Photographer Andy Hall joins the thousands of fans from west Africa who have gathered for Baaba Maal's annual Blues du Fleuve festival in Senegal. Here: Dancers wait to perform on stage. (Photo by Andy Hall/The Observer)

Brave photographer Masa Ushioda captured the shots of this wild gator in vast marsh land in the Everglades National Park, in Florida, USA. He said: “Bright sunlight and blue sky were critical elements in this picture – in addition to getting a wild 10-foot alligator in the middle of the viewfinder with a perfect angle”.

New York to photograph some of the city’s best-humored taxi drivers. These drivers put a face to one of the most dedicated workforces in NYC, driving day and night to transport New Yorkers and our guests alike. This year’s calendar features three returning All-Stars and 8 new drivers, and debuts our first ever husband and wife driving duo.

In this handout image provided by the European Space Agency (ESA) and NASA, the International Space Station and the docked space shuttle Endeavour orbit Earth during Endeavour's final sortie on May 23, 2011 in Space. Italian astronaut Paolo Nespoli captured the first-ever images of an orbiter docked to the International Space Station from the viewpoint of a departing vessel as he returned to Earth in a Soyuz capsule. (Photo by Paolo Nespoli - ESA/NASA via Getty Images)

An Israeli jail authority officer escorts a prison van containing Palestinian prisoners as it enters Hasharon jail on October 16, 2011 in Tel Mond, Israel. IDF soldier Gilad Shalit is to be freed from 5 years of captivity in Gaza in an exchange deal which will see the release of 477 Palestinian prisoners in an initial deal with another 550 to freed after the return of Shalit. (Photo by Uriel Sinai/Getty Images)

Japanese businessman Kiyoshi Kimura has paid 1.38 million euros ($1.76 million, or 155.4 million yen) for a blue fin tuna – more than three times the previous high – which he also set one year ago. The 222-kilogram fish will be served to Kimura’s customers. Blue fin tuna is annually sold in a traditional New Year’s auction. Japan consumes 80 percent blue fin tuna caught worldwide.

Photo: President of sushi restaurant chain Sushi-Zanmai, Kiyoshi Kimura, displays a 222kg bluefin tuna at his main restaurant near Tokyo's Tsukiji fish market on January 5, 2013. The bluefin tuna was traded at 155.4 million yen (1.77 million USD) at the wholesale market, smashing a previous record. (Photo by Yoshikazu Tsuno/AFP Photo)

They might look like something straight out of a horror film, but these extraordinary images have been created to show the special bond between cats and their owners. Photographer Sebastian Magnani, 28, from Brig, Switzerland, took pictures of dogs and their owners using the same position and camera settings before working his magic with editing software. The result is this startling set of images, which show the pooches with human clothes – one wearing a hoodie, another with a red coat, one with a shirt and cardigan, and another with a blue jacket. (Photos by Sebastian Magnani)

Shimmering clearest blue and stretching as far as the eye can see, this is one of Iceland's famed crystal ice caves. The giant solid waves look frozen in time but they are slowly moving along as part of the Vatnajokull Glacier – which stretches across eight per cent of the island. The images were captured in February 2014 by British photographer Rob Lott, 49. Photo: A wide view of Rob Lott in the crystal ice cave in the Vatnajokull Glacier, Iceland. (Photo by Rob Lott/Barcroft Media)