Shortlisted: Pooyan Shadpoor, Houcheraghi. While walking along the shore of Larak, Iran – an island in the Persian Gulf – Shadpoor came across this luminous scene. The “magical lights of (the) plankton ... enchanted me so that I snapped the shot”, he writes. (Photo by Pooyan Shadpoor/2016 EPOTY)

A gory fight to the death between snarling dogs and captured wild boars. Gathered around a bamboo-walled arena, Indonesians in this remote part of Java island seem eager to watch the blood-curdling contests, known locally as “adu bagong” (boar fighting). Not surprisingly, animal rights activists are up in arms against the regular spectacle, which began in the 1960s when wild pig numbers in this area in West Java soared and they were hunted to protect crops. Here: Women share a joke as they walk to a paddy field in Cikawao village of Majalaya, West Java province, Indonesia, October 12, 2017. (Photo by Reuters/Beawiharta)

Myanmar national award second-place winner: Kyaw Win Hlaing. “Mount Bromo is an active volcano in East Java, Indonesia. The name Bromo derives from the Javanese pronunciation of Brahma, the Hindu creator god”. (Photo by Kyaw Win Hlaing/Sony World Photography Awards 2018)

Filipinos riding on makeshift carts cross over an overflowing dam during a downpour in Las Pinas city, south of Manila, Philippines, 05 September 2017. According to the latest forecast from the Philippine Atmospheric Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA) state weather bureau, typhoon signals were raised over Northern Luzon brought by a tropical storm (local name: Tropical Storm Kiko) and warned fisherfolks and small seacrafts not to venture onto the sea due to big waves. (Photo by Francis R. Malasig/EPA/EFE)

To an outsider, their passion is at times illegal and often on the verge of life and death. But climbing rooftops of high-rise buildings and exploring abandoned facilities is in the blood of these young Muscovites. The small group calls itself “Rudex”, which stands for “roof and decay exploration”, and is akin a Western youth craze known as urbex or “urban exploration” of man-made structures. Here: Urban explorer Vad Him of Rudex team jumps whilst on a rooftop in Moscow, Russia, August 14, 2017. (Photo by Maxim Shemetov/Reuters)

A girl watches as a man jumps to cool off at a swimming pool in the village of Zllakuqan near the town of Klina on July 9, 2024. (Photo by Armend Nimani/AFP Photo)

Mother hen chicken with cute tiny baby chicks all protected beneath her wings keeping warm outdoors only their 12 legs visible poking out the bottom outside. (Photo by Matthew Troke/iStockphoto via Getty Images)

The photo taken on September 17, 2024 shows a villager walking over burning charcoal to perform a traditional fire-walking ritual called “Lianhuo” at Shuangfeng village in Jinhua, in eastern China's Zhejiang province. (Photo by AFP Photo/China Stringer Network)