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)

French photographer and director Romain Laurent started making portrait-based GIFs as a way to produce work outside his commercial jobs, a spontaneous project that would encourage him to produce consistently for himself rather than clients.

The Rekindle Candle is a clever candlestick holder that regenerates the candle as it burns by forming the melted wax into a new candle. The newly-formed candle can then be placed on top of the holder and the process can be started again. Rekindle Candle was designed by Benjamin Shine.

This is the work of Keisuke Yamada, a banana artist Kotaku first profiled in 2011. To make these sculptures, Yamada, an electrician by trade, must work fast, or the banana will start to go bad.

A donkey is seen before the start of the procession of the “Virgem da Atalaia” during Holy Week at Alcochete, near Lisbon April 5, 2015. Women ride donkeys during the “Virgem da Atalaia” procession, that has been held annually for about 400 years. In the past, only single women rode the donkeys to ask for help from the Virgin to find a husband. (Photo by Rafael Marchante/Reuters)

A tourist reacts as an elephant sprays her with water in celebration of the Songkran water festival in Thailand's Ayutthaya province, April 9, 2014. Songkran, the most celebrated festival of the year, marks the start of Thailand's traditional New Year. (Photo by Chaiwat Subprasom/Reuters)

Dancers of the Moulin Rouge cabaret adjust their boots prior to a show on April 22, 2014 in Paris. Since 1945, the “Maison Clairvoy” is specialised in the creation of luxury shoes and started in 1960 a collaboration with the famous Moulin Rouge to create boots and shoes for French Cancan dancers. (Photo by Franck Fife/AFP Photo)

A Brazil fan waits for the start of the group A World Cup soccer match between Brazil and Croatia, the opening game of the tournament, in the Itaquerao Stadium in Sao Paulo, Brazil, Thursday, June 12, 2014. (Photo by Felipe Dana/AP Photo)