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)

People and Nature category winner: Why did the sloth cross the road? by Andrew Whitworth (Osa Conservation and University of Glasgow), taken in Osa Peninsula, Costa Rica. “I was driving out from the Osa Peninsula, located on the southern Pacific coast of Costa Rica on a dark, stormy day. This female three-toed sloth (Bradypus variegatus) had luckily just about made it across the road, and the drivers of the Toyota on this occasion had spotted her in good time”. (Photo by Andrew Whitworth/2019 British Ecological Society Photography Competition)

In a handout picture released by the British Ministry of Defence via their Defence News Imagery website on August 22, 2016, Nils Olav the penguin inspects the Guard of Honour formed by His Majesty the King of Norway's Guard on August 22, 2016 at Edinburgh Zoo in Scotland. His Majesty the King of Norway's Guard paid a very special visit to RZSS Edinburgh Zoo to bestow a unique honour upon resident king penguin Sir Nils Olav. Already a knight, the most famous king penguin in the world was given the new title of “Brigadier Sir Nils Olav”. (Photo by Mark Owens/AFP Photo)

Four actors on horseback dressed in Game of Thrones related costumes carry the Queen's Baton as they make their way way along the Dark Hedges on August 29, 2017 in Antrim, Northern Ireland. The Dark Hedges near Stranocum in County Antrim featured as the King's Road in season two of Game of Thrones and has become a tourist mecca for fans of the television series along with other filming locations in the province. The Queen's Baton Relay is currently on a tour of the United Kingdom as it makes its way around Europe in preparation for the 2018 Commonwealth Games in Australia. (Photo by Charles McQuillan/Getty Images)

“Actor and director Mel Gibson has pleaded no contest to a “misdemeanour” battery charge after a fight with then-girlfriend Oksana Grigorieva in 2010. Gibson, 55, was placed on probation for 36 months and ordered to attend a year of domestic violence counselling. The complaint accuses Gibson of “wilfully and unlawfully” using force and violence against Ms Grigorieva. A misdemeanour charge is generally considered a lesser criminal act than a felony charge in the US”. – BBC News

Photo: Oksana Grigorieva arrives at the premiere Of Warner Bros. “The Edge Of Darkness” held at Grauman's Chinese Theatre on January 26, 2010 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Kevin Winter/Getty Images)

Joshua Hoffine, based in Kansas City, Mo., and a self-proclaimed “Horror Photographer”, is interested in the psychology of fear. In his project “After Dark, My Sweet”, Hoffine’s surreal and staged images render these fears visible with the “visual grammar of a child”. Through elaborate sets, costumes, makeup and fog machines, Hoffine’s children act out these terrifying scenes in front of his camera. Here: “Basement”. (Photo by Joshua Hoffine/The Washington Post)

Crampus from Netherworld Haunted House with Amber Thompson, spa staff, at Bliss Spa at W Atlanta Downtown hotel on Thursday, October 7, 2014. A self-guided, dark attraction known for its over-the-top special effects, intense make-up, costuming and stunt actors as well as unique monsters, unusual themes and chilling detail, Netherworld Haunted House in Atlanta is taking over the Halloween holiday this season for its 18th season. (Photo by Hyosub Shin/AJC)

The photos, created by Tito Mouraz in Portugal, look too surreal, and it takes a while to realize that these are actually not painting but reality. The way people can completely transform the terrain is very reminiscent of the way people tend to change themselves. Chip away the granite of their soul, turning it into something that fits their idea of perfection. However, in the end, most of them end up with an obscene parody of beauty, rather than something truly marvelous. The reason for it is probably that people are actually oblivious to the true image of beauty, making them stumble around in the dark, hoping to find something that might not exist at all. (Photo by Tito Mouraz)