Kyaiktiyo, Burma, 1978. The Golden Rock at Shwe Pyi Daw (the Golden Country), the Buddhist holy place. Hiroji Kubota writes: “I was desperate to keep a distance from America for a while; luckily, I found Burma and its gentle and compassionate people. In the spring of 1978, on the top of the hill where I took this photo, I had two Leica bodies: the one with Tri-X and the other with Kodachrome 64. Soon after, I realised that the colour one looked very colourful and was more powerful. That was my decisive moment, to become a colour photographer”. (Photo by Hiroji Kubota/Magnum Photos)

“Stephen Gough (born c. 1959), also known as Steve Gough and the Naked Rambler, is an activist, and a British former Royal Marine. In 2003-2004, he walked the length of Great Britain naked. He did it again in 2005-2006, but was arrested in England and in Scotland. He subsequently spent six years in prison, having been repeatedly rearrested for public nudity within a short period, each time he was released. He has spent most of his sentences in Saughton and Perth prisons, in Scotland”. – Wikipedia

Photo: Stephen Gough the naked rambler makes his way south through Peebles in the Scottish Borders, following his release from Saughton Prison yesterday after serving his latest sentence on October 6, 2012 in Peebles, Scotland. (Photo by Jeff J. Mitchell)

Shortlisted: The Life: A narrow strip, Río Tinto, Huelva, Spain. A narrow strip of road divides ochre-coloured and fresh waters. Trees wait on the fresh side of the road opposite the toxic waters of a nearby mine reservoir. (Photo by Roberto Bueno/CIWEM Environmental Photographer of the Year 2021)

Youth category winner: Symphony No 5 by Giacomo Redaelli (Italy). (Photo by Giacomo Redaelli/2019 Nature Photographer of the Year)

“Eye of a toad”. Animal Portraits, Łukasz Bożycki, Poland. Early spring sees a pond near Łukasz’s home city of Warsaw, Poland, full of mating frogs and a few toads. On this March day, Łukasz shared the pond with them for an evening, sitting in the icy water in his chest-high waders, keeping as still as possible, despite the numbing cold, so that the amphibians could get used to him. “I wanted to find a fresh way of portraying the amphibians”, he says, “at water level”. Using a telephoto lens, he focused on one lone toad and waited for the sun to dip almost below the horizon before pressing the shutter, using flash to bring out the details in the shadow. His prize was “the glorious pool of sunset colour” and fiery glow of the toad’s eye. Nikon D80 + 70-300mm f4.5-5.6 lens + extension tube; 1/125 sec at f9 (-2.3 e/v); ISO 100; built-in flash. (Photo by Łukasz Bożycki)

“David Doubilet (born 28 November 1946) is a well known underwater photographer known primarily for his work published in National Geographic Magazine. He was born in New York and started taking photos underwater at the young age of 12. He started with a Brownie Hawkeye in a rubber anesthesiologist's bag to keep the water out of the camera. During his summer holidays, he spent his time along the New Jersey coast. He later worked as a diver and photographer for the Sandy Hook Marine Laboratories in New Jersey. He also spent much time in the Caribbean. While a dive instructor in the Bahamas he found his motivation to capture the beauty of the sea and everything in it”. – Wikipedia. (Photo by David Doubilet/National Geographic)

“Hi! I'm Joel, I live in a valley in British Columbia's Rocky Mountains, as close to the forest as I could possibly be! I love to run, bike, jump, eat and create and I hope that you enjoy my work as much as I enjoy creating it!” – Joel Robison.

Photo: “Under Peaceful Skies”, 2011. (Photo by: Joel Robison; Source: Flickr)