The Rio de Janeiro Olympics kick off on August 5 for some two weeks of competitive games drawing athletes as well as audiences from around the world. As they prepare to cover the event, Reuters photographers look back on their favourite pictures from past Olympics where they captured the action on the ground as well as the participants' tears and joy that followed. (Photo by Lucy Nicholson/Reuters)

William Gibson is not one of the authors that spits out novels like a machine – in his long and fruitful career he has only published 11 novels andof short stories and articles in the tens each. Still his impact on modern literature was huge – the “noir prophet” of the cyberpunk subgenre (that he was one of the pioneers of) has predicted the rise of reality television, virtual reality, video games and the internet. He is a Hugo and Nebula award winning science fiction writer, with a special eye for what the future might bring.

The UK VELUX Lovers of Light competition attracted 15,000 entries from amateur, professional and mobile phone photographers. Entrants were asked to create a landscape image which celebrates and captures daylight. The judges have whittled these down to a shortlist of ten finalists. The winner will be announced at the end of march with the snapper of the best shot winning a trip to Norway – which will be made during the summer period when the country experiences 24 hour daylight. Photo: “Carousel in the mist”; Prokoshko, Bosnia. (Photo by Marko Stamatovic/PA Wire)

Aerial photography platform SkyPixel received 27,000 entries to its 2016 competition. Here are the winning shots plus some of our favourites. Here: Dam near perfect. Second prize in the same category was of the Huia Dam in Auckland, New Zealand. Hong Kong-based SkyPixel was launched in 2014. (Photo by Brendon Dixon/SkyPixel)

Award-winning photographer Barry Lewis has been picturing the weird and wonderful late-night Glastonbury experience for more than a decade. Shangri-La is a festival of contemporary performing arts held each year at Glastonbury festival, and Barry Lewis has documented its denizens. Here: Spa in Slumbarave’s Hotel Metropolis, Shangri-La, Glastonbury, 2009. (Photo by Barry Lewis/The Guardian)

A bride stretches before the event during the “Running of the Brides” race, in Bangkok, Thailand, December 2, 2017. Six hundred of to be brides and their grooms compete a run race aimed to win more than two million baht (61,000 US dollars or 51,000 euro) of wedding package prizes including a pair of white gold diamond rings and honeymoon trip to the Maldives. (Photo by Athit Perawongmetha/Reuters)

This makeup artist is blowing minds with her stunning lip art. The incredible designs are 3D and include seashells, seashores, fruit, chocolate, pizza and even animals. The artist, Tutushka from Nikolaev, Ukraine, has been a professional makeup artist for 15 years and started her journey into makeup art by winning a lipstick-art contest. Tutushka has amassed thousands of likes on her pictures and has almost hit 50,000 followers by sharing her creative designs. (Photo by Tutushka Matviienko/Caters News Agency)

Actor George Clooney is arrested with his father Nick Clooney (2R) during a demonstration outside the Embassy of Sudan March 16, 2012 in Washington, DC. United to End Genocide, the Enough Campaign and Amnesty International held a rally to call on the United States and world leaders to stop the violence in South Sudan and prevent hundreds of thousands of people from starving. (Photo by Win McNamee/Getty Images)