The Leshan Giant Buddha, a 71-metre tall stone statue, is carved out of a cliff face in the southern part of Sichuan province in China. (Photo by Suchet Suwanmongkol/500px)

Underwater photographer of the year – winner. Dancing Octopus by Gabriel Barathieu (France). Location: Island of Mayotte, off the coast of south-east Africa. “Balletic and malevolent”, one judge said of this octopus, hunting in a lagoon. Barathieu waited until spring tides when there was just 30cm of water on the flats and plenty of light in the shallows. (Photo by Gabriel Barathieu/UPY2017)

Aerial view of Skanderbeg Square in Tirana, lit with Christmas decorations and surrounded by an open Christmas market on December 29, 2021. (Photo by Gent Shkullaku/AFP Photo)

Thiago Salgado from the US flips in the air after riding Razzmatazz during Round 3 of the 2023 PBR Unleash the Beast Monster Energy Buck Off at the Madison Square Garden in New York on January 8, 2023. (Photo by Timothy A. Clary/AFP Photo)

An employee in a bookshop adjusts packaged cigarettes which have to be sold in identical olive-brown packets bearing the same typeface and largely covered with graphic health warnings, with the same style of writing so the only identifier of a brand will be the name on the packet, in Sydney on December 1, 2012. A new world-first law forcing tobacco companies to sell cigarettes in identical packets came into effect Saturday in Australia in an effort to strip any glamour from smoking and prevent young people from taking up the habit. (Photo by William West/AFP Photo)

A woman poses for a photographer (not pictured) as a man sits next to her in downtown Catania, Italy April 20, 2016. (Photo by Tony Gentile/Reuters)

“Cyber Monsoon”, honorable mention in Places category. A torrential monsoon rain in Bhaktapur, Nepal. (© Anuar Patjane)

Aerial photo taken on June 19, 2021 shows the scenery of Mount Huashan in northwest China's Shaanxi Province. (Photo by Xinhua News Agency/Rex Features/Shutterstock)