A newly-born male baby elephant, who so far does not have a name, walks with his mother Temi during his first venture outside at their enclosure at the Tierpark Hellabrun zoo on May 12, 2011 in Munich, Germany. The baby elephant was born at the zoo on May 6. (Photo by Alexander Hassenstein/Getty Images)

People stop to look at the thousands of so-called “love locks”, or “love padlocks”, that hang from a fence across the Hohenzollernbruecke bridge on September 13, 2011 in Cologne, Germany. Love locks are a growing phenomenon in cities across Europe and are meant by the couples who leave them behind as a symbol of their powerful and undying love for one another. (Photo by Dennis Grombkowski/Getty Images)

IT'S a relatively simple idea – set up a mirror so you can capture the reflection of a dramatic landscape in a single photograph. Photographer Daniel Kukla, from New York, created a spectacular series of artworks called The Edge Effect using the technique. He clamped the mirror onto an easel and placed it in various settings in the Joshua Tree National Park, California.

Agueda in Portugal is the setting for this wonderful installation by Sextafeira called Floating Umbrellas. This colorful creation is a part of the Agitagueda art festival. Due to the fact that the same idea was used last year this is the second time the streets of this town have been covered with loads of vivid umbrellas, providing shade, as well as a wonderful sight. The people loved it so much that the repetitive nature of the installation does not carry the risk of becoming boring, but rather turning into a wonderful tradition.

“I was born in the United States in 1985. As early as I can remember I’ve been a “doodler”. From even the early days I’ve always loved strange, offbeat, beautiful, and slightly melancholy things. Something about the mixed grabbed me. My love for sketching carried on throughout my high school days. Which is when I took a small class on watercolor. Watercolor is what birthed my passion for mixing colors and how a color can tell a story. In year 2009 I discovered digital painting and my new found passion for the medium. It’s been the favored medium for the past years since. I’ve used online tutorials and videos to help me learn along the way and then in late 2011 I took a workshop called Becoming a Better Artist. The beginning of 2013 I won a class from The Art Department which will start this spring.”

A stunning photographic collection featuring portraits of people from 30 countries and the food they eat in one day. In this fascinating study of people and their diets, 80 profiles are organized by the total number of calories each person puts away in a day. Featuring a Japanese sumo wrestler, a Massai herdswoman, world-renowned Spanish chef Ferran Adria, an American competitive eater, and more, these compulsively readable personal stories also include demographic particulars, including age, activity level, height, and weight. Essays from Harvard primatologist Richard Wrangham, journalist Michael Pollan, and others discuss the implications of our modern diets for our health and for the planet. This compelling blend of photography and investigative reportage expands our understanding of the complex relationships among individuals, culture, and food.

“Microscope images forge an extraordinary bond between science and art, said Hidenao Tsuchiya, Olympus America's Vice President and General Manager for the Scientific Equipment Group. We founded this competition to focus on the fascinating stories coming out of today's life science research laboratories. The thousands of images that people have shared with the competition over the years reflect some of the most exciting work going on in research today – work that can help shed light on the living universe and ultimately save lives. We look at BioScapes and these beautiful images as sources of education and inspiration to us and the world”. – OlympusBioScapes

Photo: Pretarsus of the third leg of a female drone fly (Eristalis tenax), ventral view, by Dr. Jan Michels, Institute of Zoology, Christian-Albrechts-University of Kiel, Germany. (Photo by Olympus BioScapes)