Visitors watch as Grigory Broverman, a member of the Cryophile winter swimmers club, pours a bucket of cold water over his 6-year-old daughter Liza during a flash mob, part of a celebration of Polar Bear Day at the Royev Ruchey Zoo in a suburb of the Siberian city of Krasnoyarsk, Russia, November 29, 2015. The air temperature was around minus 5 degrees Celsius. (Photo by Ilya Naymushin/Reuters)

A woman is consoled by her relative as she mourns after seeing her house getting burned during a fire that broke out in one of the houses and got spread in more adjoining houses, in a residential locality in Srinagar, November 21, 2016. (Photo by Danish Ismail/Reuters)

British Waters Wide Angle category runner-up. Grass snake swimming along a garden pond by Jack Perks (UK)in Nottinghamshire, UK. “I’m always on the lookout for unusual freshwater subjects and grass snakes are a species I’ve been after for years. I was told about a pond where the odd grass snake hangs around the lilly pads for frogs. I put my drysuit on and got into the water and could see one slithering along the surface. Slowly making my way towards it with my head only just poking above I got the spilt shot”. (Photo by Jack Perks/Underwater Photographer of the Year 2019)

Many of the 12 million people who entered the US through New York’s Ellis Island wore traditional dress from their homelands. Here: A Ruthenian woman circa 1906 from the region historically inhabiting the kingdom of the Rus, incorporating parts of modern-day Slavic speaking countries. Her outfit consists of a shirt and underskirt made from linen embroidered with traditional floral-based patterns. (Photo by Augustus Francis Sherman/New York Public Library/The Guardian)

The Wildscreen festival is the world’s biggest celebration of screen-based natural history storytelling which takes place every two years in Bristol. Here: “Walrus in Midnight Sun”. Walrus feed mostly on bivalves in productive, shallow and often sandy habitats in the Arctic. This individual, though, arrived on a beach outside Tromsø, northern Norway, and found comfort on a stranded dead sperm whale. After two weeks he approached Audun, and only half a metre away he stretched his tusk forward and touched his hand gently. “This was one of the most memorable moments of my life”, Rikardsen says. He named the 500kg male Buddy. After two months, the dead whale was decomposed and Buddy suddenly disappeared. (Photo by Audun Rikardsen/Wildscreen 2016)

The Arcaid awards highlight the best architectural photographs of the year – pictures of everything from giant arenas to tiny huts. The shortlisted photographs will be exhibited at the World Architecture Festival in Berlin, from 16 to 18 November, with an overall winner announced during the event’s gala dinner. Here: The stage for Haduwa Arts & Culture Institute, Ghana. Architect: (applied) Foreign Affairs. Nominated in the Sense of Place category. The open-air auditorium of this arts institute in Apam, Ghana, is built from ultra-strong curved bamboo. (Photo by Julien Lanoo)

A coach wipes away tears and comforts a girl who was feeling tired during gymnastics lessons at the Shanghai Yangpu Youth Amateur Athletic School in Shanghai, China, May 4, 2016. (Photo by Aly Song/Reuters)