A boy jumps into a pool of mud during the traditional “Bloco da Lama” or “Mud Street” carnival party, in Paraty, Brazil, Saturday, February 25, 2017. Legend has it the “bloco” was born in 1986 after local teens hiking in a nearby mangrove forest smeared themselves with mud to discourage mosquitoes and then wandered through Paraty. The party grew year after year, but revelers eventually were banned from parading in the colonial downtown after shopkeepers complained pristine white walls were stained with the hard-to-remove mud. (Photo by Mauro Pimentel/AP Photo)

One of two black-and-white ruffed lemur pups born at Blair Drummond Safari and Adventure Park, near Stirling, UK on Friday, May 24, 2024.The critically endangered lemur pups, both female were born on April 14 and have been named Nova, meaning “new” and Evie meaning “life”. (Photo by Andrew Milligan/PA Images via Getty Images)

A juvenile European starling hops from deer to deer eating insects. The white-tailed deer did not seem at all bothered by the bird - who can be seen cleaning it of ticks and bugs. The starling was one of a flock near the herd of deer in Sandy Hook, New Jersey, USA in the last decade of November 2025. (Photo by Erik Kessler/Solent News & Photo Agency)

Facade of the “Porcelain House”, built by Chinese collector Zhang Lianzhi, on November 1, 2008 in the Heping district of Tianjin, China. Over 400 million porcelain fragments, 5,000 ancient vases, 4,000 antique china dishes and bowls, over 20 tons of crystalline rocks and agate, 400 white marble stone carvings were incorporated in the five year refurbishment of the unique French styled house. (Photo by China Photos/Getty Images)

Animator from San Francisco Marty Cooper, like many of us are tired of what is happening around. So he took a transparent celluloid film, pen and white pencil, and began to change the world in which he lives. Sometimes funny, sometimes sad, sometimes – quite unexpected pictures.

Merit Prize Winner: “A Well Earned Rest in the Sahara”. This photo of Moussa Macher, our Tuareg guide, was taken at the summit of Tin-Merzouga, the largest dune (or erg) in the Tadrat region of the Sahara desert in southern Algeria. Moussa rested while waiting for us to finish our 45-minute struggle to the top. It only took ten minutes of rolling, running, and jumping to get back down. The Tadrat is part of the Tassili N'Ajjer National Park World Heritage area, famous for its red sand and engravings and rock paintings of cattle, elephants, giraffes, and rhinos that lived there when the climate was milder. Photo location: Summit of Tin-Merzouga, Tadrat, Tassili N'Ajjer National Park, Algeria. (Photo and caption by Evan Cole/National Geographic Photo Contest)

Darlene Eddy packages up a chocolate Easter bunny that she made in her store Amazing Chocolates on March 28, 2013 in Hollywood, Florida. As Easter Sunday approaches chocolatiers are busy manufacturing many different types of delights for the holiday when Americans spend roughly $1.9 billion on Easter candy, second only to Halloween in candy consumption. Around ninety million chocolate Easter bunnies are produced each year, from white to dark chocolate, and with an unlimited varieties of styles. (Photo by Joe Raedle)

A dancer poses with a new installation of art by British graffiti artist Banksy painted on the front door of the Hustler Club in New York, October 24, 2013. Known for his anti-authoritarian black-and-white stenciled images, which have sold at auction for upwards of $2 million, the British street artist is treating New Yorkers to a daily dose of spray-painted art – while eluding the police and incurring the wrath of New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg. (Photo by Eric Thayer/Reuters)