The winners of The London’s Natural History Museum's prestigious Wildlife Photographer of the Year for 2013 have finally been unveiled. Selected from almost 43,000 entries from 96 countries, the winners offer a glimpse of the stunning array of natural beauty on our planet. Photo: Canada: “Lucky pounce”. “Anticipating the pounce – that was the hardest part”, says Connor, who had come to Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming, USA, in search of wildlife as much as the spectacular landscape. He had found this fox, his first ever, on his last day in the park. It was so absorbed in hunting that Connor had plenty of time to get out of the car and settle behind a rock. It quartered the grassland, back and forth, and then started staring intently at a patch of ground, giving Connor just enough warning of the action to come. When it sprung up, Connor got his shot. And when it landed, the fox got his mouse. (Photo by Connor Stefanison/Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2013)

While communism, collectivism, worms, dry rot and casual looting failed to destroy the majestic wooden churches of Russia, it may be ordinary neglect that finally does them in. Dwindled now to several hundred remaining examples, these glories of vernacular architecture lie scattered amid the vastness of the world’s largest country. Just over a decade ago, Richard Davies, a British architectural photographer, struck out on a mission to record the fragile and poetic structures. Austerely beautiful and haunting, “Wooden Churches: Traveling in the Russian North” (White Sea Publishing; $132) is the result. Covering thousands of miles, Mr. Davies described how he and the writer Matilda Moreton tracked down the survivors from among the thousands of onion-domed structures built after Prince Vladimir converted to Christianity in 988.

A photographer is using a unique method to show the shift from day to night across famous cities in spectacular images. Daniel Marker-Moors' take on time-lapse photography – which he calls time slice – sees the photographer snap image after image, before combining them to create beautiful, vibrant works. His images usually focus on a point in the day with the most dramatic change in light, such as sunrise or sunset. Marker-Moors, from Los Angeles, begins by shooting hundreds and sometimes thousands of images from the same spot. Here: Chicago – 35 photographs, 15 minutes. (Photo by Daniel Marker-Moors/Caters News)

Photographer Pol Kurucz’s vivid collection of photos explores issues faced by black Brazilian women, from political misrepresentation to unrealistic beauty standards. Kolor Collective is a Rio de Janeiro-based creative group that challenges the struggle faced by black women in Brazil through theatrical and provocative art. It was founded in 2015 by Franco-Hungarian photographer Pol Kurucz, who often touches on his own experiences of discrimination to call out sensitive social problems. (Photo by Kolor Art Collective/The Guardian)

Few things are more beautiful than puffy white clouds floating in the bright blue sky. Do you remember the time when you would lay on the soft green grass, look up at the sky, and try to recognize shapes in the clouds floating overhead? Wasn’t it wonderful, just lying there, letting the wind caress your skin, as you imagine that the clouds in the sky are actually mystical or not-so-mystical creatures? Dragons, ducks, teddy bears, dinosaurs, everything was up there. It was good old times. As adults we forget about simple pleasures of life. However, an Argentinian artist Martin Feijoo didn’t forget those times, and took them a step further. After imagining what a particular cloud looks like, he draws that particular shape over the picture of the cloud, allowing the entire world to see what goes on in his mind. (Photo by Martin Feijoo)

When you gaze into the eyes of this beautiful creature, you can almost make out constellations forming deep within. The name of this magnificent bird is Zeus, named after the Greek god of the sky for her one-of-a-kind eyes. The reason why she has such eyes is because she is blind. She was saved by a family in Southern California, when they found her injured on their front porch. After realizing that this poor creature is blind and unable to take care of itself, they took her to an animal hospital. After she healed up, everyone agreed that she should be sent to the Wildlife Learning Center. From that point on, Zeus has been happily living in the center. And though she cannot see, you can bet that her other senses are ten times as sharp. (Photo by Wildlife Learning Center)

“These are the stunning shots of one photographer who is putting everyday “selfies” to shame. Paul Zizka, 34, began experimenting with night photography just two years ago and immediately became fascinated with the spectacular scenes he discovered. To create something more unique he started adding himself into the shot – as well as showing others the beautiful surroundings he had been exploring. Using lengthy exposure, the photographer felt that featuring himself in some of his shots – the night sky illuminating the mountains around him – created a relationship between the central figure in the image and the nature around him”. – Caters News. Photo: Paul Zizka in “Galactic Gateway”, Bow Lake, Banff National Park, May 11, 2013. (Photo by Paul Zizka/Caters News)