A long exposure image shows star trails from the abandoned submerged orthodox church of St. Nicholas without roof, submerged in the Mavrovo Lake, near Mavrovi Anovi, North Macedonia, 17 March 2019. Constructed in 1850 and submerged in 1952 due to the construction of the hydro system Mavrovo, the church St. Nicholas continues to attract the attention of almost every visitor as it peaks from the water. (Photo by Georgi Licovski/EPA/EFE)
Performers on boats take part in the Qintong Boat Festival at Qin Lake National Wetland Park on April 6, 2019 in Taizhou, Jiangsu Province of China. The boat festival is held around the Qingming Festival every year, and up to 10,000 participants from nearby villages and towns, with more than 500 boats, took part in the event this year. (Photo by Tang Dehong/VCG via Getty Images)
Shaolin boys practice kung fu in the sweltering heat during the zen shaolin music ceremony at shaolin temple, Dengfeng, Henan province, China on August 4, 2019. Shaolin unique skills include: shaolin arhat formation, three gun sashimi, shaolin stick, shaolin stone lock skill, iron hand splitting bricks, water training, fist and foot sparring. (Photo by Sipa Asia/Rex Features/Shutterstock)
Clouds in Drakensberg Escarpment in the lowveld, also known as Mariepskop, South Africa in July 2019. Snapped by professional Photographer, Em Gatland, 37, from Greater Kruger, South Africa, the unique shot could easily be mistaken for a dangerous wave rather than clouds passing through a sunset. (Photo by Em Gatland/Caters News Agency)
The Wildscreen festival is the world’s biggest celebration of screen-based natural history storytelling which takes place every two years in Bristol. Here: “Walrus in Midnight Sun”. Walrus feed mostly on bivalves in productive, shallow and often sandy habitats in the Arctic. This individual, though, arrived on a beach outside Tromsø, northern Norway, and found comfort on a stranded dead sperm whale. After two weeks he approached Audun, and only half a metre away he stretched his tusk forward and touched his hand gently. “This was one of the most memorable moments of my life”, Rikardsen says. He named the 500kg male Buddy. After two months, the dead whale was decomposed and Buddy suddenly disappeared. (Photo by Audun Rikardsen/Wildscreen 2016)
The Arcaid awards highlight the best architectural photographs of the year – pictures of everything from giant arenas to tiny huts. The shortlisted photographs will be exhibited at the World Architecture Festival in Berlin, from 16 to 18 November, with an overall winner announced during the event’s gala dinner. Here: The stage for Haduwa Arts & Culture Institute, Ghana. Architect: (applied) Foreign Affairs. Nominated in the Sense of Place category. The open-air auditorium of this arts institute in Apam, Ghana, is built from ultra-strong curved bamboo. (Photo by Julien Lanoo)
Dozens of crocodiles are seen in an inactive farm in the Jordan Valley near the Israeli Petzael settlement in the West Bank on January 18, 2021. Hundreds of crocodiles are stranded in a farm after an Israeli businessmen lost his business as Israel passed a law in 2012 defining the crocodile as a protected animal, and banning raising the animals for sale as meat or merchandise. (Photo by Menahem Kahana/AFP Photo)