“Lofoten Glow”. I was desperately searching a good sunrise spot this particular morning. Normally Storvatnet Lake is completely covered in snow, so you can only imagine my surprise when I saw these crazy ice formations almost being shot out of the frozen lake. I put my crampons on and took a big risk walking out. I could hear the ice cracking underneath my feet, and when you’re all alone in a fjord/canyon like this – the cracks are echoed and sound really frightening. Was it worth it? I sure think so! Photo location: Storvatnet, Lofoten Islands in Northern Norway. (Photo and caption by Stian Klo/National Geographic Photo Contest)

“Two Brothers”. We found about 20 lions eating a buffalo. When the male leaved the group we anticipated him to take photos. It is 8AM, light is perfect and the position too. The lion stops and looks down from the hill, another lion is coming up, it stiffens, I think that will be a fight, i'm tense, the camera is OK, the shots previously made perfect. The two meet, looking directly into their eyes, they sniff, rub against their heads, the tension drops, they start walking with the same step as when they were puppies, they are two brothers. Photo location: Masai Mara, Kenya. (Photo and caption by Massimo Mei/National Geographic Photo Contest)

In this May 21, 2021, file photo, JoJo Hamner, a cast member of the “Sexxy After Dark: Where Dinner Meets Play” show, gets the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine during a pop-up vaccine clinic at Larry Flynt's Hustler Club in Las Vegas. It's one of several methods health officials are employing here and across the country to bring vaccines directly to people to counter waning demand. In tiny towns, ballparks, strip clubs, and marijuana dispensaries, officials are setting up shop and offering incentives to entice people who so far have not gotten shots. (Photo by Ellen Schmidt/Las Vegas Review-Journal via AP Photo/File)

Soldiers evacuate a hostage from a mass shooting scene at the Terminal 21 shopping mall in Nakhon Ratchasima, Thailand, 09 February 2020. According to media reports, at least 21 people were killed, and as many as 30 wounded after a Thai soldier, identified as 32-year-old Jakraphanth Thomma, went on a shooting rampage with a M60 machine gun in the city of Nakhon Ratchasima, also known as Korat. Thomma held an unknown number of people hostage within the Terminal 21 shopping mall for around 17 hours before being shot and killed in a police operation. (Photo by Rungroj Yongrit/EPA/EFE)

Is it the surface of the Mars or Venus or an undiscovered planet? Not at all. These pictures aren’t what you think they are. Christopher Jonassen, a Norwegian photographer shot these beautiful and otherworldly series called ‘Devour of frying pan bottoms’, which are visually similar to craters and scars on a planet’s surface. In his series Jonassen refers to a quote of Jean-Paul Satre who said: ‘To eat is to appropriate destruction’ and the meaning of the word ‘devour’, which stands for eating up greedily, destroying, consuming, and wasting.

Photographer Maurizio Pignotti, 46, spends all night in freezing temperatures painstakingly shooting the breathtaking crystal-clear stars. He uses a technique where he merges together anywhere between 80 and 450 shots to create what he describes as a “rainbow of stars”. Space-lover Maurizio, captures the star trails on the borders of the Adriatic Sea – including the Sibillini Mountains National Park, the Conero National Park, and the Gargano National Park. (Photo by Maurizio Pignotti/Caters News)

This photo series shows curvy canines and flexible felines participating in a spot of yoga. The shots feature the animals in the likes of the lotus position, balancing on two legs, and stretching in ways that would make the greatest of yoga masters proud. Photographer Dan Borris came up with the idea for the series in 2000, when he was asked by a friend to photograph her in a yoga pose while her dog bothered her. Pictured: Wally. (Photo by Dan Borris/Caters News)

“These incredible shots show the stunning formations of an iceberg beneath the surface of the ocean. Taken in Tasiilaq, Greenland, by Franco Banfi, the underwater photography captures the beauty of these ice mountains beneath the ocean’s surface. In some of the photos, divers are swimming around an iceberg under the frozen water, while other images show some of the weird and wonderful creatures you can encounter in that part of the ocean”. (Photo by Franco Banfi/Caters News Agency)