Masked Guggen music bands parade through the streets on the occasion of the beginning of the Fasnacht Carnival of Lucerne, Switzerland, early 23 February 2017. (Photo by Urs Flueeler/EPA)
A boy jumps into a pool of mud during the traditional “Bloco da Lama” or “Mud Street” carnival party, in Paraty, Brazil, Saturday, February 25, 2017. Legend has it the “bloco” was born in 1986 after local teens hiking in a nearby mangrove forest smeared themselves with mud to discourage mosquitoes and then wandered through Paraty. The party grew year after year, but revelers eventually were banned from parading in the colonial downtown after shopkeepers complained pristine white walls were stained with the hard-to-remove mud. (Photo by Mauro Pimentel/AP Photo)
The front wheels of a tractor lift off the ground as the driver moves a heavy trailer outside Peshawar, Pakistan February 19, 2018. (Photo by Fayaz Aziz/Reuters)
A visitor is reflected in a light installation at Mulberry Lights on Regent Street in London, UK on November 16, 2018. Visitors have fun taking selfies and posing with the colourful light installations. Mulberry Lights is a series of illuminating interactive experiences that celebrate how light, colour, shapes and people come together to create a modern British Christmas. (Photo by Imageplotter/Rex Features/Shutterstock)
Shortlisted: Pooyan Shadpoor, Houcheraghi. While walking along the shore of Larak, Iran – an island in the Persian Gulf – Shadpoor came across this luminous scene. The “magical lights of (the) plankton ... enchanted me so that I snapped the shot”, he writes. (Photo by Pooyan Shadpoor/2016 EPOTY)
A dog jumps into the air to catch a ball along the beach near the County Kerry village of Rossbeigh, Ireland, February 4, 2018. (Photo by Clodagh Kilcoyne/Reuters)
The Swiss Air Force Patrouille Suisse aerobatic team performs during the men's downhill race at the Alpine Skiing FIS Ski World Cup in Wengen, Switzerland, Saturday, January 19, 2019. (Photo by Anthony Anex/Keystone via AP Photo)
Runners use headtorches as they compete in Centurion South Downs Way 100 ultramarathon, at Firle Bostal near Lewes, south of London on June 9, 2024. The Centurion South Downs Way 100, is an ultramarathon, predominantly off road course, covering a distance of 100 miles (160,9 kilometres) and that takes the competitors along the South Downs Way from Winchester in Hampshire to Eastbourne in East Sussex. (Photo by Ben Stansall/AFP Photo)