Winner. “This was taken in the South Ari Atolls, Maldives, as the south-west monsoon season was setting in. It features my partner – and dive buddy – Emma after surfacing at the end of the last dive of the day to find 1.5 metre swells and dark monsoon clouds. MICK RYAN, JUDGE: This beautiful portrait of a diver in an ocean swell below a menacing sky stands out this month for its emotional and elemental beauty. It is a reminder that while we may play among nature we are always dwarfed by its power and must be constantly on our guard”. (Photo by Simon Dunn/The Guardian)

Jockeys spur buffalos during the Makepung buffalo races at Jembrana in Bali, Indonesia on October 23, 2016. Makepung is a tradition for farmers to celebrate a bumper harvest in Bali. (Photo by Kadek Raharja/Xinhua/Barcroft Images)

A girl plays at the West Side Hallo Fest, a Halloween festival in Bucharest, Romania, Friday, October 27, 2023. Tens of thousands streamed last weekend to Bucharest's Angels' Island peninsula for what was the biggest Halloween festival in the Eastern European nation since the fall of Communism. (Photo by Vadim Ghirda/AP Photo)

Pionneers from Aubagne's 1st Foreign Regiment (Legion etrangere) march the Champs-Elysees during the annual Bastille day parade on July 14, 2011 in Paris, France. The French National Day celebrates its revolution in the storming of the Bastille in 1789 through various parades and official ceremonies throughout France. (Photo by Franck Prevel/Getty Images)

A man works on “Long Ma”, a creation by La Machine production company, during a media visit to “A Journey to Nantes” (Le Voyage a Nantes) art festival in Nantes, France, June 30, 2015. The art festival will run from July 3 to August 30. (Photo by Stephane Mahe/Reuters)

Chamonix-Mont-Blanc or, more commonly, Chamonix is a commune in the Haute-Savoie département in the Rhône-Alpes region in south-eastern France. It was the site of the first Winter Olympics in 1924. The commune's population of around 9,800 ranks 865th within the country of France.

The legendary US photographer’s favourite shots of creatures and how they interact with humans feature in “Animals”, his latest book. Here: A boy rests against a cow, Kathmandu, Nepal, 2013. “Cows have been designated the national animal in Nepal. They roam freely, and are considered sacred by the 80% of Nepalis who are Hindu”. (Photo by Steve McCurry/The Guardian)

Two hippopotamus are fed with pumpkins at the Hanoi Zoo, in Hanoi, Vietnam, 25 October 2018. The zoo has been the home for more than 800 animals of over 90 different species, including three hippopotamus, since it was built in 1976. (Photo by Luong Thai Linh/EPA/EFE)