Anand Varma, a U.S. photographer working for the National Geographic, won the First Prize in the Nature Category, Stories, of the 2015 World Press Photo contest with his series of pictures, which includes this one of spores of a fungus landing on an ant, penetrating its exoskeleton and entering its brain, compelling the host to leave its normal habitat on the forest floor and scale a nearby tree, in this picture taken January 22, 2014 and released by the World Press Photo on February 12, 2015. (Photo by Anand Varma/Reuters/National Geographic/World Press Photo)

“Leopard Hunting a Stork”. “One-shot capture. I watched the leopard stalking the stork, I only had time to focus at 400mm, no time to change to high speed, I watched the stork, and as soon as it flapped its wings, I shot one shot”. (Photo by Paul Rifkin/National Geographic Travel Photographer of the Year Contest)

A horse named Quinn, with a skeleton painted on it to help educate officers, is pictured during a visit by Britain's Queen Elizabeth II (unseen) and Britain's Prince Charles, Prince of Wales (unseen) to the Household Cavalry Mounted Regiment at the Hyde Park Barracks in west London on October 24, 2017. (Photo by Chris Jackson/AFP Photo)

Nature – first prize, stories. Pandemic Pigeons – A Love Story. The photographer’s daughter, Merel, cowers after Dollie flies past and perches on the balcony before entering the house in Vlaardingen in the Netherlands on 6 April 2020. “She’s still frightened when Dollie suddenly lands on the balcony railing. I hide my smile behind the camera, as I try to comfort her by saying they won’t hurt you. “I thought he was going to attack me”, she replies. As the nesting pigeons keep coming back to our place, slowly my girls have started to appreciate them – perhaps not as much as I do, but it’s a start”. (Photo by Jasper Doest/World Press Photo 2021)

“Rudolf Khametovich Nureyev was a Russian Tatar dancer from the former Soviet Union, primarily known for his work in ballet. Nureyev's artistic skills explored expressive areas of the dance, providing a new role to the male ballet dancer who once served only as support to the women. He defected to the West, despite KGB efforts to stop him. According to KGB archives studied by Peter Watson, Nikita Khrushchev personally signed an order to have Nureyev killed”.

Photo: British ballerina Margot Fonteyn (Margaret Hookham) (1919 – 1991) and her professional partner during his tenure with the Royal Ballet Rudolf Nureyev. (Photo by Potter/Express/Getty Images). 12th December 1965. (Photo by Central Press/Getty Images)

US President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump watch the Florida Atlantic University Marching Band and cheerleaders perform prior to a Super Bowl party at Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach, Florida, February 4, 2018. (Photo by Saul Loeb/AFP Photo)

Shortlisted images in the running to be crowned Photobox Instagram photograph of the year range from furry friends to the Holi festival to the meaning of love. Judges, including the Guardian’s former picture editor Eamonn McCabe, have whittled down 180,000 submissions to unearth a shortlist that celebrates the best of social media. Winners will be announced October 3, 2018. Here: Najac, France. Travel shortlist. (Photo by Aaron Jenkin/@aaronjenkin)

A man sits on a park bench in a flooded park as the Cape Fear River rises above its usual height in Wilmington, North Carolina, September 14, 2018. (Photo by Jonathan Drake/Reuters)