Each year Nikon Small World recognizes the excellence of photography taken under the microscope. The contest showcases the beauty and complexity of life. Anyone interested in microscopy and photography can enter the contest and in its 42nd year, Nikon Small World received 2,000 entries from 70 countries. Here: 11th Place; Scales of a butterfly wing underside (Vanessa atalanta). (Photo by Francis Sneyers/Nikon's Small World 2016)

A woman walks past a caricature of Britain's Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson in east London, Britain November 18, 2016. (Photo by Andrew Winning/Reuters)

Miss Puerto Rico Stephanie Del Valle (C) reacts after winning in the Grand Final of the Miss World 2016 pageant at the MGM National Harbor December 18, 2016 in Oxon Hill, Maryland. (Photo by Zach Gibson/AFP Photo)

A woman walks past a stall at a market in Banjul, Gambia December 15, 2016. (Photo by Afolabi Sotunde/Reuters)

Light is the sole reason why life exists. It provides us with warmth; it allows us to see; it nourishes all the living things on this planet. Many painters, especially the masters of Old Renaissance Period, have recognized the importance of light and its intimate connection with nature and life itself. In their paintings they gave tribute to light, giving the impression that their paintings had a light source hidden within them. Al Hogue, the artist who created the paintings that you see before you, has studied their techniques for many years. As time went by, light permeated not only his paintings by also his life, becoming his sole philosophy.

Indigenous woven backpacks called guayare are seen in front of a house in Paraitepui village, before a walking excursion to Mount Roraima, near Venezuela's border with Brazil January 13, 2015. A mysterious table-topped mountain on the Venezuela-Brazil border that perplexed 19th century explorers and inspired “The Lost World” novel is attracting ever more modern-day adventurers. (Photo by Carlos Garcia Rawlins/Reuters)

This adventurous husband and wife who are PAID to explore the world will give you a serious case of wanderlust. The Best Job in the World author, Ben Southall from Petersfield, Hampshire and his stunning Australian wife, Sophee are the definition of couple goals. The loved up pair with a taste for the extreme, launched, The Best Life in the World, last year with an incredible 34,000 mile journey from Singapore to London – in a mustard Land Rover. Here: Ben Southall’s wife, Sophee, takes a moment in Turkmenistan . (Photo by Ben Southall/Caters News Agency)

A girl walks in front of a graffiti painted on the wall of a house located inside the 15th-century complex built by Mameluk Sultan al-Ashraf Qaitbey, in Cairo's City of the Dead, Egypt February 13, 2017. (Photo by Amr Abdallah Dalsh/Reuters)