“Eye of a toad”. Animal Portraits, Łukasz Bożycki, Poland. Early spring sees a pond near Łukasz’s home city of Warsaw, Poland, full of mating frogs and a few toads. On this March day, Łukasz shared the pond with them for an evening, sitting in the icy water in his chest-high waders, keeping as still as possible, despite the numbing cold, so that the amphibians could get used to him. “I wanted to find a fresh way of portraying the amphibians”, he says, “at water level”. Using a telephoto lens, he focused on one lone toad and waited for the sun to dip almost below the horizon before pressing the shutter, using flash to bring out the details in the shadow. His prize was “the glorious pool of sunset colour” and fiery glow of the toad’s eye. Nikon D80 + 70-300mm f4.5-5.6 lens + extension tube; 1/125 sec at f9 (-2.3 e/v); ISO 100; built-in flash. (Photo by Łukasz Bożycki)

A participant wearing a cosplay costume attends the Japan Expo in Marseille, France, February 22, 2019. (Photo by Jean-Paul Pelissier/Reuters)

A man rides his motorcycle along an empty street in Cali on April 17, 2021, during a curfew imposed by the government to help curb infections of the novel coronavirus, COVID-19, as weekend partial lockdown takes effect in four Colombian cities. In recent weeks, the Colombian government has imposed, and then tightened, a series of restrictions to stem a third wave of infections that is bringing its health system to the brink of collapse. (Photo by Luis Robayo/AFP Photo)

A Guinean kid poses for a photo in Conakry, Guinea on July 23, 2021. Children, most of whom start working after a certain age to support their families, have their hair braided in different ways and decorated with colorful beads on all special days, especially on holidays, despite these difficult conditions. (Photo by Ozkan Bilgin/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)

Revellers enjoy the Notting Hill Carnival for the first time in three years in London, United Kingdom on August 28, 2022. (Photo by Simon Jones/The Sun)

Second placed Zhang Guowei of China gestures as he celebrates after winning silver in the men's high jump final during the 15th IAAF World Championships at the National Stadium in Beijing, China, August 30, 2015. (Photo by Dylan Martinez/Reuters)

An artist shows her hands after working on a wall as part of a campaign to call for coexistence and the renouncement of violence through the painting of walls in Sanaa, Yemen March 15, 2015. (Photo by Mohamed al-Sayaghi/Reuters)

Children watch and react as a T-Rex moves and growls in an inter-active display at Field Station Dinosaurs in Secaucus, N.J on May 25, 2012. There will be 31 types of life-sized dinosaurs displayed at the Jurassic expedition that opens Saturday, May 26. (Photo by Mel Evans/Associated Press)