Winner. “This was taken in the South Ari Atolls, Maldives, as the south-west monsoon season was setting in. It features my partner – and dive buddy – Emma after surfacing at the end of the last dive of the day to find 1.5 metre swells and dark monsoon clouds. MICK RYAN, JUDGE: This beautiful portrait of a diver in an ocean swell below a menacing sky stands out this month for its emotional and elemental beauty. It is a reminder that while we may play among nature we are always dwarfed by its power and must be constantly on our guard”. (Photo by Simon Dunn/The Guardian)

A photographer could bear-ly believe his eyes when a bear started waving at him. The friendly animal wandered to the front of his enclosure before sitting back in full view of zoo guests. He then lifts his powerful paw and excitedly waves in an almost human-like way at his new audience. The hilarious encounter was captured by keen photographer Andrey Slepnev, 31, while on a trip to Madrid Zoo, Spain on March 24, 2016. (Photo by Andrey Slepnev/Caters News)

Members of the South Korean Confederation of Trade Unions (KCTU) perform with traditional Korean masks during a rally against the government's Labor Policy in Seoul, South Korea, 06 July 2023. South Korean Confederation of Trade Unions (KCTU) begen a general strike on a national scale from 03 July against the South Korean government's labor policy and against Japan's disposal of treated radioactive water from the Fukushima nuclear power plant into the sea. (Photo by Jeon Heon-Kyun/EPA)

Villagers wade through a flooded road following heavy rains after cyclone Remal's landfall at Singi Mari village of Nagaon district, in India's Assam state on May 29, 2024. A powerful cyclone that smashed into low-lying Bangladesh and India killed at least 65 people, including in torrential rain storms in its wake, state government officials and media said on May 29. (Photo by Biju Boro/AFP Photo)

In this Sunday, September 6, 2020 file photo, people with their children stand at a barbed wire fence in front of a police line toward the Independence Palace, residence of the President Alexander Lukashenko, during Belarusian opposition supporters rally in Minsk, Belarus. Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko has relied on massive arrests and intimidation tactics to hold on to power despite nearly three months of protests sparked by his re-election to a sixth term, but continuing protests have cast an unprecedented challenge to his 26-year rule. (Photo by TUT.by via AP Photo)

An Iowa State Patrol trooper works the scene of an overturned semi truck along the westbound shoulder of Interstate 80 near Anita, Iowa, on Wednesday, December 15, 2021, after a band of intense weather crossed through the area. A powerful storm system is blowing through the Great Plains and Midwest, combining with unusually warm temperatures to close highways and prompt numerous tornado warnings. (Photo by Bryon Houlgrave/The Des Moines Register via AP Photo)

Afghan child stands in front of a makeshift shelter after an earthquake in Gayan village, in Paktika province, Afghanistan, Friday June 24, 2022. A powerful earthquake struck a rugged, mountainous region of eastern Afghanistan early Wednesday, flattening stone and mud-brick homes in the country's deadliest quake in two decades, the state-run news agency reported. (Photo by Ebrahim Nooroozi/AP Photo)

A light installation called “Run Beyond” by Angelo Bonello is seen on the launch day of the Light Festival at Battersea Power station on January 13, 2022 in London, England. Running from January 13 to February 27, the curated collection of installations includes work by six artists, with two displays making their UK exhibition debut. (Photo by Leon Neal/Getty Images)