A photographer could bear-ly believe his eyes when a bear started waving at him. The friendly animal wandered to the front of his enclosure before sitting back in full view of zoo guests. He then lifts his powerful paw and excitedly waves in an almost human-like way at his new audience. The hilarious encounter was captured by keen photographer Andrey Slepnev, 31, while on a trip to Madrid Zoo, Spain on March 24, 2016. (Photo by Andrey Slepnev/Caters News)

Hospitality staff members laugh as they stand on Tiananmen Square before the closing ceremony of China's 19th Party Congress at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, Tuesday, October 24, 2017. The ruling Communist Party on Tuesday formally lifted Xi Jinping's status to China's most powerful ruler in decades, setting the stage for the authoritarian leader to tighten his grip over the country while pursuing an increasingly muscular foreign policy and military expansion. (Photo by Mark Schiefelbein/AP Photo)

Belarusian police officers detain an opposition supporter during a rally to protest against the disputed August 9 presidential elections results in Minsk on September 6, 2020. Tens of thousands of Belarusians staged a peaceful new march on September 6, keeping the pressure on strongman Alexander Lukashenko who has refused to quit after his disputed re-election and turned to Russia for help to stay in power. (Photo by TUT.BY/AFP Photo)

Members of the South Korean Confederation of Trade Unions (KCTU) perform with traditional Korean masks during a rally against the government's Labor Policy in Seoul, South Korea, 06 July 2023. South Korean Confederation of Trade Unions (KCTU) begen a general strike on a national scale from 03 July against the South Korean government's labor policy and against Japan's disposal of treated radioactive water from the Fukushima nuclear power plant into the sea. (Photo by Jeon Heon-Kyun/EPA)

Villagers wade through a flooded road following heavy rains after cyclone Remal's landfall at Singi Mari village of Nagaon district, in India's Assam state on May 29, 2024. A powerful cyclone that smashed into low-lying Bangladesh and India killed at least 65 people, including in torrential rain storms in its wake, state government officials and media said on May 29. (Photo by Biju Boro/AFP Photo)

A member of Sisters of the Valley, a non-religious international group founded in 2014 which has pledged to spread the gospel of the healing powers of cannabis, who uses the moniker “Sister Bernardet” online and asked not to give her name for fear of reprisal, smokes a joint at the Sisters of the Valley's farm on the outskirts of a village in central Mexico on September 3, 2023. (Photo by Raquel Cunha/Reuters)

Elspeth McLean is a talented painter from Australia’s western suburbia. She is perhaps the most vibrant painter I have even seen, hence her degree and passion in Art Therapy. She has a strong belief that art has the power to bring immense joy into people lives and her vibrant creations accurately reflect that.

From stuffed elephants to picnics under power lines, Leipzig-born photographer Frank Herfort coaxes magical, colour-saturated tableaux from intriguing slices of everyday Russian life. Here: A lonely dog watches the mailboxes in a typical Moscow residential block. (Photo by by Frank Herfort/The Guardian)