Shortlisted images in the running to be crowned Photobox Instagram photograph of the year range from furry friends to the Holi festival to the meaning of love. Judges, including the Guardian’s former picture editor Eamonn McCabe, have whittled down 180,000 submissions to unearth a shortlist that celebrates the best of social media. Winners will be announced October 3, 2018. Here: Najac, France. Travel shortlist. (Photo by Aaron Jenkin/@aaronjenkin)

Participants in costumes pose before a Halloween parade in Kawasaki, south of Tokyo, Japan on October 28, 2018. (Photo by Toru Hanai/Reuters)

A man sits on a park bench in a flooded park as the Cape Fear River rises above its usual height in Wilmington, North Carolina, September 14, 2018. (Photo by Jonathan Drake/Reuters)

Staff at a Scottish farm say they are “absolutely delighted” to have welcomed a baby alpaca into the world this morning, June 6, 2019. Mum, Nunavut, gave birth to the baby boy huacaya alpaca, which has not yet been named, weighing 9.6kg. Stuart Ramsay, the owner of Velvet Hall Alpacas, in Innerleithen, Scottish Borders said he was surprised when the baby was born an “unusual rose grey colour”. (Photo by South West News Service)

Youth category winner: Symphony No 5 by Giacomo Redaelli (Italy). (Photo by Giacomo Redaelli/2019 Nature Photographer of the Year)

Photographer John Maher, once the drummer with punk bank Buzzcocks, travelled to the Outer Hebrides to photograph abandoned crofters’ cottages – many of which, like this one, have seemingly been untouched since. Here: “Peat Fire”. Taken in March 2013 on the east coast of Harris. The fire is from muir-burning, when farmers burn off grasses and heather to improve grazing for their sheep. (Photo by John Maher/The Guardian)

A man dressed in red-white-and-blue sits on the curb during a protest against President-elect Donald Trump, Wednesday, November 9, 2016, in Seattle's Capitol Hill neighborhood. (Photo by Ted S. Warren/AP Photo)

When Dutch photographer Marcel Heijnen moved to Hong Kong, the territory’s shop cats instantly caught his eye. While the “feline emperors” are the stars, his shots also offer insights into Hong Kong’s wares, from dried fish to paper. Here: Hong Kong Shop Cats #17. (Photo by Marcel Heijnen/Blue Lotus)