The finishing touches are made to a giant sculpture on the Hayward Gallery entitled “Urban Fox” and made from straw bales on April 18, 2011 in London, England. The sculpture features in the Southbank Centre's 60th anniversary celebration of the 1951 Festival of Britain. The celebration will feature various cultural and creative events and runs from April 22 until September 4, 2011 at London's Southbank Centre. (Photo by Oli Scarff/Getty Images)

At the end of rice harvesting season, the folks of the Kagawa and Niigata Prefectures in Japan hold a straw festival to celebrate the abundance of the harvest. Dried straws cover wooden frames to form larger-than-life sculptures from animals like sharks and gorillas to vessels such as ships and tanks. The family-friendly event invites visitors of all ages to engage, interact, and play on the enormous structures.

A fishmonger prepares fresh festive seafood supplies at the Sydney Seafood Market on December 23, 2011 in Sydney, Australia. The annual 36-hour seafood marathon commenced today with thousands of Sydney shoppers expected to flock to the Sydney Seafood Market to find the freshest possible seafood catch for Christmas Day feasts. (Photo by Brendon Thorne/Getty Images)

Takehiko Yagi is a rising star in Japanese photography, and his vibrant pictures of the Hindu spring festival of Holi won the Grand Prize at the fourth annual Nikkei National Geographic Photo Prize. Diving into the Colors of Holi is his first exhibition in the US, on show at Foto Care Gallery in New York until 28 September, 2016. Here: Jaipur, India, 2013, (Photo by Takehiko Yagi/The Guardian)

A boy shouts after catching a trout during a trout catching contest in Hwacheon, South Korea, Saturday, January 6, 2018. The contest is part of an annual ice festival which draws over 1,000,000 visitors every year. (Photo by Ahn Young-joon/AP Photo)

Revellers in Newcastle, England on the last Friday before Christmas, December 20, 2019. Black Eye Friday festive mayhem hit the nation; Christmas celebrations kicked off with a bang across the country as revellers flocked to pubs and clubs for the biggest night of the year. (Photo by Scott Heppell/PA Images via Getty Images)

Shortlisted images in the running to be crowned Photobox Instagram photograph of the year range from furry friends to the Holi festival to the meaning of love. Judges, including the Guardian’s former picture editor Eamonn McCabe, have whittled down 180,000 submissions to unearth a shortlist that celebrates the best of social media. Winners will be announced October 3, 2018. Here: Najac, France. Travel shortlist. (Photo by Aaron Jenkin/@aaronjenkin)