“Eye of a toad”. Animal Portraits, Łukasz Bożycki, Poland. Early spring sees a pond near Łukasz’s home city of Warsaw, Poland, full of mating frogs and a few toads. On this March day, Łukasz shared the pond with them for an evening, sitting in the icy water in his chest-high waders, keeping as still as possible, despite the numbing cold, so that the amphibians could get used to him. “I wanted to find a fresh way of portraying the amphibians”, he says, “at water level”. Using a telephoto lens, he focused on one lone toad and waited for the sun to dip almost below the horizon before pressing the shutter, using flash to bring out the details in the shadow. His prize was “the glorious pool of sunset colour” and fiery glow of the toad’s eye. Nikon D80 + 70-300mm f4.5-5.6 lens + extension tube; 1/125 sec at f9 (-2.3 e/v); ISO 100; built-in flash. (Photo by Łukasz Bożycki)

A young girl chases pigeons as Muslim worshippers gather to perform the Eid al-Fitr morning prayer at the Grand Mosque in Saudi Arabia's holy city of Mecca to mark the end of the fasting month of Ramadan, on May 13, 2021. (Photo by Abdulghani Essa/AFP Photo)

People cross waterlogged railway tracks next to a parked passenger train during heavy rains in Mumbai, India, June 9, 2021. (Photo by Hemanshi Kamani/Reuters)

A girl attends a performance hosted by the Ministry of the Interior that includes police, border guards, and rescuers celebrating International Children's Day in Kyiv, Ukraine on June 1, 2021. (Photo by Gleb Garanich/Reuters)

A woman taking a nap on mangoes at city market area after the city eased the lockdown in Bangalore, India 12 July 2021. The Karnataka government eases in covid-19 related lockdown restrictions in the wake of lower coronavirus cases and positivity rate falling below 5% percent. The Karnataka state government administering record 2.5-crore doses till date since the vaccination drive was launched across the state on January 16, Karnataka ranked first in South India in inoculating maximum number of its eligible population, said state Health Minister K. Sudhakar. (Photo by Jagadeesh N.V./EPA/EFE)

A Guinean kid poses for a photo in Conakry, Guinea on July 23, 2021. Children, most of whom start working after a certain age to support their families, have their hair braided in different ways and decorated with colorful beads on all special days, especially on holidays, despite these difficult conditions. (Photo by Ozkan Bilgin/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)

A local resident performs traditional horse racing during a celebration marking the 70th anniversary of the founding of Yushu Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, in northwest China's Qinghai Province, August 4, 2021. (Photo by Xinhua News Agency/Rex Features/Shutterstock)

Beatriz Hatz of the United States competes in the women's T62 long jump final during the 2020 Paralympics at the National Stadium in Tokyo, Saturday, August 28, 2021. (Photo by Kiichiro Sato/AP Photo)