From stuffed elephants to picnics under power lines, Leipzig-born photographer Frank Herfort coaxes magical, colour-saturated tableaux from intriguing slices of everyday Russian life. Here: A lonely dog watches the mailboxes in a typical Moscow residential block. (Photo by by Frank Herfort/The Guardian)

Anne London found her focus at the age of 19 while working for Tippi Hedren, founder of Shambala , a refuge for big cats, elephants and other species located in California. There, as she walked among the animals, she realized that the commercial art field was not for her, and she dedicated her life to bringing about awareness of the plight of endangered wildlife across the globe, and raising money for conservation efforts.

We're getting some feedback: “Hi, I have a question. Why is it that 90% of your posts are about women? You don't seem to acknowledge the existence of men unless they were migrants. You're seriously telling me that you can't find a few great accomplishments that MEN are making?? If this is a feminist website I think you should make that public. I've been viewing your posts since 2010 I think, since you first created avaxnews. Now I'm seriously considering blocking you guys”.



And we can reply: We like women more and for that humbly beg for your forgiveness. In general you are right. We promise to rectify the situation somehow.

Earlier this year, Belgian film-maker and artist Vincent Bal stumbled upon an uncanny resemblance to an elephant in the shadow of his tea cup. This gave him the idea for Shadowology, a series of doodles that interact with the shadows of simple, everyday objects: a banknote, some ice cubes and a flower, for example, can turn into a church, a woman and a hippy. “I draw a few lines and I get my image. It’s really the shadows that inspire me”, Bal says. Here: “Stonedog”. (Photo by Vincent Bal/The Guardian)

There’s an innate relationship between children and the animal kingdom. Our children sing songs about animals, the have toy animals, they have books about animals and they dream about animals. Capturing this unique connection is Indonesian artist Elicia Edijanto, who depicts small, vulnerable children alongside creatures of the wild like elephants, wolves and bears. Created in stark black and white imagery, and using only watercolors, Edijanto creates dreamlike-scenes that are both tranquil and contemplative.

A Galapagos Tortoise shell is used as a foot rest at Heathrow Airport's Animal Reception Centre on January 25, 2011 in London, England. Many animals pass through the centre's doors ranging from exotic animals such as snow leopards and elephants, snakes and crocodiles, to the more common such as cats and dogs. In 2010 alone the centre processed approximately 10,500 cats and dogs, 1,300 birds, 105,000 day old chicks, 246,000 reptiles, 230 horses and 29 million fish. Most animals are part of zoo transfer schemes, the pet trade, or are pets in transit. (Photo by Dan Kitwood/Getty Images)

In this photo taken Monday, April 29, 2013, carver Jackson Mbatha, 40, poses next to a an unfinished large toy giraffe he is making from pieces of discarded flip-flops, in front of a painted workshop wall at the Ocean Sole flip-flop recycling company in Nairobi, Kenya. The company is cleaning the East African country's beaches of used, washed-up flip-flops and the dirty pieces of rubber that were once cruising the Indian Ocean's currents are now being turned into colorful handmade giraffes, elephants and other toy animals. (Ben Curtis/AP Photo)