28 year old Rupa has her hair shaven to donate to the Gods at the Thiruthani Murugan Temple November 10, 2016 in Thiruttani, India. Rupa donated her hair with the wish that her daughter's illness is cured. The process of shaving ones hair and donating it to the Gods is known as tonsuring. It is common for Hindu believers to tonsure their hair at a temple as a young child, and also to celebrate a wish coming true, such as the birth of a baby or the curing of an illness. The “temple hair”, as it's known, is then auctioned off to a processing plant and then sold as pricey wigs and weaves in the US, Europe and Africa. (Photo by Allison Joyce/Getty Images)
A Syrian refugee man (obscured) moves boxes of goods at his shop in Zaatari refugee camp near the border with Syria, in Mafraq, Jordan October 15, 2016. (Photo by Ammar Awad/Reuters)
A man, wearing a protective mask following an outbreak of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), walks in Tokyo, Japan on March 17, 2020. (Photo by Edgard Garrido/Reuters)
“Leopard Hunting a Stork”. “One-shot capture. I watched the leopard stalking the stork, I only had time to focus at 400mm, no time to change to high speed, I watched the stork, and as soon as it flapped its wings, I shot one shot”. (Photo by Paul Rifkin/National Geographic Travel Photographer of the Year Contest)
Richard Gamboa, dressed up as Santa Claus, walks in an alley of the slum Cota 905 during the “Santa en las calles” (Santa in the streets) event donating toys, food, and clothes in Caracas, Venezuela on December 1, 2018. (Photo by Marco Bello/Reuters)
Rian Johnson, left, director of the upcoming film “Knives Out”, takes a picture of cast member Ana de Armas as they are introduced onstage during the Lionsgate presentation at CinemaCon 2019, the official convention of the National Association of Theatre Owners (NATO) at Caesars Palace, Thursday, April 4, 2019, in Las Vegas. (Photo by Chris Pizzello/Invision/AP Photo)
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)