A panel of 10 high-profile judges from within the surfing industry including seven-time world surfing champion Stephanie Gilmore were tasked with selecting the best of the best surfing photos for the 2020 Nikon surf photography awards. The judges were looking for innovation and creativity, uniqueness, dramatic affect and sensory impact. Here: “Free Fall”. (Photo by Ren Mcgann/2020 Nikon Surf Photography Awards)

Snakes are collected and rolled before putting into the oven on March 2, 2014 in the village of Kertasura, Cirebon, Indonesia. At slaughter house snake skins measuring in the hundreds of metres, are sold to bag factories in the West and Central Java provinces on a monthly basis. From snake skin was manufactured into bags, shoes, wallets and belts. The price of a bag made from snake skin costs between 150,000 rupiah ($15 USD) and 300,000 rupiah ($30 USD), depending on its size. When snake skins reach Western fashion houses their price can increase dramatically and sell for up to $4,000 USD. (Photo by Nurcholis Anhari Lubis/Getty Images)

A photographer is using a unique method to show the shift from day to night across famous cities in spectacular images. Daniel Marker-Moors' take on time-lapse photography – which he calls time slice – sees the photographer snap image after image, before combining them to create beautiful, vibrant works. His images usually focus on a point in the day with the most dramatic change in light, such as sunrise or sunset. Marker-Moors, from Los Angeles, begins by shooting hundreds and sometimes thousands of images from the same spot. Here: Chicago – 35 photographs, 15 minutes. (Photo by Daniel Marker-Moors/Caters News)

A dramatic rise in owning exotic pets in China is fuelling global demand for threatened species. The growing trade in alligators, snakes, monkeys, crocodiles and spiders is directly linked to species loss in some of the world’s most threatened ecosystems. Here: A fennec fox (Vulpes zerda) is groomed in a pet store in central Beijing. Native to the Sahara in North Africa, the species became a popular pet after being depicted as a character in Disney’s 2016 animated movie Zootopia. Individuals can cost between $2,000–$3,000. (Photo by Sean Gallagher/The Guardian)

An athlete pulls a 15-tonne truck during a Truck-Pull event marking the upcoming Independence Day in the Belarus capital Minsk, on July 3, 2014. The former Soviet nation celebrates its Independence Day on July 3 in memory of the end of Belarus occupation by Nazi Germany troops during the Red Army main summer offensive in 1944. (Photo by Sergei Gapon/AFP Photo)