Germany's Wolfgang Kimmig-Liebe, who has been volunteering as Santa Claus for years, is searched by a Carabiniere paramilitary police officer before entering in St. Peter's Square at the Vatican to attend Pope Francis general audience, Wednesday, December 2, 2015. (Photo by Alessandra Tarantino/AP Photo)

Mermaid Hales Parcells geets children as she performs at the Virginia Aquarium in Virginia Beach, Va., Monday, April 3, 2017. The Aquarium presents a mermaid show one night each week during the month of April. (Photo by Steve Helber/AP Photo)

A guard secures gates of a catfish farm visited by a group of foreign reporters in Pyongyang, North Korea April 17, 2017. (Photo by Damir Sagolj/Reuters)

South Korean students pose for a selfie following a traditional coming-of-age ceremony at Namsan hanok village in Seoul on May 15, 2017. The Coming of Age Day is the day to celebrate and encourage the youth who have reached the age of 20, which is considered the beginning of adulthood. (Photo by Ed Jones/AFP Photo)

A zookeeper counts penguins through an observation window during the annual stocktake at ZSL London Zoo in central London on January 3, 2023. (Photo by Justin Tallis/AFP Photo)

A picture made available on 17 September 2014 shows extreme athletes resting in hammocks on webbings stretched between rocks during the International Highline Meeting in Monte Piana, near Misurina, in the northern Italian Alps, Italy, 08 September 2014. (Photo by Balazs Mohai/EPA)

Mechanic and welder Sergei Kulagin, 32, strengthens the bracing of a spider sculpture, made by Kulagin, during a demonstration on the wall of an automobile repair workshop in the town of Divnogorsk outside Krasnoyarsk, Siberia, October 15, 2014. Enthusiast Kulagin, who works as a mechanic of an automobile service station, created about 20 sculptures made of used car parts and components during his non-working hours. (Photo by Ilya Naymushin/Reuters)

“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)