The annual calendar features stunning shots of lighting, cloud formations and the aurora australis. Hundreds of photographers from every Australian state and territory submitted images to the Bureau of Meteorology for selection in the year’s calendar, with only the best chosen to represent the full spectrum of Australian weather. Here: April. A path through the clouds between Townsville and Richmond, Queensland. (Photo by Captain Victoria Harrison/Australian Bureau of Meteorology)

People hold an umbrella under strong wind on the promenade of Victoria Habour as tropical cyclone Ma-on approaches Hong Kong, Wednesday, August 24, 2022.Tropical Storm Ma-on was gaining strength as it headed for Hong Kong and other parts of southeastern China on Wednesday after displacing thousands in the Philippines. (Photo by Anthony Kwan/AP Photo)

Corinthians forward Jaqueline Ribeiro (L) celebrates with teammate midfielder Victoria Albuquerque after scoring a goal during the women's Brazilian Championship 2024 final match between Corinthians and Sao Paulo at the Neo Quimica Arena in Sao Paulo, Brazil, on September 22, 2024. (Photo by Miguel Schincariol/AFP Photo)

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)

Spectators pose for a photo upon entry for Derby Day at Flemington Racecourse on October 30, 2021 in Melbourne, Australia. Victoria's COVID-19 restrictions have eased to allow spectators to return to Flemington racecourse for the first time since 2019. (Photo by Asanka Ratnayake/Getty Images)

“The Victoria Falls or Mosi-oa-Tunya is a waterfall located in southern Africa on the Zambezi River between the countries of Zambia and Zimbabwe. A famous feature is a naturally formed pool known as the Devil's Pool, near the edge of the falls, accessed via Livingstone Island in Zambia. When the river flow is at a certain level, usually during the months of September to December, a rock barrier forms a pool with little current; some people swim in the pool. Occasional deaths have been reported when people slip over the edge of the rock barrier”. – Wikipedia

Photo: Devil's Pool – Victoria Falls, Zambia. (Photo by Siena College Study Abroad)

“Secrets of the Whales”. Skerry’s photographs celebrate the lives and culture of whales, illuminating recent research and their diverse behaviours. His latest work focuses on four key species: sperm whales, humpbacks, orca and beluga whales. Humpback whales bubble-net feeding off the coast of Alaska. They work cooperatively to feed on herring by blowing a perfect ring of bubbles underwater to form a net encircling the fish. The whales then swim up through the centre of the bubble net with their mouths open. (Photo by Brian Skerry/National Geographic Photo/Visa pour l'Image)

The secretive indri (Indri indri) of Madagascar, the largest living lemur. It is also critically endangered and highly evolutionarily distinct with no close relatives, which makes its branch one of most precarious on the mammal evolutionary tree. In the likely event that the indri goes extinct, we will lose 19m years of unique evolutionary history from the mammal tree of life. (Photo by Pierre-Yves Babelon/Aarhus University)