Winner. “I took this picture of a woman in traditional clothing in Cartagena, Colombia”. PAUL GOLDSTEIN, JUDGE: “The blaze of colour from every angle, the boldness of the picture, taken from behind, which gives it so much more allure and frankly a superb get up. Did I mention the colours? Oh, and that looks suspiciously like a Nokia”. (Photo by Stanislav Shmelev/The Guardian)

Over the years a large population of grey herons have made an unlikely home in urban Amsterdam. Julie Hrudova documents how the birds integrate into city life. Here: Hundreds of herons come to the city during winter to find food and shelter. (Photo by by Julie Hrudova/The Guardian)

The Boeing 747-8 cargo plane pilot has seen thunderstorms, shooting stars and sunsets from up above the clouds and has looked down on mountaintops, carpets of cloud and cities lit up at night. The incredible pictures give a glimpse of the view from the pilots are treated to every day. Here: Shooting stars over India. (Photo by Christiaan van Heijst/Caters News Agency)

German field telegraph operators at work in Warsaw. (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images). 1st October 1914

Here are the bravest of the brave in 2016. Weve gathered some of the finest images showing daredevils taking their lives into their own hands and going to the very brink this year. Whether they are perched hundreds of feet up on a high wire, courageously clinging to a rockface or taking on a volcano, these adventurers take the breath away. Here: Morgane Choquet and Samuel Cobb relax in a vertical campsite on the slopes of El Capitan, Yosemite National Park. (Photo by Alexandre Eggermont/Caters News)

The sun rises between Sgurr nan Gillean and Knight’s Peak, Black Cuillin, Isle of Skye. (Photo by Adrian Trendall/Mountain Photo of the Year)

Sichuan Opera performer Wu Yonghong, 26 years, of the Jinyuan Opera Company performs for villagers at the Dongyue Temple on May 2, 2016 in Cangshan, Sichuan province, China. Sichuan opera is a vibrant, centuries-old tradition that showcases the joys and challenges of daily life in rural China with tales of love, tradition, and family honor. Photo by Kevin Frayer/Getty Images)

This family of warthogs regularly visited our campsite in the Ethiopian highlands so I set up a remote camera with a wide-angle lens to photograph them as they rummaged around for food. They just had a mud bath. (Photo by Will Burrard-Lucas/Caters News Agency)