NASA astronauts Stan Love and Loral O’Hara test Axiom Space’s lunar spacesuits underwater on October 1, 2025. The AxEMU suit is designed for the Artemis III mission to the moon’s south pole, due to lift off no earlier than mid-2027. (Photo by NBL/NASA via South West News Service)

In this October 29, 2013 photo, Daniel smokes marijuana inside his apartment where he uses a hydroponics system to grow his weed in Mexico City. “I'm not a narco, dude. I just like to smoke”, said Daniel, who spoke on condition that his last name not be used because, he said, his home-grow operation is "super-illegal" despite being for personal use only. (Photo by Eduardo Verdugo/AP Photo)

An Indian Runner duck searches for food on a snow-covered meadow in Aitrang, southern Germany, Wednesday. April 19, 2017. (Photo by Karl-Josef Hildenbrand/DPA via AP Photo)

Purev and Buyantogtokh enjoy the warmth of the fire in the snow in Altai Mountains, Mongolia, September 2016. Navigate the snowy wilds of Mongolia with this nomadic reindeer herding family. Photographer Joel Santos dived 1000km into the depths of Northern Mongolia to visit the Ganbaa family near Khovsgol Lake. (Photo by Joel Santos/Barcroft Images)

Meghan Markle gestures as she and Prince Harry visit children at the Lights Academy in Abuja, Nigeria, Friday, May 10, 2024. Prince Harry and his wife Meghan have arrived in Nigeria to champion the Invictus Games, which he founded to aid the rehabilitation of wounded and sick servicemembers and veterans. (Photo by Sunday Alamba/AP Photo)

Richard Rude Junior of the United States, competes on his way to win the UCI MTB Enduro Men Elite, Mountain Bike World Championship, Monday, September 1, 2025, in Fiesch, Switzerland. (Photo by Maxime Schmid/Keystone via AP Photo)

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)