Youth category winner: Symphony No 5 by Giacomo Redaelli (Italy). (Photo by Giacomo Redaelli/2019 Nature Photographer of the Year)

Polar frame, by Dmitry Kokh, Russia. When Kokh’s boat approached the small island of Kolyuchin in the Russian High Arctic, which had been abandoned by humans since 1992, he was surprised to spot movement in one of the houses. Binoculars revealed polar bears – more than 20 in total – exploring the ghost town. Dmitry used a low-noise drone to document them. (Photo by Dmitry Kokh/Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2022)

High winds blow sand across the highway near the original north shore of Owens Lake, now miles from the nearest pool of water, on May 5, 2007 near Lone Pine, California. (Photo by David McNew/Getty Images)

Oded Balilty is an Israeli documentary photographer. He is an Associated Press photographer and won the Pulitzer Prize for Breaking News Photography in 2007. Photo: A Jewish settler struggles with an Israeli security officer during clashes that erupted as authorities evacuated the West Bank settlement outpost of Amona, east of the Palestinian town of Ramallah, in this February 1, 2006, file photo. (Photo by Oded Balilty/AP Photo)

Will Burrard-Lucas takes a photo while a Meerkat perches on his lens on January 2014 in Makgadikgadi, Botswana. These adorable Meerkats used a photographer as a look out post before trying their hand at taking pictures. The beautiful images were caught by wildlife photographer Will Burrard-Lucas after he spent six days with the quirky new families in the Makgadikgadi region of Botswana. Will has photographed Meerkats in the past and was delighted when he realised he would be shooting new arrivals. (Photo by Will Burrard-Lucas/Barcroft Media)

P.S. All pictures are presented in high resolution. To see Hi-Res images – just TWICE click on any picture. In other words, click small picture – opens the BIG picture. Click BIG picture – opens VERY BIG picture (if available; this principle works anywhere on the site AvaxNews)

“Hatem Moussa joined The Associated Press as a photojournalist in 1998. Since then, the Gaza City-based Moussa has covered repeated rounds of Israeli-Palestinian fighting in Gaza, including the wars of 2008-9, 2012 and 2014”. – Associated Press. Photo: A Palestinian youth jumps into the Mediterranean sea on the beach at the port of Gaza City, Gaza, Monday, August 27, 2012. (Photo by Hatem Moussa/AP Photo)

This stirring collection of photos which offer a glimpse behind the scenes of army life have all been selected as winners in an annual competition. The remarkable pictures in the Army Photographic Competition show Britain's soldiers at work and play. They have been taken by amateur and professional soldier cameramen and include images from operations in Afghanistan, air shows and sporting events. The winners were announced at a ceremony held at the Army Headquarters in Andover in Hampshire. (Photo by Jamie Peters/MoD/Geoff Robinson Photography/REX Features)

American soldiers with the 173rd Airborne Brigade Battle Company, on a battalion-wide mission in the Korengal Valley, looking for caves, weapons caches and known Taliban leaders, 2007. Tanner Stichter tends to Spc. Carl Vandeberge in the bushes moments after Vandeberge was shot in the stomach during a Taliban ambush, which killed one soldier and wounded two others. (Photo by Lynsey Addario)