Mom dressed as Santa and a boy dressed as Santa's helper posing under the water in the pool on December 15, 2016 in Odessa, Ukraine. (Photo by Andrey Nekrasov/Barcroft Images)

A man runs on a small road in the outskirts of Frankfurt, Germany, before sunrise on Tuesday, September 1, 2020. (Photo by Michael Probst/AP Photo)

Getting it done. Felicity, an athlete at an amateur weightlifting competition in a small local gym. (Photo by Clinton Bradbury/Women in Sport Photo Action Awards 2021)

A brightly burning magnesium-rich meteor known as a bolide was captured near Bude, Cornwall on January 24, 2020. (Photo by Chris Small/Apex News)

To produce the images that convey his fatalistic and ironic approach to life, tinged with hope, he needed the environment and knowledge of Mother Russia, oiled with a bit of bribery to certain circus trainers. Enter the Great Russian Bear, the personification of Russia for the last several centuries, onto center stage and into his studio. The bear is recognized as both brutish and cute – Misha was the mascot for the 1980 Olympic Games – and has remained a symbol of Russia since Tsarist times. In 2009 it is the symbol of the United Russia Party.

If life wasn’t exciting enough for these beautiful tortoises, they now get to wear a selection of fantastic knitted suits. They made a very slow sashay down the catwalk to showcase the talents of Katie Bradley. She has made cute woolly suits from 25 designs to transform the little animals into a shark, a lobster, a burrito, a burger, bumble bee and a birthday cake.

A car drives between trees in a small park in Frankfurt, Germany, Monday, April 8, 2024. (Photo by Michael Probst/AP Photo)

A hare runs on a small road as the sun rises in Frankfurt, Germany, Monday, June 12, 2023. (Photo by Michael Probst/AP Photo)