Artist Jeff Uitto creates intricate sculptures from driftwood he finds along the coast of Washington. Uitto has sculpted wild horses, soaring eagles, and even a giraffe out of salvaged tree branches. But his work is more than giant animal sculptures. Uitto also has a clear talent for creating beautiful home furniture from driftwood. Finding the right piece of driftwood can take months, and the sculpting can take years.

Photo: A horse sculpture entirely made from driftwood by artist Jeffro Uitto. (Photo by Jeff Uitto/Caters News)

Hayao Miyazaki is a Japanese film director, animator, manga artist, producer, and screenwriter. Through a career that has spanned over fifty years, Miyazaki has attained international acclaim as a maker of anime feature films and, along with Isao Takahata, co-founded Studio Ghibli, a film and animation studio. The success of Miyazaki's films has invited comparisons with American animator Walt Disney, British animator Nick Park and American director Robert Zemeckis.

American sculptor Michael Alfano has been sculpting for over fifteen years. A native of New York, he now lives and works in Hopkinton, Massachusetts. His major influences are Salvador Dali, Jo Davidson, and Jean-Antoine Houdon, as well as Buddhist, Taoist, Sufi and other eastern philosophy and literature. He first studied at the Art Students League of New York, with an emphasis on life-size sculpture from the model. His formal education continued at Boston University and was augmented by internships with several prominent sculptors.

Greyhounds compete during a race at Santiago city, March 8, 2014. With over 100 years of history, greyhound racing attracts people mainly from rural areas of Santiago every weekend. Some dogs come from Argentina, the United States and Ireland and can develop a speed of up to 80 kilometers per hour on a straight running track of about 200 meters, according to organisers. Bets range from $2 to $1,000 per race, offering a livelihood for breeders and gamblers. (Photo by Ivan Alvarado/Reuters)

Japan is a country full of art. Much of this is housed in museums and galleries, but others are right under our feet. We speak, of Japan’s peculiar obsession with manhole covers. Almost anywhere in the country you can find manhole covers with spectacular grounds, each more beautiful and complex than the previous. In recent years, S. Morita photographer has traveled around Japan and leave us this great gathering on the beautiful and artistic Japanese manhole covers.

German pensioner Volker Kraft decorates an apple tree with Easter eggs in the garden of his summerhouse, in the eastern German town of Saalfeld, March 19, 2014. Each year since 1965 Volker and his wife Christa spend up to two weeks decorating the tree with their collection of 10,000 colourful hand-painted Easter eggs in time for Easter celebrations. (Photo by Fabrizio Bensch/Reuters)

Throughout the course of the long war in Afghanistan, Coalition troops have relied on thousands of military working dogs to help keep them safe, and make their jobs easier. The dogs are trained to detect explosives, to find illegal drugs, to search for missing comrades, or target enemy combatants. Not only are they active on the front lines, but behind the lines they serve as therapy dogs, service dogs, and loyal companions. They also share the same risks as the ground troops, suffering injuries and sometimes death on the battlefields. Gathered here are images of these dogs and their handlers in Afghanistan and back home, from over the past several years, part of the ongoing series here on Afghanistan.

A 15-year-old girl denied a horse from her parents has turned to a cow to fulfil her riding dreams. Teenager Regina Mayer, from southern Germany, is able to ride her cow, Luna. She has even trained her bovine pet to soar over a beer-crate hurdle like a regular show jumper. Why, you may well ask, when most cow-owners are surely content to let the creatures chew and lactate and sit down to indicate the imminent arrival of rain? Well, Regina's parents wouldn't let her have a horse.