A traffic policeman hides a rose behind his back before giving it to a female driver ahead of International Women's Day in Ryazan, Russia on March 7, 2017. (Photo by Alexander Ryumin/TASS via Getty Images)

Lu Wei-ming (L), priest of the Wei-ming temple, and a worshipper burn a Taoist paper amulet during a prayer ritual at the temple in New Taipei city January 8, 2015. The shrine, down a narrow alleyway in a bustling district of the city, is dedicated to a deity who has watched over homosexuals for four centuries. Priest Lu founded the temple in 2006, at a time gays were excluded from most religious ceremonies. (Photo by Pichi Chuang/Reuters)

Young Palestinians form an obstacle to be jumped over during a military-style exercise graduation ceremony organised by the Hamas movement, in Gaza City August 5, 2015. Thousands of young Palestinians joined Hamas military-style summer camps during school vacation in the Gaza Strip to prepare them to “confront any possible Israeli attack”, organisers said. (Photo by Suhaib Salem/Reuters)

People will spout about impermanence of digital records, but books are really fragile, too. Alexis Arnold from San Francisco wanted to illustrate that with her project The Crystallized Book: collecting books and growing Borax crystals on them. Books range from literature classics to magazines, and there’s even a mysterious and arcane tome called “Linux: The Complete Manual”.

In this March 18, 2015 photo, Andrea, better known as Loira, which is the Portuguese word for “blonde”, poses for a portrait in an open-air crack cocaine market, known as a “cracolandia” or crackland where users can buy crack, and smoke it in plain sight, day or night, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Andrea says she is married and has a home, but she keeps returning to crackland to feed her addiction. (Photo by Felipe Dana/AP Photo)

In this picture taken on October 28, 2017, former Japanese p*rn star Mana Izumi checks her new tattoo at a tattoo studio in Tsurugashima, Saitama prefecture. Tattoos still provoke deep-rooted suspicion in Japan as the country prepares to host the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. People with body ink are refused entry to public swimming pools, bathing spots, beaches and often gyms, while visible body art can be harmful to job prospects. (Photo by Behrouz Mehri/AFP Photo)

A man sits waiting for a train on the London Underground in 1890, when the platform floors were still made from wooden floorboards. (Photo by Hi-Story/Alamy Stock Photo)

Swimmers take part in the annual Christmas Day swim in Porthcawl, Wales, England on December 25, 2019. (Photo by Ben Birchall/PA Images via Getty Images)