Women wearing "Shiroshozoku" or the traditional white robe pray as they bathe in ice-cold water at the Teppozu Inari shrine in Tokyo, Japan, January 10, 2016. About 100 participants took part in the Shinto ceremony to purify their souls and wish for good health in the new year. (Photo by Yuya Shino/Reuters)

Japanese artist Mami Kiyoshi has spent 15 years creating vivid portraits of people surrounded by their belongings – from wine bottles and violins to the odd stray pet. Mami Kiyoshi’s ongoing series “New Reading Portraits” is, in part, a nod to the mise-en-scène found in traditional woodcut printing. Here: Sakura and Kazuhiro, Tokyo, 2015. (Photo by Mami Kiyoshi/Galerie Annie Gabrielli/The Guardian)

An image produced by the Hubble telescope of the perfectly “edge-on” galaxy, or NGC 4013, March 1, 2001. This new Hubble picture reveals, with great detail, huge clouds of dust and gas extending along, as well as far above, the galaxy's main disk. NGC 4013 is a spiral galaxy, similar to the Milky Way, lying some 55 million light-years from Earth in the direction of the constellation Ursa Major. Viewed face-on, it would look like a nearly circular pinwheel, but NGC 4013 happens to be seen edge-on from our vantage point. Even at 55 million light-years, the galaxy is larger than Hubble's field of view, and the image shows only a little more than half of the object, albeit with unprecedented detail. (Photo Courtesy of NASA/Newsmakers)

Documenting the effects of climate change first hand over the past eight years, Camille Seaman fears we may be on the road to the last iceberg. Photographing the enormous frozen floats at both poles for the past eight years, the Californian adventurer has seen the receding ice shelves and experienced the changing warmer weather. Feeling that her intimate and emotional work documents a snapshot of history, Camille presents her series “The Last Iceberg” as a study of what she sees as the personality of each huge iceberg. Drawing parallels with the famous novel, “The Last of the Mohicans”, Camille, 42, wonders whether these unique, almost alien natural features will become a thing of the past or part of nature's renewal process. (Photo by Camille Seaman/Barcroft Media)

A devotee of the Chinese shrine of Kathu Shrine, pierces his cheeks with umbrellas during a procession of Vegetarian Festival on October 4, 2011 in Phuket, Thailand. Ritual Vegetarianism in Phuket Island traces it roots back to the early 1800's. The festival begins on the first evening of the ninth lunar month and lasts for nine days. Participants in the festival perform acts of body piercing as a means of shifting evil spirits from individuals onto themselves and bring the community good luck. (Photo by Athit Perawongmetha/Getty Images)

Indian women beat men with stick (Lathi) during celebration of Lathmar Holi in Nandgaon village of Mathura district in Uttar Pradesh, India on February 25, 2018. Holi is observed in India at the end of the winter season on the last full moon of the lunar month. (Photo by Javed Sultan/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images)

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)

An inventive make-up artist has started using her chin as a canvas for unique paintings of popular cartoon characters. Using her own mouth as the teeth and lips of her subjects, stunning Laura Jenkinson, 25, paints around them using theatrical make-up to create the pint-sized portraits. Shrek, Finding Nemo’s Dory and the Genie from Aladdin have all featured in the series of incredible pictures that she has spent a year putting together. Her pictures have gone viral on facebook and Instagram where her posts regularly receive more than 1500 likes. Here, Bugs Bunny from “Looney Tunes” is depicted on Jenkinson. (Photo by Laura Jenkinson/Caters News)