and lasts about a month. On the fourteenth day, the Tenggerese make the journey to Mount Bromo to make offerings of rice, fruits, vegetables, flowers and livestock to the mountain gods by throwing them into the volcano's caldera. The origin of the festival lies in the 15th century when a princess named Roro Anteng started the principality of Tengger with her husband Joko Seger, and the childless couple asked the mountain Gods for help in bearing children. The legend says the Gods granted them 24 children but on the provision that the 25th must be tossed into the volcano in sacrifice. The 25th child, Kesuma, was finally sacrificed in this way after initial refusal, and the tradition of throwing sacrifices into the caldera to appease the mountain Gods continues today. (Photo by Ulet Ifansasti/Getty Images)

Aerialist Erin Blaire, 33, performs a hair hanging trick for a photographer while hanging from a metal bar on a subway platform on March 14, 2023 in New York City. Erin Blaire, originally from Vermont, has lived in New York City for eight years and has been performing her aerial hair routine for the last three. The origin of hair hanging is believed to have originated in China, according to reports, and is a closely guarded circus trick passed from mentor to mentee. Although it is possible to find the technique and secrets online it is most-likely not how professional performers learned the skillset, and not how Blaire did either. (Photo by Alexi Rosenfeld/Getty Images)

In this April 2, 2015 photo, dog owner Laura Aquilina strolls with her two year old Rottweiler Brutus, who was recently fitted with prosthetics on all four paws, and is currently learning to use them, near Aquilina's home in Loveland, Colo. Brutus lost all four paws to frostbite as a puppy while under care of a breeder, and Aquilina began caring for him about a year ago. (Photo by Brennan Linsley/AP Photo)

This artist image released from Japan's airline All Nippon Airways (ANA) on April 17, 2015 shows ANA's Boeing 787-9 aircraft into the colors of R2-D2 robot of Star Wars. Japanese air carrier ANA will place the special colored jetliner in service in this autumn. (Photo by AFP Photo/All Nippon Airways)

People in costume take photos during a Halloween event on October 31, 2015 in Lan Kwai Fong, Central District, Hong Kong. Halloween, a named taken from 'All Hallows' Even' falls on the day before All Saints' Day on November 1, a holiday when Christians remember their deceased loved ones. (Photo by Jerome Favre/Getty Images)

A boy listens to a prayer before he and other relatives visit the grave of their loved ones, all minors, who were killed a year ago during the government's war on drugs campaign, at the Tala Cemetery in Caloocan, east of Manila on December 28, 2017, as the world commemorates Holy Innocents' Day. Catholics celebrate the biblical passage when King Herodes the great ordered to kill all newborn babies to kill Jesus Christ. (Photo by Noel Celis/AFP Photo)