“The National Portrait Gallery, London's annual photographic portrait prize was established in 2003 as the Schweppes Photographic Portrait Prize. In the years 2006 and 2007 it was referred to simply as the Photographic Portrait Prize, while from 2008 new sponsors have resulted in the name, Taylor Wessing Photographic Portait Prize”. – Wikipedia. Photo: “Tic Tac and Tootsie (twin sisters Carrol and Shelly McKean)”. Taylor Wessing photographic portrait prize 2010. (Photo by Jeffrey Stockbridge)

Photographer and former dancer Jesús Chapa-Malacara, head of art production company fotosjcm, announces the launch of Esprit de Corps, an innovative book of ballet photography unlike any seen before. The high-end art book, currently being independently financed and offered exclusively through a Kickstarter campaign, will feature world-class dancers from top ballet companies, including Michaela DePrince of Dutch National Ballet, Jared Matthews and Yuriko Kajiya of American Ballet Theatre, among others.

McMurdo Station is a U.S. Antarctic research centre located on the southern tip of Ross Island, which is in the New Zealand-claimed Ross Dependency on the shore of McMurdo Sound in Antarctica. It is operated by the United States through the United States Antarctic Program, a branch of the National Science Foundation. The station is the largest community in Antarctica, capable of supporting up to 1,258 residents, and serves as the United States Antarctic science facility. All personnel and cargo going to or coming from Amundsen–Scott South Pole Station first pass through McMurdo.

Son doong cave is a cave in Phong Nha-Kẻ Bàng National Park, Bố Trạch district, Quảng Bình Province, Vietnam. Currently the biggest known cave in the world, the cave is located near the Laos-Vietnam border. Inside is a large, fast-flowing underground river.
In early August 2013, the first tourist group explored the cave on a guided tour at a cost of US$3,000 each. The group had six members from Australia, Norway, Russia and USA and spent 7 days and 6 nights for the tour. Next exploration trips will be arranged.

Split Apple Rock is a geological rock formation in The Tasman Bay off the northern coast of the South Island of New Zealand. Made of granite, it is in the shape of an apple which has been cut in half. It is a popular tourist attraction in the waters of the Tasman Sea approximately 50 metres off the coast between Kaiteriteri and Marahau. The rock sits in shallow water at low tide and is accessible by wading. It is also a point of interest for the many tourist boats and pleasure craft which operate along the shores of the Abel Tasman National Park. The cleft to produce two sides of the 'apple' was a natural occurrence. It is unknown when this happened and therefore the cleaving of the rock has attracted mythological explanations.

Men carry others, so they do not soil their shoes and clothes, through a mudslide caused by Tropical Storm Erika in Carries, Haiti, August 29, 2015. Erika, a tropical storm that killed 20 people on the Caribbean island of Dominica and at least one person in Haiti, fell apart on Saturday over eastern Cuba, the U.S. National Hurricane Center said. (Photo by Andres Martinez Casares/Reuters)

Rohingya refugee children pictured in a camp in Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh, September 19, 2017. With a mass exodus of Rohingya Muslims sparking accusations of ethnic cleansing from the United Nations and others, Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi on Tuesday said her country does not fear international scrutiny and invited diplomats to see some areas for themselves. (Photo by Cathal McNaughton/Reuters)

A woman is cooled down with a watering can as she sunbathes using insulating tape, at a beauty center in Belo Horizonte, Brazil, on December 21, 2017. Brazilian women take advantage of the beginning of the summer to sunbathe using the new national trend: natural tanning with insulating tape. Instead of using tiny bikinis on the beach, women avoid being bothered or stalked by getting taped in the shape of them, and lay in the sun over rooftops to enjoy the morning sun and get the perfect “marquinha” tan lines. (Photo by Douglas Magno/AFP Photo)