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 woman, with her face covered with colored powders, dances during the Holi Festival of Colors in Lisbon, Sunday, September 15 2013. The festival, which is mainly celebrated during the Hindu spring festival Holi in some regions of India and Nepal, has become popular among people in other communities. (Photo by Francisco Seco/AP Photo)

Couples take part in a Valentine's Day attempt to break the record for the world's largest simultaneous gay kiss on February 14, 2004 in Rome, Italy. (Photo by Franco Origlia/Getty Images)

Fascist youth, both boys and girls, in the rebel uniforms in Irun after the city had been captured by the rebels. (Photo by Maeers/Fox Photos/Getty Images). 13th November 1936

A local resident of Red Hook, Betty Walsh, crosses a flooded street in Red Hook August 28, 2011 in the Brooklyn borough of New York City. While Hurricane Irene has been downgraded to a tropical storm, it has knocked out power to more than 3 million people and is attributed to 15 deaths as it travels up the Eastern seaboard. (Photo by Robert Nickelsberg/Getty Images)

“I’d come to the Altai Mountains on an Adventure Sherpas tour. Our group of 12 was made up mostly of Minnesotans who’d left warm weather and falling leaves for frosty Mongolia. We’d come to sleep in cozy ger tents, the traditional yurt abode of the Mongolian steppe; sip mare’s milk tea; climb mountain glaciers; ride horses to an ancient battle site, and attend the annual Eagle Hunting Festival in Ölgiy...”. – Kathryn Kysar via The Star Tribune. Here: hunter Berek and his eagle outside his home. (Photo by Brad Ruoho/The Star Tribune)

A new book of photos by legendary photographer Weegee shows what industrialized, pre-gentrified New York looked like in the mid-20th century, before the city was crammed with towers and billboards. Here: this combination shows the 1945 photo “Derelict sleeping on the sidewalk outside police headquarters” by Weegee, provided by the International Center of Photography in New York, and a woman walking on the same spot on Wednesday, March 18, 2015. (Photo by AP Photo/Copyright Weegee/The International Center of Photography, Mark Lennihan)

People dance Tuesday, April 28, 2015, in Baltimore. Maryland's governor vowed there would be no repeat of the looting, arson and vandalism that erupted Monday in some of the city's poorest neighborhoods. (Photo by Matt Rourke/AP Photo)