A student from the General Yermolov Cadet School performs with models of swords during celebrations of Maslenitsa, or Pancake Week, a pagan holiday marking the end of winter, in southern city of Stavropol, Russia, March 6, 2019. (Photo by Eduard Korniyenko/Reuters)

People spend the summer at Qingdao seaside in Shandong, China on July 3, 2019. The maximum temperature of Qingdao beach was 26 degrees Celsius on that day, and all the 9 sea bathing places were open, attracting a large number of visitors to the seaside to enjoy the cool world. (Photo by Huang Jiexian/ZUMA Press)

A unidentified woman protests at Broad Street for the pending arrival of Vice President Mike Pence at the Union League, in Philadelphia, Monday, July 23, 2018. Dozens of demonstrators dressed as characters from the novel-turned-TV series “The Handmaid's Tale” descended on downtown Philadelphia to protest Pence’s visit. (Photo by Jose F. Moreno/The Philadelphia Inquirer via AP Photo)

Dave Woods, 47, waits on an overpass in support for trucks driving in a convoy bound for the nation's capital to protest against coronavirus disease (COVID-19) vaccine mandates, in Wabash Township, Illinois, U.S. March 1, 2022. (Photo by Cheney Orr/Reuters)

Actors Ryan Reynolds, Blake Lively, fashion model Gigi Hadid and Hugh Jackman attend the premiere of “Deadpool and Wolverine” in New York City, New York, U.S., July 22, 2024. (Photo by Caitlin Ochs/Reuters)

A protester, wearing a dress in the colours of the Ukrainian flag, is detained by security after she covered herself in fake blood on the stairs on the Festival Palace ahead of the screening of the film “Acide” during the 76th edition of the Cannes Film Festival in Cannes, southern France, on May 21, 2023. (Photo by Christophe Simon/AFP Photo)

A Thai Buddhist monk performs a religious rite blessing elephants and mahouts to mark the National Elephant Day at the Ayutthaya Elephant Palace and Royal Kraal in the world heritage city of Ayutthaya, Thailand, 13 March 2025. The National Elephant Day has been observed annually on 13 March since 1998 when it was established by the Thai government, in an effort to protect and conserve Thai elephants, who are part of the Asian elephant family classified as an endangered species. (Photo by Rungroj Yongrit/EPA)

Shortlisted: “Two big eyes” by Miao Yong (Zejiang province, China). Damselflies look over the leaves. “I was photographing insects in a park near my home when suddenly I found two damselflies in the grass. They kept flying and it was very difficult to focus until suddenly they parked behind a leaf”. (Photo by Miao Yong/2017 Royal Society of Biology Photographer of the Year)