Run by the Society of German Nature Photographers (Gesellschaft Deutscher Tierfotografen), the prestigious annual contest celebrates the best wildlife photography from members in Germany. Here: Landscapes, second place: Florian Smit, “Rainforest” (Danum valley, Borneo). (Photo by Florian Smit/2019 GDT Nature Photographer of the Year)

German photographer Martin Klimas, who you may remember from his exploding porcelain figure series, creates breathtaking photos of flowers exploding into a million beautiful pieces. To achieve this effect, he soaks the petals in liquid nitrogen to make them brittle and hits the flower with an air gun.

“Michael Mathias Prechtl (April 26, 1926, Amberg – March 19, 2003, Nuremberg) was a German artist, illustrator and cartoonist. He served as a soldier on the Eastern Front during World War II and spent 1945-49 as a prisoner of war in the Soviet Union”. – Wikipedia

Photo: “Der Gestiefelte Kater (Puss in Boots)”, 1997. Artwork by Michael Mathias Prechtl

Magdalena Neuner poses in front of mammoth figures during a photocall of the German Biathlon Woman Team at the Archeopark on March 10, 2011 in Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia. On the territory of Archeopark are mammoth sculptural compositions, made of bronze. Mammoths lived in Ugra 70-10 thousand years ago and were members of the Pleistocene, or also called 'the mammoth fauna’. The growth figures exceed the natural factor 2-3 times.

A sign marks a railway crossing next to the troubled Kruemmel nuclear power plant on June 2, 2011 in Geesthacht, Germany. The German government recently announced it will phase out the country's 17 remaining nuclear reactors by 2022 in a policy initiative that represents a radical reversal from its previous policy and was sparked by the disaster at Fukushima. Kruemmel went into operation in 1983 but was taken offline following a fire in 2007. (Photo by Sean Gallup/Getty Images)

A fan lies passed out on the first day of the Wacken Open Air heavy metal music fest on August 4, 2011 in Wacken, Germany. Approximately 75,000 heavy metal fans from all over the world have descended on the north German village of 1,800 residents for the annual three-day fest. (Photo by Sean Gallup/Getty Images)

Gisele Marie, a Muslim woman and professional heavy metal musician, plays her Gibson Flying V electric guitar during a concert in Sao Paulo December 16, 2014. Based in Sao Paulo, Marie, 42, is the granddaughter of German Catholics, and converted to Islam several months after her father passed away in 2009. Marie, who wears the Burka, has been fronting her brothers' heavy metal band “Spectrus” since 2012. (Photo by Nacho Doce/Reuters)

Migrants wait to cross the Slovenia-Austria border in Sentilj, Slovenia, October 27, 2015. The first five border guards – all German – of 400 promised to Slovenia by fellow EU countries are expected to arrive on Wednesday to help channel a huge flow of migrants through the tiny Alpine state, its government said. Interior Ministry state secretary Bostjan Sefic also said 100-120 customs police would join Slovenian soldiers, regular police and private security firms in dealing with an influx that has strapped the country's limited resources. (Photo by Srdjan Zivulovic/Reuters)