French photographer and director Romain Laurent started making portrait-based GIFs as a way to produce work outside his commercial jobs, a spontaneous project that would encourage him to produce consistently for himself rather than clients.

“Light From Heaven”. Taken around Mount Bromo, East Java, Indonesia in the morning. Photo location: East Java, Indonesia. (Photo and caption by Pimpin Nagawan/National Geographic Photo Contest)

ATTENTION! All pictures are presented in high resolution. To see Hi-Res images – just TWICE click on any picture. In other words, click small picture – opens the BIG picture. Click BIG picture – opens VERY BIG picture.

“The Challenge!” Young boy relishes in a game of tug of war before school. Photo location: Lake Titicaca, Peru. (Photo and caption by Paul Heyman/National Geographic Photo Contest)

An Afghan judge hits a woman with a whip in front of a crowd in Ghor province, Afghanistan August 31, 2015. An Afghan man and woman found guilty of adultery received 100 lashes on Monday in front of a crowd who filmed their punishment, TV footage showed. (Photo by Reuters/Pajhwok News Agency)

Galveston resident Charlotte, 12, photographs her two-year-old beagle Sunny who reacts to high wind ahead of Hurricane Laura in Galveston, Texas, U.S., August 26, 2020. (Photo by Adrees Latif/Reuters)

A bus in New York City which careened off a road in the Bronx neighborhood of New York is left dangling from an overpass Friday, January 15, 2021, after a crash late Thursday that left the driver in serious condition, police said. (Photo by Craig Ruttle/AP Photo)

A woman from the Pataxo tribe poses for a photo at an indigenous protest camp on the fourth day of the Terra Livre Indigenous Camp in Brasilia on April 7, 2022. The 10-day annual protest is held by indigenous people from tribes that arrive from all over Brazil, and calls for greater protection of their land and rights. (Photo by Carl de Souza/AFP Photo)

Divers perform underwater “Flying Apsaras” dance at Nanjing Underwater World on September 20, 2023 in Nanjing, Jiangsu Province of China. (Photo by Yang Bo/China News Service/VCG via Getty Images)