A general view of atmosphere during 2016 New York Comic Con – Day 1 on October 6, 2016 in New York City. The annual event offers pop culture fans exhibitors and displays of popular video games, movies and comic books and many people attending dress as their favorite character. (Photo by Daniel Zuchnik/Getty Images)

The Villarrica Volcano is seen at night from Pucon town, Chile, July 12, 2015. Villarrica, located near the popular tourist resort of Pucon, is among the most active volcanoes in South America. (Photo by Cristobal Saavedra/Reuters)

A man carries his wife on his back as they make their way with their luggage along a flooded tunnel to catch their train, after heavy rainfall hit Jinhua, Zhejiang province, China, July 21, 2015. (Photo by Reuters/China Daily)

To produce the images that convey his fatalistic and ironic approach to life, tinged with hope, he needed the environment and knowledge of Mother Russia, oiled with a bit of bribery to certain circus trainers. Enter the Great Russian Bear, the personification of Russia for the last several centuries, onto center stage and into his studio. The bear is recognized as both brutish and cute – Misha was the mascot for the 1980 Olympic Games – and has remained a symbol of Russia since Tsarist times. In 2009 it is the symbol of the United Russia Party.

Τhe hovering car without wheels, also called the hovercar, is a constant fixture in science fiction films, video games and comic books, and a long-standing dream for car lovers and technology fans alike. This dream is also shared by French photographer Renaud Marion, who creates images depicting hovering cars in everyday urban settings. In his ongoing photographic project titled ‘‘Air Drive’’, Marion combines retro car designs with futuristic technology, a project driven by his childhood visions of how the world was going to look like in the future. (Photo by Renaud Marion)

A child, from Municipal school Parana, poses during the project “Fencing School” in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, March 30, 2016. Children in Rio de Janeiro lift their sights and their swords to new idols, as a round of fencing workshops takes to public schools. The International Fencing Federation, together with the Brazilian and state federations, will reach 40 public schools in March and April. The aim is to whip up a following for the Olympic sport, little known in the soccer-mad nation, as Rio sets the stage for the Summer Games in August. (Photo by Sergio Moraes/Reuters)

Sandrine Kerfante has had a fascination with “doubles” ever since meeting her mother’s twin as a child. In 2012, this lifelong captivation inspired her to create a blog called twin-niwt, which celebrates photographs of doubles in all their forms. “I’m fascinated by the idea of the duo, repetition, symmetry, reflection, mirror games and all the symbolism associated with it”, she says. “I think it’s a topic often present in photography, more or less consciously”. (Photo by Sandrine Kerfante/The Guardian)