Light is the sole reason why life exists. It provides us with warmth; it allows us to see; it nourishes all the living things on this planet. Many painters, especially the masters of Old Renaissance Period, have recognized the importance of light and its intimate connection with nature and life itself. In their paintings they gave tribute to light, giving the impression that their paintings had a light source hidden within them. Al Hogue, the artist who created the paintings that you see before you, has studied their techniques for many years. As time went by, light permeated not only his paintings by also his life, becoming his sole philosophy.

“Guns have a massive amount of power associated with them. They are designed to kill. We decided to photograph portraits of them in a similar way you might photograph a powerful person. Like powerful people, pistols have this “perfect” quality that we wanted to explore. As we started shooting them, we could see flaws in their design. Metal burring around the barrels, scratches in the metal. This imperfection and detail were very interesting to us; connecting us back to these images as portraits”. – Peter Andrew. (Photo by Peter Andrew/Simon Duffy/Derek Blais)

Conjoined twins Angelica (C) and Angelina Sabuco (L) play with child life specialist Allison Brooks during a press conference at the Lucile Packard Children's Hospital at Stanford on October 31, 2011 in Palo Alto, California. Two year-old conjoined twins Angelica and Angelina Subaco who are connected at the chest and abdomen are preparing for separation surgery by Dr. Gary Hartman. The surgery will last between 6 and 8 hours that is followed by three hours of reconstructive surgery for each girl. (Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)

“Kavadi Attam is a dance performed by the devotees during the ceremonial worship of Murugan, the Tamil God of War. It is often performed during the festival of Thaipusam and emphasizes debt bondage. The Kavadi itself is a physical burden through which the devotees implore for help from the God Murugan”. – Wikipedia

Photo: A devotee pulls his procession burden connected by hooks pierced in his back during the Thaipusam procession at Sri Srinivasa Perumal Temple on February 7, 2012 in Singapore. (Photo by Chris McGrath/Getty Images)

Construction cranes stand on the Unstrut Valley high-speed railway bridge on March 19, 2012 near Karsdorf, Germany. The Unstrut bridge, which is 2,668m long (about 1.6 miles), is among 38 bridges and 26 tunnels German state rail carrier Deutsche Bahn is building along a new ICE high-speed railroad connection between Nuremberg, Erfurt, Halle, Leipzig and Berlin in a multi-billion Euro project across eastern Germany called the German Unity Transportation Project (Verkehrsprojekt der Deutschen Einheit). (Photo by Sean Gallup/Getty Images)

“Julien Mauve is a Paris based professional web designer, front-end developer and content manager who loves innovation, experimentation and creation. Julien has taken up photography as a hobby. His collection Back to Childhood is all about bringing the long lost memories of early days into the adult life. How he came about that idea? Julien stumbled upon some of his old toys in his grandpa’s attic and felt a connection to every single one of them. Each toy brought back a fond memory”.

“A balancing rock, also called balanced rock or precarious boulder, is a naturally occurring geological formation featuring a large rock or boulder, sometimes of substantial size, resting on other rocks, bedrock or on glacial till. Some formations known by this name only appear to be balancing but are in fact firmly connected to a base rock by a pedestal or stem”. – Wikipedia

Photo: “The Brimham Rocks are balancing rock formations located on Brimham Moor in North Yorkshire, England. The rocks stand at a height of nearly 30 metres in an area owned by the National Trust which is part of the Nidderdale Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty”. – Wikipedia. (Photo by Tee Time Tony)

Movement is the essence and meaning of our life. We feel so much more alive when we are in motion, while people who spend hours motionless tend to have trouble connecting with the outside world. Whether you dive from a high cliff, play your favorite sport, dance at a rave party, or simply walk down a path with autumn leaves rustling under your feet with the love of your life by your side, all those things make your life richer, more beautiful, and more fulfilling. This set of pictures beautifully captures the joy of never-ending motion that enriches our life. (Photo by Brian Snyder/Reuters)