Winner. “This was taken in the South Ari Atolls, Maldives, as the south-west monsoon season was setting in. It features my partner – and dive buddy – Emma after surfacing at the end of the last dive of the day to find 1.5 metre swells and dark monsoon clouds. MICK RYAN, JUDGE: This beautiful portrait of a diver in an ocean swell below a menacing sky stands out this month for its emotional and elemental beauty. It is a reminder that while we may play among nature we are always dwarfed by its power and must be constantly on our guard”. (Photo by Simon Dunn/The Guardian)

In a photo taken on June 5, 2017 a traffic security officer stands on duty at an intersection in Pyongyang. Officially known as traffic security officers but universally referred to as traffic ladies, they are chosen for their looks in a society that remains traditionalist in many respects. They must leave the role if they marry, and have a finite shelf-life, with compulsory retirement looming at just 26. (Photo by Ed Jones/AFP Photo)

A man dressed as Hindu god Shiva, smokes during an annual Hindu religious festival locally known as Shyam Baba festival in Ajmer, in the desert Indian state of Rajasthan, April 12, 2015. (Photo by Himanshu Sharma/Reuters)

A devotee, dressed as Hindu God Shiva, looks out from a window as he waits to perform during the annual Shiva Gajan religious festival on the outskirts of Agartala, India April 13, 2018. (Photo by Jayanta Dey/Reuters)

A former living goddess Kumari, middle, watches the Indra Jatra festival, an eight-day festival that honors Indra, the Hindu god of rain, in Kathmandu, Nepal, Friday, September 13, 2019. (Photo by Niranjan Shrestha/AP Photo)

Villagers take part in a ritual celebrating the pagan god Yurya and pray for plentiful future harvests in the village of Pogost, Belarus May 6, 2016. (Photo by Vasily Fedosenko/Reuters)

Hindu women worship the Sun god in the polluted waters of the river Yamuna during the Hindu religious festival of Chatth Puja in New Delhi, India, November 3, 2019. (Photo by Adnan Abidi/Reuters)

A devotee immerses an idol of elephant-headed Hindu god Ganesha in an artificial pond during Ganesh Chaturthi festival in Mumbai, India on September 20, 2023. (Photo by Aditya/NurPhoto/Rex Features/Shutterstock)