Hirotoshi Itoh graduated from Tokyo National Fine Arts University in 1982 and later went into his family business as a stonemason. He spent several years working with metal before turning his attention to stones. He utilizes stones found in a river bank near his home, and he creates sculptures that juxtapose the original shape and hardness of the material with surprising humor and texture. You can find more of his work on his Deviant Art page.

Hawaiian surfer Sean Yoro aka Hula combines his love of surfing and his artistic talent, creating hyperrealistic portraits of bathing women at different seaside locations. His work is inspired by street art and abandoned spaces that he uses as his hard-to-reach canvases. Carefully carrying cans of colored paint on the edge of his board, the New York-based artist applies his half submerged female portraits onto the wall.

Mohamed Mostafa, 35, carries dyed yarns at a dye workshop in old Cairo, Egypt, March 17, 2016. Egypt's hard currency crisis and competition from modern factories in Asia and at home threaten one of the last dye workshops in Egypt. But one of its owners takes comfort in the trade's ancient resilience. Mohamed Mostafa boasts that the profession dates back 3,000 years, so it can survive anything. (Photo by Amr Abdallah Dalsh/Reuters)

Albert is not the happiest looking kitty in the world. Even Tard the Grumpy Cat looks more cheerful. Well… maybe not cheerful. But at least Tard doesn’t have a look of menace and a desire to kill in his eyes. What could have caused a kitty to wear such a stern look all the time? It might be the fact that he’s all curly. Almost no one likes to stand out too much, and maybe Albert is no exception. Despite his menacing appearance, Albert’s owner claims that he’s a very polite cat and plays nicely with children. Though it is hard to believe at first glance, we shouldn’t judge a book by its cover, even when we’re looking at a cat.

Sandra van den Broek from Netherlands creates the cutest character bento for her children’s. She’ll start by sketching the meal and prepares it with scissors, knives and toothpicks. Although you wouldn’t say, it usually takes Sandra only one hour to make a meal. She likes to make something practical, something for everyone to be able to follow. And if you look closely, you can see that it wouldn’t be too hard to make these bentos yourself.

If you were to meet this guy in the woods, especially if it’s nighttime, you’d probably think that it’s a local troll or a yeti. However, in reality, he’s no yeti. His name is Mick Dodge, and before deciding to live in the woods, he was a marine for six years at Fort Lewis. It is hard to tell what moved him to leave the busy life of the city and start living in the Hoh Rain Forest. It could have been that he decided the leave the stressful life of the city, or maybe he simply loves the solitary life of a hermit. Another thing that is peculiar about Mick Dodge is that most of the time he walks barefoot, hence the nickname “The Barefoot Sensei”.

Syrian girls carry bags with bread as people queue up outisde a bakery in a rebel held neighbourhood in the northern city of Aleppo on July 12, 2016. Since mid-2012, Aleppo has been roughly divided between government control in the west and rebel control in the east, and has suffered enormous destruction in the war that has killed more than 280,000 people nationwide. Last week, a government advance brought regime troops within firing range of the Castello Road, the only remaining supply route into the opposition-held east, effectively severing rebel neighbourhoods from the outside world. With their route to the outside world cut, there is no new flour coming to the city's bakeries, and fuel to light their ovens is also now hard to find. (Photo by Karam Al-Masri/AFP Photo)

It's often said that pets and their owners can start to look alike, but these adorable photographs take the old mantra to a new extreme. They are the work of Svetlana Valyiskaya (27), from St Petersburg, who snaps pets in everyday poses in her spare time from her job as a commercial photographer. The vibrant costumes and scenes, which Svetlana designs herself, have made the photos a hit in her native Russia – and it's not hard to see why. She said: “I really love animals, they are loyal, faithful and true and always interesting to work with – plus they never criticise the photographs afterwards”. (Photo by Svetlana Valyiskaya/Mercury)