Nature – first prize, stories. Pandemic Pigeons – A Love Story. The photographer’s daughter, Merel, cowers after Dollie flies past and perches on the balcony before entering the house in Vlaardingen in the Netherlands on 6 April 2020. “She’s still frightened when Dollie suddenly lands on the balcony railing. I hide my smile behind the camera, as I try to comfort her by saying they won’t hurt you. “I thought he was going to attack me”, she replies. As the nesting pigeons keep coming back to our place, slowly my girls have started to appreciate them – perhaps not as much as I do, but it’s a start”. (Photo by Jasper Doest/World Press Photo 2021)

Under Exposed: Pekka Tuuri (Finland) – Great white shark, Isla Guadalupe, Mexico. “Isla Guadalupe is the world capital when it comes to observing great white sharks, but cage diving seriously limits the possibilities to take ‘fresh’ pictures. When I took this, the water close to the surface was quite milky, making photography very challenging. From out of the “mist”, I saw this great white shark lurking behind a school of fusiliers. I quickly focused on the shark and set a wide aperture to get focus blur on the fish, along with a fast shutter to avoid excessive motion blur”. (Photo by Pekka Tuuri/The Outdoor Photographer of the Year/The Guardian)

Police detain a protester during a demonstration against the recent gang-rape of a woman in a moving car, according to local media, in Kolkata, India May 31, 2016. A woman was kidnapped and gang-raped by at least four men on May 29 in the Salt Lake area of the city and is currently being treated in hopsital, local media reported. (Photo by Rupak De Chowdhuri/Reuters)

A woman poses for a photograph in front of a 3D painting at HK 3D Museum in Hong Kong June 26, 2014. (Photo by Tyrone Siu/Reuters)

A woman holds a dressed cat during the exhibition “Autumn-2014” in Minsk, November 23, 2014. (Photo by Vasily Fedosenko/Reuters)

A woman cartwheels through the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival in Indio, California April 10, 2015. (Photo by Lucy Nicholson/Reuters)

A woman sits in a cell at the Los Angeles County Women's jail in Lynwood, California April 26, 2013. (Photo by Lucy Nicholson/Reuters)

A woman has her hair blown by the wind during a snowstorm in Quebec City, on December 22, 2013. (Photo by Mathieu Belanger/Reuters)