Partially demolished houses stand in the Vila Autodromo slum with the Rio 2016 Olympic Park in the background in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, February 25, 2016. (Photo by Ricardo Moraes/Reuters)

A woman carries her baby as she places fishes for sale at a market in Abobo neighborhood, in the suburbs of Abidjan, Ivory Coast, Sunday, November 1, 2020. (Photo by Leo Correa/AP Photo)

A man carries a child as he wades trough a flooded road following heavy rains in Strand, Western Cape, South Africa on September 25, 2023. (Photo by Esa Alexander/Reuters)

A woman is soaked as she runs down the street as revellers take part in a water fight on Khao San road on the eve of Thai New Year, locally known as Songkran, in Bangkok on April 12, 2023. (Photo by Jack Taylor/AFP Photo)

A long skater speeds away on the rain-wet ice on lake Orlangen, South of Stockholm on December 15, 2013. Meteorologists forecast temperatures around 5 degrees for southern Sweden. (Photo by Tobias Rostlund/AFP Photo)

P.S. All pictures, as usual, are presented in high resolution. To see Hi-Res images – just TWICE click on any picture. In other words, click small picture – opens the BIG picture. Click BIG picture – opens VERY BIG picture (if available; this principle works anywhere on the site AvaxNews).

Capturing the true essence of Christmas, Lapland is the perfect place to take your family for the holiday period. Situated in the arctic regions of northern Sweden, Finland and Norway, there are a villages in each country around where you can enjoy the full festive experience.

“Today, we take photography for granted. Anyone can take a photograph simply by pressing a button. Yet, it was not always so simple. The invention of photography was announced in 1839, but during its first fifty years taking a photograph was a complicated and expensive business. In 1888, all this was to change following the appearance of a camera that was to revolutionize photography. Popular photography can properly be said to have started 120 years ago with the introduction of the Kodak”. – The UK National Media Museum. Photo: Two men on the deck of a ship, about 1890. (Photo by Collection of National Media Museum/Kodak Museum)

A picture taken on July 14, 2014 from a Boeing C135 refueling tanker shows two French Rafale fighter planes, flying over the French capital during the annual Bastille Day military parade on the Champs-Elysees in Paris. France has issued an unprecedented invitation to all 72 countries involved in World War I to take part in its annual Bastille Day military parade. (Photo by Franck Pennant/AFP Photo)