Los Angeles native Mike Stilkey has always been attracted to painting and drawing not only on vintage paper, record covers and book pages, but on the books themselves. Using a mix of ink, colored pencil, paint and lacquer, Stilkey depicts a melancholic and at times a whimsical cast of characters inhabiting ambiguous spaces and narratives of fantasy and fairy tales. A lingering sense of loss and longing hints at emotional depth and draws the viewer into their introspective thrall with a mixture of capricious poetry, wit, and mystery. (Photo by Mike Stilkey)

“In 2009 a monumental underwater museum called “MUSA” (Museo Subacuático de Arte) was formed in the waters surrounding Cancun, Isla Mujeres and Punta Nizuc. The project founded by Jaime Gonzalez Cano of The National Marine Park, Roberto Diaz of The Cancun Nautical Association and Jason deCaires Taylor consists of over 450 permanent life-size sculptures and is one of the largest and most ambitious underwater artificial art attractions in the world”. – UnderwaterSculpture (Photos by Jason deCaires Taylor/Intrepidacious/Kozy and Dan Kitchens)

“Snowflake (c. 1964 – November 24, 2003) was an albino gorilla. He was the only known albino gorilla so far, and the most popular resident of the Barcelona Zoo in Catalonia, Spain. Originally named Nfumu Ngui in Fang language ("white gorilla") by his captor, he was then nicknamed Floquet de Neu (Catalan for little snowflake) by his keeper Jordi Sabater Pi. On his arrival to Barcelona where he was given an official reception by the then Mayor of Barcelona, Josep Maria de Porcioles, in November 1966, he was called Blancanieves (“Snow White”) in the newspaper Tele/Exprés. But he became famous with the name given to him by Sabater when National Geographic Magazine featured him on the main page in March 1967, with the English name Snowflake. This name spread among the press (Stern, Life, Paris-Match) and was later translated to Spanish as Copito de Nieve. Sabater himself called the gorilla Floquet or Copi, and in the later years Nfumu. The asteroid 95962 Copito, discovered by Catalan astronomer J. Manteca, is named in his honour”.

An Armatix employee holds a “smart gun” by the company at the Armatix headquarters in Munich May 14, 2014. The gun is implanted with an electronic chip that allows it to be fired only if the shooter is wearing a watch that communicates with it through a radio signal. If the gun is moved more than 10 inches (25 cm) from the watch, it will not fire. A Maryland gun shop owner has dropped his plan to be the first in the United States to sell the so-called “smart gun” after a backlash that included death threats. (Photo by Michael Dalder/Reuters)

Wedding photographer, Josh Newton, has managed to turn a natural disaster into an amazing photo shoot opportunity. On June 7, 2014 Michael Wolber and April Hartley were getting ready to walk down the aisle in Rock Springs Ranch, Bend, Oregon, USA when firefighters alerted them to nearby wildfires gaining momentum and instructed them to flee to a safer location. Instead of leaving immediately, the wedding coordinator talked the firemen into letting the couple get married if they shortened the ceremony. “Everyone was on the edge of their seats”, says Newton, “it was so nerve racking!”. (Photo by Josh Newton/IMP)

Kenny Wallace, driver of the #09 Family Farmers Toyota, spins into Justin Allgaier, driver of the #31 Brandt Chevrolet, who is lifted into the air by Reed Sorenson, driver of the #52 Means Racing Chevrolet, as Michael Annett, driver of the #43 Pilot Flying J. Ford, tries to avoid the wreckage during the NASCAR Nationwide Series DRIVE4COPD 300 at Daytona International Speedway on February 25, 2012 in Daytona Beach, Florida. (Photo by John Harrelson/Getty Images for NASCAR)

A “Federahannes”, a jester figure from Rottweil, participates in the “Narrensprung” (jester jump) parade in Rottweil, southern Germany, Monday, February 27, 2016. About 4000 jesters paraded through the city among thousands of spectators. The Rottweil Narrensprung is the highlight of the Swabian-Alemannic Fastnacht and one of the traditional pre-Lenten carnival parades in southwestern Germany. (Photo by Michael Probst/AP Photo)

The Boeoegg, a giant symbolic snowman made of wadding and and filled with firecrackers burns on top of a bonfire in Sechselaeuten square on April 24, 2017 in Zurich. When the bells of the Saint Peter's church chime six o'clock, the bonfire under the snowman is set in fire and the guildsmen wearing historical costumes ride around the bonfire. The faster the head of the snowman explods the warmer and more beautiful the summer will be. (Photo by Michael Buholzer/AFP Photo)