They say a picture is worth a thousand words, and these striking images of 2017 are no exception. The photo highlights include incredible snapshots of the natural world as well as some awesome animal and human encounters. The vibrant gallery also shows thrill-seekers pushing themselves to the limit with breathtaking stunts captured in perfect clarity. The pictures have been taken by a host of photographers from around the world. Here: The two lion cubs singing their hearts out at Antelope park in Zimbabwe. (Photo by David Jenkins/Caters News Agency)

These pictures, made by Joel Strong, look as if a giant hand is pinching the head of a poor Leo. Leo, however, is oblivious to this fact and continues on with his life, taking on a role of everyone from an old granny to a young lady. Thanks to Joel’s skill and sense of humor, the cut out heads of Leonardo DiCaprio, taken from 90s magazines, fit perfectly into the new scenes. If seeing young Leo with a body of an old granny or a fat, half-naked guy in the park doesn’t strike you as funny, we don’t know what will. (Photo by Joel Strong)

Kourtney Roy makes eerie self-portraits in desolate yet dramatic locations – with wigs and wardrobe straight out of 1950s melodrama. In these shots, from her “Enter as Fiction – California” series, she plays characters caught in desolate, often abandoned settings. (Photo by Kourtney Roy/Galerie Catherine et André Hug/The Guardian)

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)

The snaps show photographers from around the world, who are willing to do just about anything for the perfect picture – whether that be tussling with a seal or withstanding a sharp shove from an angry gorilla. Other brave snappers can be seen getting up close and personal with leopards and great white sharks as they persist in getting the ultimate wildlife shot. Here: Christophe Vasselin gets pushed over by a gorilla. (Photo by Christophe Vasselin/Caters News Agency)

If you’re afraid of heights, caves, the dark, suffer from claustrophobia or vertigo, this might not be for you, but if not, a small Welsh town has the perfect subterranean adventure for you: the world’s largest underground trampoline. Just unveiled in Blaenau Ffestiniog, North Wales, Bounce Below is a network of trampolines and slides mounted to the walls of an abandoned slate mine at heights of 20 feet to 180 feet off the ground. Visitors are welcome to climb, bounce, slide, and jump in the netting amidst a technicolor light show.

“Guns have a massive amount of power associated with them. They are designed to kill. We decided to photograph portraits of them in a similar way you might photograph a powerful person. Like powerful people, pistols have this “perfect” quality that we wanted to explore. As we started shooting them, we could see flaws in their design. Metal burring around the barrels, scratches in the metal. This imperfection and detail were very interesting to us; connecting us back to these images as portraits”. – Peter Andrew. (Photo by Peter Andrew/Simon Duffy/Derek Blais)