Under Thin Ice

Photograph by Sergey Krasnoshchokov , National Geographic Your Shot

On Russia s Kamchatka Peninsula, fire and ice meet to form an otherworldly underground. Located on a slope of the peninsula s Mutnovsky volcano, the cave s stream is fed by volcanic hot springs. Sunlight filters through thinning glacial ice above.

It took me two trips to the shoreline and a number of attempts to obtain the image I wanted, he writes. It was meant to emphasize the incredible number of birds, their sense of freedom, and the sheer power of nature.