Todd Bretl specializes in underwater photography, and is able to capture striking photos of aquatic life big and small. His photos of sharks are particularly striking; though he rarely faces hostility from the animals, he tries not to spend too much time looking through his viewfinder and many shots are framed by educated guesses and impeccable timing. What follows are photographs taken over the past several years on trips to the Bahamas and Isla Guadalupe, an island off the coast of the Baja California peninsula in Mexico. (Photo by Todd Bretl)

Photos of Edward Snowden, a contractor at the National Security Agency (NSA), and U.S. President Barack Obama are printed on the front pages of local English and Chinese newspapers in Hong Kong in this illustration photo June 11, 2013. Snowden, who leaked details of top-secret U.S. surveillance programs, dropped out of sight in Hong Kong on Monday ahead of a likely push by the U.S. government to have him sent back to the United States to face charges. (Photo by Bobby Yip/Reuters)

A woman smokes a cigar as she reads the newspaper in a street of Havana, on November 26, 2016, the day after Cuban revolutionary leader Fidel Castro died aged 90. One of the world's longest-serving rulers and modern history's most singular characters, Castro defied 11 US administrations and hundreds of assassination attempts. (Photo by Yamil Lage/AFP Photo)

Syrian rescue workers and residents help an injured woman following a reported air strike by government forces on the rebel-held neighbourhood of Haydariya in the northern city of Aleppo on April 10, 2016. (Photo by Thaer Mohammed/AFP Photo)

Commuters watch after their train was blocked by leftist activists at a railway station during a nationwide general strike against the policies of the central government in Kolkata on March 28, 2022. (Photo by Dibyangshu Sarkar/AFP Photo)

A man looks at the body of a man killed at a residential building damaged by a Russian military strike, as a journalist looks at the scene in Kharkiv, Ukraine, July 11, 2022. (Photo by Nacho Doce/Reuters)

Capturing this picture of lightning striking near Blackpool Tower has earned Stephen Cheatley the UK Weather Photographer of the Year award 2018. (Photo by Stephen Cheatley/Bav Media)