“This Way Up”. Photographic section portfolio, first prize. A Chinook CH-47 weapon systems operator prepares his aircraft during a training exercise in June 2018. (Photo bu SAC Ed Wright/RAF)

A portrait of Kazakh historical figure Ablai Khan is projected on a building in downtown Astana, Kazakhstan, October 8, 2015. (Photo by Shamil Zhumatov/Reuters)

Sad woman standing near car with scratch on parking and talking by the phone. (Photo by Vera Petrunina/Getty Images)

It’s enough to make your head spin. The photographer Katherine Young set out to shoot spiral staircases in London, England to great effect, including this shot she calls the Downward Spiral Part III. (Photo by Katherine Young/Rex Features/Shutterstock)

A woman surveys the damage after the earthquake on March 17, 2011 in Kensennuma, Japan. Residents were allowed back to their homes today and began the massive cleanup operation caused by a 9.0 magnitude strong earthquake that struck on March 11 off the coast of north-eastern Japan. The quake triggered a tsunami wave of up to 10 metres which engulfed large parts of north-eastern Japan. The death toll has risen past 5000 with at least 8600 people still missing. (Photo by Chris McGrath/Getty Images)

Alex Prager is an American art photographer and filmmaker based in Los Angeles. Her photographs primarily use staged actors, models and extras to create “meticulously designed mise en scène”, often described as film-like and hyperreal. “Alex Prager: Silver Lake Drive” is at the Photographers’ Gallery, London, 15 June – 14 October 2018. Here: The Big Valley, Susie and Friends, 2008. (Photo by Alex Prager Studio/Lehmann Maupin Gallery)

Shortlisted images in the running to be crowned Photobox Instagram photograph of the year range from furry friends to the Holi festival to the meaning of love. Judges, including the Guardian’s former picture editor Eamonn McCabe, have whittled down 180,000 submissions to unearth a shortlist that celebrates the best of social media. Winners will be announced October 3, 2018. Here: Najac, France. Travel shortlist. (Photo by Aaron Jenkin/@aaronjenkin)

A cat wering glasses lies in a pet dryer at the “Pet Expo Championship” in Bangkok, Thailand on August 30, 2019. (Photo by Mladen Antonov/AFP Photo)