“Theyyam”. Preparation for the Theyyam performance in the surroundings of Kasaragod city. Theyyam is a popular ritual dance form of North Kerala, particularly in Kannur and Kasargod districts. The Theyyam represents a mythological, divine or heroic character. Make up of Theyyams is done by specialist. There are different types of face painting for which primarily and secondary colours are used. Therefore it is essential that the makeup man should have perfect knowledge of primary and secondary colour combinations. Sometimes, it takes several hours to paint each face. Photo location: Kasaragod, India. (Photo and caption by Rafal Ziejewski/National Geographic Photo Contest)

Katie Austin (L) and Denise Austin attend the 2019 ESPY Awards at Microsoft Theater on July 10, 2019 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Chelsea Lauren/Rex Features/Shutterstock)

Takeoka Chisaka, Hiroshima, Japan. “One morning in August 1945, I was walking home from the night shift at a factory in Hiroshima. As I reached my door, there was a huge explosion. When I came to, my head was bleeding and I had been blasted 30m away. The atomic bomb had detonated. When I found my mother, her eyes were badly burned. A doctor said they had to come out, but he didn’t have the proper tools so used a knife instead. It was hellish. I became a peace-worker after the war. In the 1960s, at a meeting at the UN, I met one of the people who created the atomic bomb. He apologised”. (Photo and caption by Sasha Maslov)

Members of South Korean girl group Gfriend rehearse in Seoul December 23, 2014. Thousands of Korean children dream of becoming household names like rapper Psy, whose 2012 “Gangnam Style” video was a global YouTube hit, often putting up with punishing schedules in the hope of one day making it big in the music industry. A recent survey of pre-teens showed that 21 percent of respondents wanted to be K-pop (Korean pop) stars when they grow up, the most popular career choice. (Photo by Kim Hong-Ji/Reuters)

Photographer Henry Hargreaves and artist Caitlin Levin have been working together for about decade. Their shared love for “food, photography, travel, and art” has found an outlet in a series of maps that they have illustrated with food.

“DC3 Wreck”. A capture of a US military DC3 plane wreck at the southern black beach in Iceland. Photo location: Iceland. (Photo and caption by Naian Feng/National Geographic Photo Contest)

Warriors from the Suri tribe in Ethiopia still stage the savage “Donga” battles – even after many fighters have been died from their injuries. Donga stick fights take place after the harvests, the Surmas count days owing to knots on a long stem of grass or jags on the trunk of a tree dedicated to that specific use. Here: A tribeswoman sporting a huge lip plate and wearing a skinned animal carcass on her head. (Photo by Eric Lafforgue/Exclusivepix Media)