Young women wearing facemasks and traditional costumes of Song dynasty and Tang dynasty are seated on a bench in a park next to the East Lake in Wuhan, in China’s central Hubei province on May 17, 2020. The Guardian picture desk has chosen on December 17, 2020, the AFP photojournalist Hector Retamal as “Agency Photographer of the Year 2020” for his coverage of the novel coronavirus Covid-19 pandemic in Wuhan, China. (Photo by Hector Retamal/AFP Photo)

Residents wearing masks to protect from the coronavirus cross a junction in Beijing on Wednesday, January 20, 2021. (Photo by Ng Han Guan/AP Photo)

A woman takes photographs of falling snow from a window during a heavy snowfall, amid the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic in Seoul, South Korea, January 12, 2021. (Photo by Kim Hong-Ji/Reuters)

In this image released on February 5th – Models walk the runway at the Cihan Nacar show on February 04, 2021 in Kyiv, Ukraine. (Photo by Ferhat Zupcevic/Getty Images for Cihan Nacar)

“Secrets of the Whales”. Skerry’s photographs celebrate the lives and culture of whales, illuminating recent research and their diverse behaviours. His latest work focuses on four key species: sperm whales, humpbacks, orca and beluga whales. Humpback whales bubble-net feeding off the coast of Alaska. They work cooperatively to feed on herring by blowing a perfect ring of bubbles underwater to form a net encircling the fish. The whales then swim up through the centre of the bubble net with their mouths open. (Photo by Brian Skerry/National Geographic Photo/Visa pour l'Image)

A Palestinian man dressed as Santa Claus gestures as he rides a camel in Jerusalem's Old City during Christmas celebrations, on December 23, 2021. (Photo by Ahmad Gharabli/AFP Photo)

Blaze, 8, from Swindon, is covered from head to toe as he plays in the mud at Weston-super-Mare beach on August 4, 2019, as the tide recedes and the huge expanse of mud flats cover the beach where holidaymakers enjoy splashing around. (Photo by Ben Birchall/PA Images via Getty Images)

A man wears a gas mask as he holds a bouquet of flowers, following the outbreak of the novel coronavirus on Valentine’s Day in Hong Kong, China on February 14, 2020. (Photo by Tyrone Siu/Reuters)