“Touring the Koko-en Gardens adjacent to the Himeji castle was an unexpected highlight of our visit”, wrote Jeff Solar, 64, of Silver Spring, Md., about his trip to Japan. “The fall colors were outstanding and the gardens were both amazing and a bargain (just a few Yen added to the cost of the Himeji Castle admission)”. (Photo by Jeff Solar/2017 Washington Post Travel Photo Contest)

From footballs to live fish, delivery mopeds piled high with unwieldy, unlikely goods are one of the Vietnamese capital’s most distinctive sights. As the city plans to ban motorbikes altogether, photographer Jon Enoch captured the drivers at work. (Photo by Jon Enoch/The Guardian)

Pilgrims rest on June 6, 2019 in Villamanrique, during a pilgrimage to the village of El Rocio. El Rocio pilgrimage, the largest in Spain, gathers hundreds of thousands of devotees in traditional outfits converging in a burst of colour as they make their way on horseback and on board decorated carriages across the Andalusian countryside. (Photo by Cristina Quicler/AFP Photo)

Soap Bubble Structures by Kym Cox. Bubbles optimise space and minimise their surface area for a given volume of air. This phenomenon makes them a useful tool in many areas of research, in particular, materials science and “packing” – how things fit together. Bubble walls drain under gravity, thin at the top, thick at the bottom, which interferes with travelling lightwaves to create bands of colour. Black spots show the wall is too thin for interference colours, indicating the bubble is about to burst. (Photo by Kym Cox/2019 Science Photographer of the Year/RPS)

“Eye of the Tower” by Mehmet Yasa; Verona, Italy. “The staircase and the bell looks like an eye. Architecture can fascinate us in many ways”. (Photo by Mehmet Yasa/Art of Building Photography Awards 2017)

U.S. Marine Lt. Ben Reid from 1/2 Charlie Company of Task Force Tarawa waits to be medivaced after being hit with shrapnel and a machine gun round, in the southern Iraqi city of Nasiriyah, on March 23, 2003. The Marines suffered a number of deaths and casualties during gun battles throughout the city. (Photo by Joe Raedle via The Atlantic)

A boy collects drinking water from a hand pump in Kutubdia, Bangladesh on March 30, 2016. Kutubdia is one of many islands affected by some of the fastest recorded sea-level rises in the world. The island has halved in size in 20 years. (Photo by SIipa/Rex Features/Shutterstock)

Young Legong dancer portrait, Ubud, Bali on October 25, 2023. While the childrens' parents are out working, in pursuits including farming, fishing and clothes making, their offspring spend the long sunny days making their own fun, and as these pictures show not a minute is wasted. (Photo by David Lazar/Animal News Agency)