“Elat’ma, the Ryazan Oblast region of Russia. This small town is only 300 kilometers (186 miles) from modern Moscow but remains 60 years in the past, dominated by the spirit of socialism. The air of the communist ‘50s can be seen in the town’s architecture, celebrations and other occurrences. But neither its beauty nor its ties to a socialist past brought photographer Anastasia Rudenko to this village. Elat’ma is unique in that it functions as a town for mentally disabled people”. – Michelle Cohan via CNN. (Photo by Anastasia Rudenko)

“Annelies Marie “Anne” Frank (12 June 1929 – early March 1945) was one of the most renowned and most discussed Jewish victims of the Holocaust. Acknowledged for the quality of her writing, her diary has become one of the world's most widely read books, and has been the basis for several plays and films”. – Wikipedia

Photo: Childrens watch the wax figure of Anne Frank and their hideout reconstruction at Madame Tussauds on March 9, 2012 in Berlin, Germany. (Photo by Andreas Rentz/Getty Images)

A undated handout image provided by the Bochum University of Applied Sciences (Hochschule Bochum) on 04 October 2013 shows the German team Bochum's Cruiser class solar car during a test drive in the Northern Territoty, Australia, 16 September 2013. The Dutch vehicle is competing in the World Solar Challenge, driving from Darwin to Adelaide starting on 06 October 2013. (Photo by Hochschule Bochum/EPA)

“This grey adult male seal enjoys a good grin while lying on the beach”. (Photo by Michael Hutch/SplashdownDirect via Rex USA)

Four pillars of light from the 4 Laser Guide Star Facility on ESO's Very Large Telescope (VLT) are shown reaching into the Chilean night sky in this image from ESO Photo Ambassador Fred Kamphues, on September 2, 2016. The lasers are a key part of the adaptive optics system on the VLT. Adaptive optics allows astronomers to drastically reduce the atmospheric distortion present at even the best sites in the world for astronomy, including Paranal in Chile, the home of the VLT. (Photo by F. Kamphues/ESO)

Chieftain Japarupi Waiapi shows a roasted monkey -part of Waiapi's diet, also based in Manioc and fruits- at the reserve in Amapa state in Brazil on October 13, 2017. When Waiapis walks into the Amazon forest surrounding their village, they do not see trees, but a kind of shopping mall providing medicine, food, shelter, tools and weapons all under the eye of multiple spirits. (Photo by Apu Gomes/AFP Photo)

“In the late afternoon after a rain, genji botaru fireflies (luciola cruciate) dance above the swollen creek. The rocks darkened by the rain reflecting the blue sky, and the yellow-green ribbon of the glow from the fireflies, make a beautiful contrast”. – Takehito Miyatake. (Photo by Takehito Miyatake/Steven Kasher Gallery)

Merit: A Night at Deadvlei. The night before returning to Windhoek, we spent several hours at Deadveli. The moon was bright enough to illuminate the sand dunes in the distance, but the skies were still dark enough to clearly see the milky way and magellanic clouds. Deadveli means “dead marsh. The camelthorn trees are believed to be about 900 years old, but have not decomposed because the environment is so dry. (Photo and caption by Beth McCarley/National Geographic Traveler Photo Contest)