Sports have the ability to transform groups of strangers into a united community. In the celebratory spirit surrounding the 2014 FIFA World Cup, Sony and the World Photography Organisation present UNITED – a contest honouring the passion of football fans around the world. Seven inspirational photographers have been selected by Sony and WPO to capture the atmosphere and celebration of the World Cup across the globe. Photo: France – French fans cheering for their team. (Photo by Anthony Lepinay)

The Mount Bromo volcano erupts in the Bryce Canyon, Utah. (Photo by Reynold Dewantara/2016 National Geographic Travel Photographer of the Year Contest)

Space shuttle Atlantis launches from pad 39A on July 8, 2011 at the NASA Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida. The launch of Atlantis, STS-135, is the final flight of the shuttle program, a 12-day mission to the International Space Station. (Photo by Bill Ingalls/NASA via Getty Images)

An engineer begins the process of conducting a block-by-block inspection of the exterior of the Washington Monument while suspended by ropes September 27, 2011 in Washington, DC. The National Park Service has closed the landmark in the nation's capital indefinitely due to damage caused by a 5.8 magnitude earthquake in August. (Photo by Win McNamee/Getty Images)

Tibetan monks create an intricate picture made from coloured sand at St. Mungo Museum of Religious Life and Art on November 23, 2011 in Glasgow, Scotland. The monks, from the Panchen Lama's Monastery, are creating a Sand Mandala as part of a Tantric Buddhist ritual, invoking the presence of the Buddha in a design representing the palace of the deities. (Photo by Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images)

The Brooklyn Bridge is seen after a crane pulled by a tug boat on the East River slammed into scaffolding beneath the Bridge on March 13, 2012 in New York, NY. According to reports, no damage was done to the structure of the bridge. (Photo by Allison Joyce/Getty Images)

A Mai-Mai rebel soldier shows off his guns at a checkpoint near the Mugunga refugee camp in Zaire; 1996. (Photo by Carol Guzy/The Washington Post)

The hull on a boat that carried Rohingya migrants for three months is seen at Langkawi island, in the Malaysia's northern state of Kedah, Malaysia, May 12, 2015. Thailand and Malaysia may set up camps and detention centers to shelter hundreds of refugees arriving on their shores, officials said on Tuesday, as a leading inter-governmental agency said about 7,000 boat people were still adrift in the Bay of Bengal. (Photo by Olivia Harris/Reuters)