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)

French photographer and director Romain Laurent started making portrait-based GIFs as a way to produce work outside his commercial jobs, a spontaneous project that would encourage him to produce consistently for himself rather than clients.

The Rekindle Candle is a clever candlestick holder that regenerates the candle as it burns by forming the melted wax into a new candle. The newly-formed candle can then be placed on top of the holder and the process can be started again. Rekindle Candle was designed by Benjamin Shine.

This is the work of Keisuke Yamada, a banana artist Kotaku first profiled in 2011. To make these sculptures, Yamada, an electrician by trade, must work fast, or the banana will start to go bad.

Fireworks explode above St. Basil's cathedral during a rehearsal for the “Spasskaya Tower” international military music festival at Moscow's Red Square, September 4, 2015. Military bands from different countries will participate in the annual tattoo starting on Sunday. (Photo by Maxim Zmeyev/Reuters)

Actress Boquita Almonte smashes an old cell phone on “Good Riddance Day” in Times Square in New York December 28, 2014. Good Riddance Day, inspired by Latin American tradition, encourages people to shred and smash their bad memories from 2014 to start the new year fresh. (Photo by Carlo Allegri/Reuters)