This 2014 series Shanghai Tian Wa saw Chinese photographer Liu Tao train his lens on two distinct districts in Shanghai. Here: “Shanghai Tian Wai №26, 2014”. (Photo by Liu Tao/The Guardian)

Winner. “I took this vertical image in the Quarry Bay district of Hong Kong during the dusk ‘blue hour’, when there was a perfect balance between the ambient light in the sky and the artificial lights of the high-rise residential buildings”. (Photo by Jatinder Heer/The Guardian)

In this February 22, 2018 photo, a couple looks at a bag made out of Venezuelan Bolivars in La Parada, Colombia, on the border with Venezuela. Each collector item produced by Richard Segovia, sitting at the table, fetches between $10 and $15 – a huge markup from the pennies that bolivars retrieve on Venezuela's black market. (Photo by Fernando Vergara/AP Photo)

Cropped shot of a woman flirtatiously touching leg of man in a suit with her foot under the table. (Photo by LightField Studios/Skyfish Digital Media/Getty Images)

Dafna Ben Nun with the Emperor penguins. Heres the brilliant picture of a cheeky baby penguin playfully winking at a photographer. The adorable snap was taken while a group of mischievous chicks were playing with their parents. (Photo by Dafna Ben Nun/Caters News)

It’s enough to make your head spin. The photographer Katherine Young set out to shoot spiral staircases in London, England to great effect, including this shot she calls the Downward Spiral Part III. (Photo by Katherine Young/Rex Features/Shutterstock)

A man performs a split as he practices Kung Fu at Beihai Park in Beijing, China August 20, 2017. (Photo by Reuters/China Stringer Network)

As an American in 1990s Cuba, Tria Giovan risked being branded a traitor. But the photographer continued to visit and, from the dance hall to the hair salon, she captured the resilient spirit of the Cuban people. The 120 images in Tria Giovan’s “The Cuba Archive” are from the period in the 90s when, as an American, travel to Cuba could have seen her branded a traitor, as the country was subject to a US trade embargo. Her trip required lots of planning – and patience. (Photo by Tria Giovan/The Guardian)