Fireworks light up over Victoria Harbour to celebrate the 75th anniversary of China's National Day, in Hong Kong, China on October 1, 2024. (Photo by Lam Yik/Reuters)

Animal rights activists covered with fake blood sit on the floor during a protest against the use of animals in research to mark World Day for Animals in Laboratories in central Madrid April 24, 2014. The sign reads, “How many rabbits do your shampoo kill?”. (Photo by Andrea Comas/Reuters)

From the waters edge a New York policeman urges two young children to put their bathing costumes back on. (Photo by Ed Clarity/Keystone/Getty Images). July 1949

“In the ongoing epics of the Pakistani Starfleet in their ever lasting quest to embrace and protect the freedoms of all humanity and life elsewhere in the cosmos we explore the future of Pakistan as a leader in advanced technology, diverse culture, exploration, helping to preserve peace & help those in need from the less than benign that reside in the darkest reaches of the cosmos to those who share & cherish kinship with all of humanity from the brightest reaches of the cosmos”. – Kenny Hassan Irwin

Mingora Hovoped Takes No Ordinary Rider. (Photo by Kenny Hassan Irwin)

“Festive preparation”. Baghnapara, Bardhaman, West Bengal, India. Two girls prepare for the Gajan festival. They will perform a play based on Indian mythology. (Photo by Krishnasis Ghosh)

Colombian Jahn Fredy Duque, dressed as superhero “Spiderman”, performs on the streets in Bogota, Colombia on April 24, 2017. Duque hangs a white cloth 26 meters long – his cobweb – from a bridge near the international center of Bogota, where he performs in the street for a livelihood. (Photo by Raul Arboleda/AFP Photo)

Aurora Australis from Beerbarrel Beach, by James Stone. Runner Up: Aurorae. (Photo by James Stone/Astronomy Photographer of the Year)

With the humpback calving season drawing to a close, here’s a look at some of Rita Kluge’s distinctive marine photos from the south Pacific. The Sydney-based photographer fell in love with whales after witnessing southern rights from the New South Wales coastline as they travelled to and from their feeding grounds in the Antarctic. She has since been to Tonga, where humpbacks breed and calf in winter months, to photograph them in the water. (Photo by Rita Kluge/The Guardian)