The shoemaker in Turkey, the potato seller in Vietnam, and the weaver in Bolivia are among the billions of low-income entrepreneurs who make the world go round. They are also the type of people who can benefit significantly from microfinance. Every year, the Consultative Group To Assist The Poor (or CGAP) hosts a photo contest asking entrants to submit photos based around the idea of microfinance.The purpose of the contest is to give amateur and professional photographers a chance to show the different ways that poor households manage their financial lives and make their lives better through financial inclusion. Photo: South Asia Regional Winner – “Bricks Worker”, Bangladesh. A private enterprise worker is working at a brick field. These small businesses are creating new job opportunities for many poor people. (Photo by Moksumul Haque)

Samurai commiting seppuku (hara-kiri) in Japan, circa 1880. (Photo by adoc-photos/Corbis via Getty Images)

Artist Vik Muniz is known for his gigantic composite installations and sculptures created from thousands of individual objects. In this new collaboration with artist and MIT researcher Marcelo Coelho, Muniz takes the opposite approach and explores the microscopic with a new series of sandcastles etched onto individual grains of sand.

Volunteers wait before taking part in the 66th National Day celebrations in Malaysia's administrative capital Putrajaya, on August 31, 2023. The country commemorates the independence of the Federation of Malaya from British rule in 1957. (Photo by Mohd Rasfan/AFP Photo)

A Filipino worker arranges roasted pigs which they sell in suburban Quezon city, Philippines on Tuesday, December 23, 2014. Roasted pig is popular during Filipino celebrations and traditionally served during a Christmas eve dinner called “Noche Buena” in this predominantly Roman Catholic nation. (Photo by Aaron Favila/AP Photo)

English singer Dua Lupa, 25, poses in Puma Mayu trainers in her latest advertising campaign for the brand in Herzogenaurach, Germany on August 16, 2021. The singer posed in the new suede trainers and a black skirt and top with chainmail underneath. Dua Lipa is featured in Puma's latest women's brand campaign “She Moves Us”, which, celebrates women who move together to achieve and connect through fashion, community and sport. (Photo by Mario Sorrenti)

Cast member George Clooney kisses the hand of his wife Amal Clooney on the red carpet for the screening of ”Jay Kelly” on August 28, 2025. (Photo by Yara Nardi/Reuters)

A man walks through floodwater as rain pours in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, on November 24, 2025. (Photo by Hasnoor Hussain/Reuters)