A participant dressed as a mermaid goes to swim in the beach after taking part in the Annual Mermaid Parade in Brooklyn, New York, June 18, 2016. The annual parade, founded in 1983, seeks to bring mythology to life for residents, create confidence in the district and to allow artistic self-expression in public, according to the parade's website. (Photo by Eduardo Munoz/Reuters)

Crampus from Netherworld Haunted House with Amber Thompson, spa staff, at Bliss Spa at W Atlanta Downtown hotel on Thursday, October 7, 2014. A self-guided, dark attraction known for its over-the-top special effects, intense make-up, costuming and stunt actors as well as unique monsters, unusual themes and chilling detail, Netherworld Haunted House in Atlanta is taking over the Halloween holiday this season for its 18th season. (Photo by Hyosub Shin/AJC)

Without mincing words we would like to present a feature: Self-Publishing, let's call it Samizdat. :-) Sure we aren't Flickr, StumbleUpon or add_whatever_you_like, we're really small in comparison with these giants but we have constant, very attentive and grateful audience. All we can offer you is a place on the main page and attention of all our visitors to your posts, the things that are hard to achieve on numerous social services. Who knows, maybe tiny and humble indie project like AvaxNews will be much more helpful in searching of your audience than facebook for example. %-)

Photographer Wes Naman has created portraits of his friends using Scotch Tape to distort their features. The results are similar to Scottish artist Douglas Gordon's 1997 work, Monster, but Wes says he originally got the idea after applying tape to himself to test a lighting rig set-up. Wes Naman has been a self taught photographer of ten years before graduating from commercial photography in his home in North Carolina. (Photo by Wes Naman/Rex Features)

“Self-educated photographer, Quebec. I always impassioned myself for the animal world and natural spaces, in particular for the red squirrels and the titmouses. Having reached sixty and more, I am nothing any more has to prove but all has to show”. – Andre Villeneuve. Photo: “Eat and run”. (Photo by Andre Villeneuve)

French artist Julien Breton aka Kaalam started calligraphy in 2001 by copying Arabic calligraphers. Self-taught, he began to incorporate long exposure photography to create incredible light paintings around the world. All of the images in this gallery were created in-camera, meaning there is no Photoshop trickery or post-production manipulation involved in creating these works of art.

Tom Hussey is a photographer who focuses on advertising and portrait photography. The project featured on this post is called “Reflections” and was created for a new Novartis drug called the Exelon Patch. The drug in question is a prescription medicine for the treatment of mild to moderate Alzheimer’s dementia. The highly conceptual photographs shows an older person looking at the reflection of their younger self.

Moscow’s Red Square has seen its share of strange stuff over the centuries, from medieval public executions to artistic self-mutilations. But a giant Louis Vuitton suitcase took many Muscovites completely by surprise. The 9-meter high, 30-meter long building covered in iconic gold-on-brown pattern erected last week is to host a historic exhibition.