Los Angeles native Mike Stilkey has always been attracted to painting and drawing not only on vintage paper, record covers and book pages, but on the books themselves. Using a mix of ink, colored pencil, paint and lacquer, Stilkey depicts a melancholic and at times a whimsical cast of characters inhabiting ambiguous spaces and narratives of fantasy and fairy tales. A lingering sense of loss and longing hints at emotional depth and draws the viewer into their introspective thrall with a mixture of capricious poetry, wit, and mystery. (Photo by Mike Stilkey)

A woman eats and struggles with her umbrella against powerful gusts of wind generated by typhoon Megi across the the island in Taipei, Taiwan, Tuesday, September 27, 2016. Schools and offices have been closed on Taiwan and people in dangerous areas have been evacuated as a large typhoon with 162 kilometers (100 miles) per-hour winds approaches the island. (Photo by Chiang Ying-ying/AP Photo)

A man disinfects the personal protection suit of a medical worker at a nucleic acid testing station, following the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak, in Beijing, China, June 16, 2022. (Photo by Thomas Peter/Reuters)

Artist Jeff Koons sculpture Balloon Monkey (Magenta), 2006-13, with an estimate of £6,000,000-10,000,000 on display in St James's Square, London, before being sold by Christie's to raise funds for humanitarian aid for Ukraine. Picture date: Tuesday June 14, 2022. (Photo by Yui Mok/PA Images via Getty Images)

Tens of millions of red crabs make their way across Christmas Island, Australia on November 13, 2021 during their annual migration from the forest to the ocean, swamping roads and bridges. (Photo by Parks Australia/Animal News Agency)

A white-throated kingfisher (Halcyon smyrnensis) sits over a tree in a field in Lahore, Pakistan, 26 March 2021. The most familiar Kingfisher species can be observed perched on branches or walls while on the lookout for grubs, insects and even fish in streams or garden ponds. (Photo by Rahat Dar/EPA/EFE)

A photographer in Somerset, South West England captured the mating rituals of toads as several males attempt to mate with one female all at once. (Photo by John Waters/NPL)

This month’s selection of travel imagery mixes quiet moments and superlative views. The overall 2018 prize is a West Greenland trip with Wild Photography Holidays. Here: “This was taken on a safari in Kruger national park, South Africa. The scene was like something straight out of a storybook: a wild baboon, impala and elephant crossing the road together, all lined up neatly in a row”. (Photo by Will Clarke/The Guardian)