Traders lay out their stools in a fishing village of Long Hai commune in Vung Tau province, Vietnam on June 17, 2020 with the market opening at midnight and trading into the early hours of the morning each day. It is the largest wholesale fishing market in the region and market traders can be seen sorting their fish into their different types before putting them into different coloured boxes for sale. (Photo by Pham Huy Trung/Solent News)

An elephant in Amboseli National Park in Kenya, June 2021. Gurcharan Roopra, 42, a Nairobi-born engineer-turned-wildlife photographer, has dedicated the past four years of his career to photographing these animals. He spends hours in his workshop camouflaging and encasing his equipment with protective gear before laying his camera in the path of lions, elephants, rhino, zebra and buffalo. (Photo by Gurcharan Roopra/Mercury Press)

St. Mark's and Panagia Erithiani church congregations perform “Rocket War” by firing thousands of home-made rockets across the sky during Greek Orthodox Easter celebrations in the town of Vrontados on the Greek island of Chios on April 19, 2014. Greek habit of throwing handmade rockets with the aim of hitting the bell tower of the church at the other side during the celebration of the service at midnight before Easter Sunday. (Photo by Cem Oksuz/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images)

A girl, standing before her tea shop, which is completely ruined by sea water in Frazerganj, Sundarbans, India on August 18, 2020. After Cyclone Aila struck the Sundarbans in 2009, it became clear that frequent cyclonic events will turn the residents of Sundarbans into climate refugees. Within May 5, 2019 – May 25, 2021, Sundarbans faced cyclones- Fani, Bulbul, Amphan & Yaas – each devastating enough to justify the fear of mass displacement. (Photo by Supratim Bhattacharjee/Mangrove Photography Awards)

Asbjørg Nesje from Norway is a participant and trains in front of the Opera House in Oslo, Norway, on August 25, 2023, one day before the 2023 World Championship in Døds Diving (Death Diving). According to the organisers, Døds is “a form of extreme freestyle diving from heights jumping with stretched arms and belly first, landing in a cannonball or a shrimp position”. (Photo by Javad Parsa/NTB via AFP Photo)

A military cadet refreshes her lipstick before the National Day parade in Bucharest, Romania, Friday, December 1, 2023. Tens of thousands of people turned out in Romania's capital on Friday to watch a military parade that included troops from NATO allies to mark the country's National Day. (Photo by Vadim Ghirda/AP Photo)

An artist carries a clay statue of Lord Vishwakarma to the market for sale before the Vishwakarma Puja festival in Nepal, Kathmandu on September 16, 2025. The festival, celebrated on September 17 this year, honors Lord Vishwakarma, regarded as the divine engineer and craftsman, and involves prayers for creativity, prosperity, and protection of tools and workplaces. (Photo by Safal Prakash Shrestha/ZUMA Press Wire/Rex Features/Shutterstock)

Many people have seen feathers as decorative items before. Today, ostrich, peacock and bird of paradise feathers can be seen in haute couture and in the costumes of indigenous peoples. They can be colorful and spectacular in their own right, but how much more stunning might they be when used as canvases for artists, eager to demonstrate their talent for the unusual? Alaskan-born and -bred artist Julie Thompson is an astounding exponent of this incredible art form.