Visitors buy flowers at a flower market on the eve of Hindu goddess Durga Puja festival in Bangalore, India, 10 October 2016. The nine-day Hindu festival celebrates the killing of a demon king by the Goddess Durga representing the victory of good over evil and ends with colourful celebrations all over the country. Navratri festival runs from 03 to 11 October. (Photo by Jagadeesh N.V./EPA)

A woman wearing a burka walks through a bird market as she holds her child, in downtown Kabul, Afghanistan, Sunday, May 8, 2022. Afghanistan’s Taliban rulers on Saturday ordered all Afghan women to wear head-to-toe clothing in public – a sharp, hard-line pivot that confirmed the worst fears of rights activists and was bound to further complicate Taliban dealings with an already distrustful international community. (Photo by Ebrahim Noroozi/AP Photo)

Fishmongers cut and clean fish at the Soumbedioune fish market in Dakar, Senegal, May 31, 2022. In Senegal, fish and seafood represent more than 40% of the animal protein intake in the diet. According to a U.S. report, one in six people work in the fisheries sector. (Photo by Grace Ekpu/AP Photo)

People shop at a market ahead of the Lunar New Year in Hong Kong on February 6, 2024 ahead of the Lunar New Year of the Dragon which falls on February 10. (Photo by Peter Parks/AFP Photo)

Massangbe Doumbia, 25, a street vendor, carries goods on her head at the Adjame main market in Abidjan, Ivory Coast on March 7, 2024. (Photo by Issouf Sanogo/AFP Photo)

A street artist, calling on people to visit an amusement park, walks past the military-themed street exhibition “Together to Victory” in Saint Petersburg on February 3, 2025. (Photo by Olga Maltseva/AFP Photo)

A jogger runs on the bank of Donaukanal channel in central Vienna, Austria, September 5, 2016. (Photo by Heinz-Peter Bader/Reuters)

Each year Nikon Small World recognizes the excellence of photography taken under the microscope. The contest showcases the beauty and complexity of life. Anyone interested in microscopy and photography can enter the contest and in its 42nd year, Nikon Small World received 2,000 entries from 70 countries. Here: 11th Place; Scales of a butterfly wing underside (Vanessa atalanta). (Photo by Francis Sneyers/Nikon's Small World 2016)