Pine trees are seen after a forest fire near Sao Pedro do Sul, Portugal August 14, 2016. Deadly wildfires raging for two weeks in Portugal have destroyed a wooded area the size of 100,000 soccer fields, and the small Iberian nation alone accounts for half of all forests burned in the European Union this year. (Photo by Rafael Marchante/Reuters)

Young Swiss photographer Cyril Porchet’s final year show included this awesome series of the most opulent Baroque church altars he could find in Spain, Austria and Germany. His intention was to explore the seductive power of display. What is extraordinary is how much you lose all sense of perspective and depth, such is the overabundance of detail. I like how the odd feature confuses all the more; like the red rope of the ornamental light in the image below for instance which neatly splices the image in half. I could pore over these for hours and hours.

Split Apple Rock is a geological rock formation in The Tasman Bay off the northern coast of the South Island of New Zealand. Made of granite, it is in the shape of an apple which has been cut in half. It is a popular tourist attraction in the waters of the Tasman Sea approximately 50 metres off the coast between Kaiteriteri and Marahau. The rock sits in shallow water at low tide and is accessible by wading. It is also a point of interest for the many tourist boats and pleasure craft which operate along the shores of the Abel Tasman National Park. The cleft to produce two sides of the 'apple' was a natural occurrence. It is unknown when this happened and therefore the cleaving of the rock has attracted mythological explanations.

“Kumbh Mela is a mass Hindu pilgrimage in which Hindus gather at the Ganges river. The normal Kumbh Mela is celebrated every 3 years, the Ardh (half) Kumbh Mela is celebrated every six years at Haridwar and Prayag, the Purna (complete) Kumbh takes place every twelve years, at four places (Prayag (Allahabad), Haridwar, Ujjain, and Nashik). The Maha (great) Kumbh Mela which comes after 12 “Purna Kumbh Melas”, or 144 years, is held at Allahabad.

The last Ardh Kumbh Mela was held over a period of 45 days beginning in January 2007, more than 70 million Hindu pilgrims took part in the Ardh Kumbh Mela at Prayag, and on January 15, the most auspicious day of the festival of Makar Sankranti, more than 5 million participated. The previous Maha Kumbh Mela, held in 2001, was attended by around 60 million people, making it at the time the largest gathering anywhere in the world in recorded history”. – Wikipedia

Photo: Sadhus (holy men) smoke at their camp near the ritual site at Sangam, the confluence of the Ganges, Yamuna and mythical Saraswati rivers during the Ardh Kumbh Mela festival (Half Pitcher festival) January 18, 2007 in Allahabad, India. Millions of Hindu pilgrims have flocked to the largest religious gathering in the world which lasts for 45 days in northern India. The festival commemorates the mythical conflict between gods and demons over a pitcher filled with the “nectar of immortality”. Devotees believe that taking a holy dip in the Ganges at this time washes away their sins and paves the path to salvation. (Photo by Mario Tama/Getty Images)

Shemika Charles limbos under her car at Niagara Falls State Park on May 28, 2015 in Buffalo, New York. A world record holding limbo queen thinks she has become the first person to shimmy under a car. Shemika Charles amazed herself and onlookers when she bent over backwards to get underneath the SUV earlier this week. The supple 22-year-old entered the record books in 2010 when she limboed down to an incredible eight and a half inches – the height of a beer bottle. She trains for up to four hours a day to keep her body in peak condition and now travels around America performing with her family. However, regular performances put an incredible strain on her body and she sees a chiropractor once a week to have her hips realigned. Her mother was also a successful limbo dancer in her home country of Trinidad and Tobago but had to give up due to injury. (Photo by Ruaridh Connellan/Barcroft USA)

A golden huddle by Minqiang Lu, China. Two females and a male golden snub-nosed monkey huddle together to keep warm in the extreme cold. Threatened by forest loss and fragmentation, this endangered species is confined to central China. Restricted to living high up in the temperate forests, these monkeys – here in the Qinling mountains in Shaanxi province – feed mostly in the trees, on leaves, bark, buds and lichen. In heavy wind and snow, Minqiang walked up the mountain carrying his equipment. He stayed for half an hour in temperatures of –10C opposite the tree where the group was huddled before achieving this eye-level composition. (Photo by Minqiang Lu/Wildlife Photographer of the Year)

A polar bear whose bottom half is caked in oily black gunk. A whale wrapped in striped fabric: a pseudo straightjacket. These are the messes climate change leaves behind, the things we know are happening but often don’t have the opportunity to see with our own eyes. Swiss street art duo Christian Rebecchi and Pablo Togni, otherwise known as NeverCrew, met in art school when they were 15 and started making work together soon after. As a team, the artists adorn the world with eye-popping and gut-wrenching images depicting the consequences of humanity’s actions on earth. (Photo by NeverCrew/The Huffington Post)

Cyclists desperately try to keep their heavily-laden bicycles upright as they arrive at a market with baskets full of pineapples on August 23, 2018. The men travel up to 12 and a half miles with two baskets tied to the sides of their bikes, carrying between 50 and 100 pineapples to sell. Each of the bicycles is so heavily laden with fruit it is impossible for the men to actually ride their bikes, instead having to walk alongside them. When they arrive at the market place in Madhupur, Bangladesh, buyers will pay up to 30 Taka for a pineapple – the equivalent of around 28 pence. (Photo by Abdul Momin/Solent News & Photo Agency UK)