Cork twins Sibéal and Éimhin Walsh celebrate with their friends, Samuel Palliser Kehoe and Charlotte Herlihy, during the Feis Ceoil Festival in Ireland on March 20, 2023. (Photo by Clare Keogh/The Irish Times)

Lucy Blacker from Australia takes to the water at the 40 Foot for a Christmas Day Swim in Ireland on December 25, 2022. (Photo by Alan Betson/The Irish Times)

Monae' Nichols of the United States competes in the preliminary round of the long jump competition during ATHLOS NYC25 on October 09, 2025 at Times Square in New York City. (Photo by Emilee Chinn/Athlos/Getty Images)

“The Reward”. “A spot that a friend and I found that takes a bit of effort to get to. Needs the right swell and wind direction to come together for the backwash to really happen. We had been many times with OK results, but this morning everything lined up perfectly and I was rewarded with this split-second moment in time under some amazing morning light”. (Photo by Scott Harrison/2019 UK Surf Photo of the Year)

Girl in newari attire makes a funny face to her friend as she performs a Mass Bel Bibaha (marriage) ceremony in Bhaktapur, Bagmati, Nepal on December 7, 2021. The two-day ceremony, usually held several times a year, sees pre-adolescent “marry” the Hindu deity, Vishnu, symbolised by the local “bael” (wood apple) fruit. Normally Newar girls marry thrice time in there life as first marriage with Bael fruit, second with sun and third with human. (Photo by Amit Machamasi/ZUMA Wire/Alamy Live News)

Palestinians kids from the West Bank Palestinian village Umm Al Rajaj cross the Meitar checkpoint into Israel on their way to the beach of Tel Aviv for the first time, Israel, 10 August 2016. A group of humanitarian Israeli women called in Arabic “Min Al Baher” (from the sea) voluntarily arranges authorizations and transportation for Palestinians families that live in the West Bank to cross into Israel in order to visit the sea for the first time. (Photo by Abir Sultan/EPA)

Todd Bretl specializes in underwater photography, and is able to capture striking photos of aquatic life big and small. His photos of sharks are particularly striking; though he rarely faces hostility from the animals, he tries not to spend too much time looking through his viewfinder and many shots are framed by educated guesses and impeccable timing. What follows are photographs taken over the past several years on trips to the Bahamas and Isla Guadalupe, an island off the coast of the Baja California peninsula in Mexico. (Photo by Todd Bretl)