Fireworks explode over a floating Christmas tree in Lagoa Lake in Rio de Janeiro. (Photo by Victor R. Caivano/Associated Press)

Oded Balilty is an Israeli documentary photographer. He is an Associated Press photographer and won the Pulitzer Prize for Breaking News Photography in 2007. Photo: A Jewish settler struggles with an Israeli security officer during clashes that erupted as authorities evacuated the West Bank settlement outpost of Amona, east of the Palestinian town of Ramallah, in this February 1, 2006, file photo. (Photo by Oded Balilty/AP Photo)

Merit Prize Winner: “A Well Earned Rest in the Sahara”. This photo of Moussa Macher, our Tuareg guide, was taken at the summit of Tin-Merzouga, the largest dune (or erg) in the Tadrat region of the Sahara desert in southern Algeria. Moussa rested while waiting for us to finish our 45-minute struggle to the top. It only took ten minutes of rolling, running, and jumping to get back down. The Tadrat is part of the Tassili N'Ajjer National Park World Heritage area, famous for its red sand and engravings and rock paintings of cattle, elephants, giraffes, and rhinos that lived there when the climate was milder. Photo location: Summit of Tin-Merzouga, Tadrat, Tassili N'Ajjer National Park, Algeria. (Photo and caption by Evan Cole/National Geographic Photo Contest)

A young anoa, also known as midget buffalo, named Tycoon runs around at the Zoo in Berlin, Germany, on November 9, 2012. (Photo by Maurizio Gambarini/EPA)

Russian soldiers write home while serving on the Eastern Front during World War I, circa 1915. (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

After finding the bricklaying business too full of ups and downs, this amazing young girl decided to take a shot at iron girdering for a change. She is Miss “Collie” Collier, a reporter for the Chicago Herald-Examiner. August 17, 1920. (Photo by Bettmann Archive/Getty Images)

NYPD police wearing protective face masks and gloves respond to a report of an emotionally disturbed person (EDP), amid the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic, in the Midtown Manhattan area of New York City, U.S., September 15, 2021. (Photo by Shannon Stapleton/Reuters)

A dog Prince Dudeman stands on the head of Ryan Thor in the annual Surf City Surf Dog event, at Dog Beach in Huntington Beach, Calif., Saturday, September 25, 2021. (Photo by Ringo H.W. Chiu/AP Photo)