Rooftops of solar powered houses are pictured in Ota, 80 km northwest of Tokyo in this October 28, 2008 file photo. One by one, Japan is turning off the lights at the giant oil-fired power plants that propelled it to the ranks of the world's top industrialised nations. With nuclear power in the doldrums after the Fukushima disaster, it's solar energy that is becoming the alternative. Solar power is set to become profitable in Japan as early as this quarter, according to the Japan Renewable Energy Foundation (JREF), freeing it from the need for government subsidies and making it the last of the G7 economies where the technology has become economically viable. (Photo by Yuriko Nakao/Reuters)

Chinese conglomerate Tiens Group employers take photos while waiting to be served Paella in Madrid, Spain, Friday, May 6, 2016. The billionaire founder of Chinese conglomerate Tiens Group is treating 3,000 of his best salespeople to a traditional Spanish paella meal in a free Madrid trip that also includes a bullfight and a tour of King Felipe VI's Royal Palace. The smiling salespeople washed down their heaping plates of paella with sangria Friday at a mass spread of picnic tables in a riverside park during the event footed by Li Jinyuan and organized by China's U Tour travel company. (Photo by Paul White/AP Photo)

New Zealand photographer Niki Boon captured her children, who are growing up with limited electronics, in the photo series “Childhood in the Raw Photos”. Niki Boon began taking photos as a hobby while she was working as a physiotherapist in Scotland. However, the New Zealand native found her interest in the art waning while she travelled, and it wasn’t until she had returned home and started raising a family that her passion was rekindled. “Childhood in the Raw”, an ongoing photo series of her four children’s technology-free life on her 10-acre property in New Zealand, is the perennial fruit of this passion. (Photo by Niki Boon)

Nepalese women and young girls struggle to drink homemade alcohol poured through a pipe sticking out of the mouth of Swet Bhairab, a god of Power, during the Indra Jatra festival at Basantapur Durbar Square in Kathmandu, Nepal, 17 September 2016. Hundreds of women and young girls gathered to drink alcohol as a blessing from idol of Swet Bhairab which they believes will keep them free from all diseases. The Indra Jatra festival is celebrated to honor Indra, the king of gods and god of rains. The festival also marks the end of the monsoon. (Photo by Narendra Shrestha/EPA)

Kevin Russ, a photographer & image moderator for iStockphoto, grew up in Arroyo Grande, California. In 2003, he made the move to Portland, planning to study at Multnomah Bible College. Finding the workload to be minimal, Kevin invested in a camera, filling his free time and finding himself instantly smitten with the craft. A year and a half later, photography had evolved into his full-time job. However, after 4 years of consistent portrait work, Kevin became burnt out and took a step back from photography altogether. Two years later, he picked up the camera again and now spends the majority of his time on the road, exploring & photographing the rustic landscapes & wildlife he encounters.

A boy sits in a canoe in front of a shed built on a raft in the Makoko fishing community on the Lagos Lagoon, Nigeria February 29, 2016. In Makoko, a sprawling slum of Nigeria's megacity Lagos, a floating school capable of holding up to a hundred pupils has since November brought free education to the waterways known as the Venice of Lagos. It offers the chance of social mobility for youngsters who, like most of the city's 21 million inhabitants, lack a reliable electricity and water supply and whose water-based way of life is threatened by climate change as well as rapid urbanisation. (Photo by Akintunde Akinleye/Reuters)

An aerial view of the holy Muslim Shiite shrine of Imam Moussa al-Kazim as pilgrims gather to commemorate his death, in the Shiite district of Kazimiyah, Baghdad, Iraq, Wednesday, May 13, 2015. The anniversary of 8th century Shiite Imam Moussa al- Kazim drew tens of thousands of Shiites from all walks to converge on his golden-domed shrine in northern Baghdad. The pilgrims typically march to the shrine while hundreds of tents are erected to offer them free food, drinks and services. (Photo by Hadi Mizban/AP Photo)

Gorgeous galaxies and stunning stars make up this selection of pictures from the shortlisted entries for this year’s Insight Astronomy Photographer of the Year award. The winners will be announced on 15 September, and an exhibition of the winning images will be will be displayed in a free exhibition at the Royal Observatory Greenwich’s Astronomy Centre from 17 September. Here: “Seven Magic Points”. The rusty red swirls of the circular, iron sculpture Seven Magic Points in Brattebergan, Norway mirror the rippling aurora above. (Photo by Rune Engebø/Royal Observatory Greenwich’s Astronomy Photographer of the Year 2016/National Maritime Museum)