A participant in the “Cats Who Look Like Cows” competition wears a cowboy outfit back stage before judging on March 05, 2023 in Bangkok, Thailand. Thailand's Cat Fanciers' Club hosted a “Cats Who Look Like Cows” competition during a Cat Expo in Bangkok's Ladphro neighborhood. Over 100 cats were judged on how similarly their pattern resembled a cow, color, fur softness and personality. A relaxed, fluffy cat named Arpo took home first prize. (Photo by Lauren DeCicca/Getty Images)

People take part in a water gun battle as part of the annual Songkran festival, also known as water festival, the traditional Thai New Year celebrations, at the tourist spot of Khao San Road in Bangkok, Thailand, 13 April 2023. Thailand celebrates its first water-splashing Songkran festival following a three-year pause due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Songkran is celebrated with splashing water and putting powder on each other's faces as a symbolic sign of cleansing and washing away the sins from the old year. (Photo by Rungroj Yongrit/EPA)

Documentary photographer William E. Crawford was one of the first Western photographers to gain access to North Vietnam after the war ended. He has photographed the capital, Hanoi, at regular intervals since 1985, concentrating on the colonial and indigenous architecture, urban details, landscapes and intimate portraits of people in their home settings, street scenes and the city’s surrounding countryside. Here: 54 Hàng Ga (Chicken Street), 1994. (Photo by William E. Crawford from the book “Hanoi Streets 1985-2015: In the Years of Forgetting”)

Madeline is the first person with Down's syndrome to ever stride down a runway as a model during New York Fashion Week. Here: Model Madeline Stuart stands backstage between two male models at New York Fashion Week in New York City, U.S., September 6, 2018. (Photo by Andrew Kelly/Reuters)

Students from St Andrews University are covered in foam as they take part in the traditional Raisin Weekend in the Lower College Lawn, at St Andrews in Scotland on October 22, 2018. The “raisin weekend” stems from a gift of raisins (now flour and foam) traditionally given by a first year student to their academic “parents” in gratitude for their guidance. (Photo by Russell Cheyne/Reuters)

A contestant photographs a selfie photo backstage during the “Miss Ukraine Plus Size” beauty pageant in Kiev, Ukraine on October 29, 2018. 22 female contestants competed in the contest, the first held in Ukraine, which aims to challenge modern inclusive standards of beauty. The winner of the contest will represent Ukraine to the “Miss World Plus Size 2018” beauty pageant, wich will take place in the Philippines on November 07-11. (Photo by Pavlo Gonchar/SOPA Images via ZUMA Wire)

Brian Skerry can be called many things – explorer, journalist, conservation advocate – but he is first and foremost a photographer. His journeys to capture amazing underwater photographs have taken him across the world’s oceans. Photo: This Bahamian oceanic whitetip shark, known for the distinctive coloring on its white-tipped, rounded extremities, is part of a globally threatened species due to overfishing demands, primarily for its fins. (Photo by Brian Skerry)

Tim Laman is a field biologist and wildlife photojournalist. His pioneering research in the rain forest canopy in Borneo led to a PhD from Harvard and his first National Geographic article in 1997. Since then, he has pursued his passion for exploring wild places and documenting little-known and endangered wildlife by becoming a regular contributor to National Geographic. He has eighteen articles to his credit to date, all of which have had a conservation message. Some have focused on endangered species such as Orangutans or Hornbills, while others, such as a series of articles on Conservation International’s Biodiversity Hotspots, have highlighted regions under intense pressure.