The shoemaker in Turkey, the potato seller in Vietnam, and the weaver in Bolivia are among the billions of low-income entrepreneurs who make the world go round. They are also the type of people who can benefit significantly from microfinance. Every year, the Consultative Group To Assist The Poor (or CGAP) hosts a photo contest asking entrants to submit photos based around the idea of microfinance.The purpose of the contest is to give amateur and professional photographers a chance to show the different ways that poor households manage their financial lives and make their lives better through financial inclusion. Photo: South Asia Regional Winner – “Bricks Worker”, Bangladesh. A private enterprise worker is working at a brick field. These small businesses are creating new job opportunities for many poor people. (Photo by Moksumul Haque)

Ryo Minemizu, one of Japan’s emerging stars in the field of marine life photography and the 2017 winner of the Nikkei National Geographic photography prize, captures the beauty and complexity of plankton that drift in our planet’s oceans and other bodies of water in meticulous detail. Here: Batesian mimicry by a Soleichthys fish larva. (Photo by Ryo Minemizu/The Guardian)

French sculptor Pierre Matter was born in 1964. “A mystical child, then a tormented teenager, he studied mathematics half-heartedly. It was only logical that he headed naturally, though initially in an erratic manner, for the mysterious universe of artistic creation. His slow progression in this field led him to try out many kinds of expression and material, from oil to gouache to ink, from comic strips to canvas, and also bas-relief in stone.”

“Izhevsk Machinebuilding Plant (Russian: Ижевский Mашиностроительный Завод) or IZHMASH (ИЖМАШ) is a weapons and motor vehicle manufacturer based in Izhevsk, founded in 1807 at the decree of Tsar Alexander I, and is now one of the largest corporations in its field. It manufactures the famous Kalashnikov series of assault rifle, along with a host of other Russian arms, including medium cannons, missiles, and guided shells”. – Wikipedia. (Photo by Pismoshnaya.ru, 2012)

Faces adorn crosses placed in the Garden of Remembrance of some of Britain's armed forces members who have died in Afghanistan in the Garden of Remembrance outside Westminster Abbey at the official opening of the Royal British Legion's Field of Remembrance on November 5, 2009 in London, England. (Photo by Alastair Grant-Pool/Getty Images)

Rescuers work at the accident scene on a bridge on July 24, 2011 in Wenzhou, Zhejiang Province of China. The train from Hangzhou to the city of Wenzhou derailed on a bridge that is 10 m above the field in Shuangyu Town of Wenzhou city at 8:34 p.m on Saturday. The first four coaches and the 15th and 16th coaches of the train went off the line killed 32 and injured 191 people. (Photo by ChinaFotoPress/Getty Images)