Aerial photography platform SkyPixel received 27,000 entries to its 2016 competition. Here are the winning shots plus some of our favourites. Here: Dam near perfect. Second prize in the same category was of the Huia Dam in Auckland, New Zealand. Hong Kong-based SkyPixel was launched in 2014. (Photo by Brendon Dixon/SkyPixel)

Ecuadorian indigenous people celebrate the festival of the moon or Kulla Raymi, in Quito, Ecuador, 21 September 2021. A circle on the ground made up of fruits and inside the Andean symbol of the chacana, multinational geometric flags and a cross that symbolizes the four cardinal points, were the setting in which the festival of the moon, the Kulla, was commemorated this Tuesday. Raymi, on a hill in Quito. It is one of the four most significant festivities of the Andean agroecological calendar, which commemorates the beginning of life and exalts women as the maximum representation of fertility. (Photo by Jose Jacome/EPA/EFE)

In this April 2, 2015 photo, dog owner Laura Aquilina strolls with her two year old Rottweiler Brutus, who was recently fitted with prosthetics on all four paws, and is currently learning to use them, near Aquilina's home in Loveland, Colo. Brutus lost all four paws to frostbite as a puppy while under care of a breeder, and Aquilina began caring for him about a year ago. (Photo by Brennan Linsley/AP Photo)

Valarie Allman of Team United States competes in the Women's Discus qualification on day four of the World Athletics Championships Oregon22 at Hayward Field on July 18, 2022 in Eugene, Oregon. (Photo by Pawel Kopczynski/Reuters)

“Kids of Sapa”. Four little beautiful Hmong girls from Lao Chai Village, near Sapa, Vietnam. (Photo and caption by Felipe Hanower/National Geographic Traveler Photo Contest)

Four-year-old Eve Hill enjoys the wet weather in York, northeast England on August 2, 2023. (Photo by James Glossop/The Times)

In this photo taken Friday, September 4, 2015, tourists Sarah and John Scott from Worcester, England, take a step back as a male silverback mountain gorilla from the family of mountain gorillas named Amahoro, which means “peace” in the Rwandan language, unexpectedly steps out from the bush to cross their path in the dense forest on the slopes of Mount Bisoke volcano in Volcanoes National Park, northern Rwanda. Deep in Rwanda's steep-sloped forest, increasing numbers of tourists are heading to see the mountain gorillas, a subspecies whose total population is an estimated 900 and who also live in neighboring Uganda and Congo, fueling an industry seen as key to the welfare of the critically endangered species as well as Rwanda's economy. (Photo by Ben Curtis/AP Photo)

A mermaid poses under water during a shoot with photographer Brett Stanley during MerMagic Con at the Freedom Aquatic Center in Manassas, Virginia on August 7, 2021. MerMagic Con is advertised as the largest Mermaid convention in the world. Some parts of the convention are based on modeling and looks like the Miss Mermaid USA Pageant. The Society of Fat Mermaids looks to bring together plus size people and promote the idea that anyone can become a mermaid. Becoming a mermaid is not cheap, most merfolk spend thousands of dollars on their tail and outfit. Most tails are custom made out of silicone and others are foam and fabric. (Photo by Joseph Prezioso/AFP Photo)