There are many types of hobbies. Some of them are strange, such as piercing your skin with huge metal hooks with ropes attached to them, and dangling yourself from the ceiling. Others might enjoy riding down huge mountain hills on skis, snowboards, mountain boards, bikes, etc. However, some enjoy pastimes that are more tranquil and meditative. For example, the art of contortionism is a very peculiar hobby that is usually practiced by women and children, due to the natural stretchiness of their tendons. Despite the fact that tendons of grown men are usually too stiff, a Berlin-based dancer is able to do amazing things with his body and is not afraid to show it to the world.

The kinetic sculptures created by Anthony Howe are nothing short of a miracle. You simply cannot wrap your mind around the fact that these creations are real. The magic comes from the fact that all the creations of Anthony Howe were first digitally modeled and only then wrought from metal. The resulting pieces of art are mystifying, entrancing, and sometimes even terrifying. For example, one of the earlier creations of Howe is an installation called “About Face”. It is a human face, pieces of which move from side to side, even if there is just a gentle breeze. However, most of his creations are mesmerizing, capturing your mind, as you marvel at their intricacy.

Earlier this year, Belgian film-maker and artist Vincent Bal stumbled upon an uncanny resemblance to an elephant in the shadow of his tea cup. This gave him the idea for Shadowology, a series of doodles that interact with the shadows of simple, everyday objects: a banknote, some ice cubes and a flower, for example, can turn into a church, a woman and a hippy. “I draw a few lines and I get my image. It’s really the shadows that inspire me”, Bal says. Here: “Stonedog”. (Photo by Vincent Bal/The Guardian)

Meet the snake-mimicking butterfly (Dynastor darius). While this slick master of disguise may show off impeccable imitation skills, prior to taking on this serpentine appearance it was simply a furry, nondescript caterpillar, and it looked pretty much how you would expect any old caterpillar to look.

Hi, my name is Rodney Pike and I am a Humorous Illustrator. I have a lifetime of experience in Fine Art and Graphic Design and Digital Illustration. I offer Photo-Manipulated Illustrations of all sorts but I specialize in Photo-Manipulated Caricature Illustration, Humorous Illustration and Political Satire, perfect for magazines, books, etc. My clients include companies such as FHM Magazine, Tennis Magazine, The Village Voice Magazine, Bauer Media, Miller Publishing Group, New Coast Productions and Catchphrase Entertainment. I am a member of the ISCA and NAPP.

We – Verena Popp-Hackner and Georg Popp - are professional landscape photographers. While we are based in Vienna/Austria, running our own (rights managed) image library and a small but fine photo-gallery. Photographing our tiny country Austria, with all it's culture and nature, canoeing it's rivers or lakes and hiking the Alps is our profession but our photographic “backyard” includes the rest of the planet as well. We use analog large format cameras almost exclusively for our landscape work, shooting on 4x5” sheet film, to provide clients with the maximum of print-sharpness and details and unsurpassed clarity and depth of focus.

Kenza Drider, 32, announces her candidacy for France's 2012 Presidential election on September 22, 2011 in Meaux, France. Drider is the first French Muslim woman to wear a niqab and run for President despite France's nationwide ban on the face veil, which today saw 32-year-old mother of three Hind Ahmas and Najate Nait Ali both being fined after being caught wearing the niqab in public in the Parsisan district of Meaux back in May when the law first came into force. (Photo by Franck Prevel/Getty Images)