He's spent 14 years making thousands of photos of the Colima Volcano in the southwest corner of Mexico. His perseverance paid off in December with the shot of a lifetime.

His photo captures a remarkable moment—the volcano erupting in a plume of ash and lava as lightning strikes, illuminating the scene against a sky filled with stars. For Tapiro, it underscores everything that makes Colima beautiful. "Every time you take a picture of a volcano, it reminds you of the beginning of this world," he says.

At an elevation of over 12,000 feet, Colima Volcano is a complex of volcanos that includes Nevado de Colima on the north, Volcán de Colima on the south, and the extinct El Cantaro. The "volcano of fire" was particularly active in 2015, as was Tapiro. Some people might grow bored photographing the same thing over and over and over, but Tapiro never tires of it. "I'm like a child," he says. "Every day amazes me with something like the sunset, the moon, and this volcano."