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)

Members of the Mahogany Blue Baby Dolls including Victoria “Lady Lotus” Spotts (C) march in the 25th Anniversary Satchmo Salute second line parade, honoring New Orleans jazz legend Louis Armstrong, on August 3, 2025 in New Orleans, Louisiana. Revelers marched from historic St. Augustine Catholic Church in the Tremé neighborhood to the New Orleans Jazz Museum where Satchmo Summerfest is being held. (Photo by Mario Tama/Getty Images)

A boy attends the “Bloco da Lama” (Block of Mud) group during the carnival festivities, in Paraty, Brazil on February 11, 2024. (Photo by Pilar Olivares/Reuters)

Madagascan sunset setting over the 98-foot-tall baobab trees of the Avenue of the Baobabs located in Menabe, Madagascar on August 2020. (Photo by Kim Paffen/MediaDrumImages)

Armed women attend a rally to show support to the Houthi movement in Sanaa, Yemen January 13, 2018. (Photo by Khaled Abdullah/Reuters)

American Yoga teacher Dashama poses on a Yoga-board during a preview of the 46th International Boat Fair in Duesseldorf January 16, 2015. The BOOT 2015 watersports fair, with more than 1,600 international exhibitors will run in Duesseldorf from January 17 to January 25. (Photo by Ina Fassbender/Reuters)

A boy plays with a toy plane on the eve of a solar eclipse, in La Higuera, Coquimbo Region, in the Atacama desert about 580 km north of Santiago, on July 1, 2019. A total solar eclipse will be visible from small parts of Chile and Argentina on July 2. (Photo by Martin Bernetti/AFP Photo)

People walk past stranded cargo ship “Ocean Crown” during a windy weather in Klaipeda, Lithuania on December 26, 2017. (Photo by Ints Kalnins/Reuters)