Natasha Cloud #0 and Diana Taurasi #3 of the Phoenix Mercury gather their team before the game against the Seattle Storm at Climate Pledge Arena on June 04, 2024 in Seattle, Washington. (Photo by Steph Chambers/Getty Images)

Night lovers; Hormozgan province, Iran. “In this picture, you can see the Milky Way rising on a fascinating spring night on the Persian Gulf coast. The stunning cliffs of this area make every viewer imagine and even talk to them! The light pollution from a faraway city was quite strong, so it was a challenging post-processing process. I’m a nightscaper who tries to achieve an artistic look in my images, and in this image, I tried to convey and capture the magic of this location”. (Photo by Mohammad Hayati/Milky Way Photographer of the Year)

An alpaca chewing a leaf is pictured on November 18, 2014 in the zoo of Frankfurt am Main, Germany. (Photo by Frank Rumpenhorst/AFP Photo/DPA)

A blurred panaroma of Roemerberg historic center is reflected in a soap bubble in Frankfurt am Main, Germany, 09 July 2015. (Photo by Frank Rumpenhorst/EPA)

From house breaking in Johannesburg to hippos on the loose in Tbilisi to rioters attacking a policewoman in Burundi, Reuters photographers tell the story behind some of the most iconic pictures of the year. Here: Protesters drag a female police officer accused of shooting a protester in the Buterere neighbourhood of Bujumbura, Burundi, May 12, 2015. Goran Tomasevic: Protesters started throwing stones at a group of police, who then started to run away. The policewoman in the photo, Medikintos Inabeza, 33, got left behind and then some protesters started to push her, saying that she had shot a female protestor in the stomach with an AK47 rifle. I didn't see anything of that. There were 5 or 10 protesters pushing the policewoman at first, then others came and joined in. Up to 20 or 30 protesters were surrounding her at one point. The protesters kicked and beat her very badly; I also saw a couple of knives. I thought they were going to kill her... (Photo by Goran Tomasevic/Reuters)

Alejandro Zelayaran, 43, dressed as Santa Claus, wears a protective face shield as he poses for a photograph on a street in Mexico City, Mexico, December 3, 2020. “Faith and hope must move the heart of the humanity”, said Zelayaran, who will don a face shield when he distributes dolls and other gifts at an orphanage in Mexico City. “I want to see families taking care of each other and knowing that even from afar, love and hope always survive”. (Photo by Edgard Garrido/Reuters)

Reuters Photographer Carlos Barria photographed a person born in each year China's one child policy has been in existence; from a man born in 1979, to a baby born in 2014, and asked them if they would have like to have siblings. Here: Lv Mengmeng, who was born in 1995, poses for a photograph in Shanghai August 22, 2014. When asked if she would like siblings, Mengmeng said: “Maybe brothers, because I think they could protect me”. (Photo by Carlos Barria/Reuters)

I would like to tell you why many artists, who like me, have painted portraits and landscapes in oils on canvas, worked with acrylics, watercolors, and pen and ink drawings, have turned to the art of gourd carving.