Two young women, having enjoyed a drink at a party, dance together in Tehran, Iran. Although unrelated men and women are forbidden to socialise together many people ignore these strictures in the privacy of their own homes. (Photo by Hossein Fatemi/Reuters/Panos Pictures/Courtesy of World Press Photo Foundation)

Fashionistas wait for the start of Johannesburg Fashion Week 2023 in Johannesburg, South Africa, Wednesday, November 8, 2023. (Photo by Jerome Delay/AP Photo)

Members of Ankara Women's Orchestra, playing different instruments, are seen in Ankara, Turkiye on November 13, 2024.The orchestra, founded by 19 women of different ages and professions, gives concerts to female audiences with their wide repertoire in different languages and styles. (Photo by Esra Hacioglu Karakaya/Anadolu via Getty Images)

Fishermen fill crates with sardines netted during the annual sardine run in Warner Beach, South Africa on June 3, 2025. (Photo by Rogan Ward/Reuters)

“Eye of a toad”. Animal Portraits, Łukasz Bożycki, Poland. Early spring sees a pond near Łukasz’s home city of Warsaw, Poland, full of mating frogs and a few toads. On this March day, Łukasz shared the pond with them for an evening, sitting in the icy water in his chest-high waders, keeping as still as possible, despite the numbing cold, so that the amphibians could get used to him. “I wanted to find a fresh way of portraying the amphibians”, he says, “at water level”. Using a telephoto lens, he focused on one lone toad and waited for the sun to dip almost below the horizon before pressing the shutter, using flash to bring out the details in the shadow. His prize was “the glorious pool of sunset colour” and fiery glow of the toad’s eye. Nikon D80 + 70-300mm f4.5-5.6 lens + extension tube; 1/125 sec at f9 (-2.3 e/v); ISO 100; built-in flash. (Photo by Łukasz Bożycki)

Marchers kiss as they walk down 5th Avenue as they part in the 2019 World Pride NYC and Stonewall 50th LGBTQ Pride Parade in New York, U.S., June 30, 2019. (Photo by Lucas Jackson/Reuters)

An Orangutan named Elze walks in the Biopark of Rio during a media tour in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Thursday, March 18, 2021. The park was closed to the public for renovations to convert the city zoo into a center for biodiversity conservation and will reopen to the general public at the end of March. (Photo by Bruna Prado/AP Photo)

Nature – first prize, stories. Pandemic Pigeons – A Love Story. The photographer’s daughter, Merel, cowers after Dollie flies past and perches on the balcony before entering the house in Vlaardingen in the Netherlands on 6 April 2020. “She’s still frightened when Dollie suddenly lands on the balcony railing. I hide my smile behind the camera, as I try to comfort her by saying they won’t hurt you. “I thought he was going to attack me”, she replies. As the nesting pigeons keep coming back to our place, slowly my girls have started to appreciate them – perhaps not as much as I do, but it’s a start”. (Photo by Jasper Doest/World Press Photo 2021)