A devotee of the Chinese shrine of Kathu Shrine, pierces his cheeks with umbrellas during a procession of Vegetarian Festival on October 4, 2011 in Phuket, Thailand. Ritual Vegetarianism in Phuket Island traces it roots back to the early 1800's. The festival begins on the first evening of the ninth lunar month and lasts for nine days. Participants in the festival perform acts of body piercing as a means of shifting evil spirits from individuals onto themselves and bring the community good luck. (Photo by Athit Perawongmetha/Getty Images)

A talented portrait photographer has moved on from capturing traditional human subjects – instead photographing a stunning variety of wild animals. Brad Wilson, 51, stands just feet away from the likes of tigers, rhinos, elephants and primates. Each animal is given the same respect and dignity as any human subject, with Brad setting up a full photographic studio, either at or near sanctuaries and zoos across the U.S. The works are the second part of Brad's Affinity series, which the photographer – based in Los Angeles, California, first started working on in 2010. Here: Orangutan. (Photo by Brad Wilson/Caters News)

These portraits reveal the incredibly humanlike expressions of a variety of apes.Through piercing eyes and finite facial details, the intimate photographs show the animals looking angry, sad, delighted and pensive. They are the works of Manuela Kulpa – an IT consultant and keen photographer from near Cologne, Germany – who shot the apes predominantly at zoos across Austria, Belgium, the Czech Republic, Germany and the Netherlands. Here: Bonobo, Azibo. (Photo by Manuela Kulpa/Caters News)

At the beginning of the 20th century, Edward S. Curtis set out to document what he saw as a disappearing race: the Native American. From 1907 to 1930, Curtis took more than 2,000 photos of 80 tribes stretching from the Great Plains to the Pacific Northwest and Alaska. He then published and sold these photos, along with narrative text, in 20 volumes of work known as “The North American Indian”. It is one of the most significant collections of its kind, “probably the most important photographic document of its age and its topic,” said Jeffrey Garrett, associate university librarian for Special Libraries at Northwestern University. (Photo by Edward S. Curtis)

Associated Press photographer Wong Maye-E tries to get her North Korean subjects to open up as much as is possible in an authoritarian country with no tolerance for dissent and great distrust of foreigners. She has taken dozens of portraits of North Koreans over the past three years, often after breaking the ice by taking photos with an instant camera and sharing them. Her question for everyone she photographs: What is your motto? Their answers reflect both their varied lives and the government that looms incessantly over all of them. (Photo by Wong Maye-E/AP Photo)

A Muslim bride waits for the start of a mass marriage ceremony in Mumbai, India, January 27, 2016. A total of 12 Muslim couples took their wedding vows during the mass marriage ceremony organised by a Muslim voluntary organisation, organisers said. (Photo by Danish Siddiqui/Reuters)

These hyper realistic drawings are so lifelike they could pass for photographs. The incredibly detailed works of art were created by self-taught artist Ivan Hoo, from Singapore, who earns a living from his realistic drawings and paintings. The 31-year-old takes up to three days to complete the impressive pieces, which include animal portraits and still life drawings of everyday items such as a Starbucks cup. The A3 sketches are completed using a range of soft pastel pencils and are drawn from still life, or a photograph taken by Ivan himself. Here: Ivan Hoos drawing of a pug. (Photo by Ivan Hoo/Caters News)