Tourists watch roaring torrent carrying a large amount of yellow sediment at the Hukou Waterfall on the Yellow River on August 15, 2024 in Yan'an, Shaanxi Province of China. (Photo by VCG/VCG via Getty Images)

A folk artist performs a stunning fire-pot performance on October 18, 2024 in Guangzhou,Guangdong Province of China.Huohu (fire pot) is a traditional folk performance art.Performers put well-burned charcoal into iron meshes on both sides and shake the meshes up and down so that the charcoal will flare up and blazing sparks will burst out of the meshes and light up the sky just like fireworks. (Photo by John Ricky/Anadolu via Getty Images)

A folk artist gives a fire pot performance at the foot of Ulan Hada volcano group on November 16, 2024 in Ulanqab, Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region of China. A tourism festival themed on ice and snow opened in Ulanqab on November 16, which will last for five months. (Photo by Wang Zheng/VCG via Getty Images)

Giant panda Yu Ai enjoys fruit “kebabs” at Chongqing Zoo on November 30, 2024 in Chongqing, China. (Photo by Li Hongbo/VCG via Getty Images)

A blue observation point contrasts with the orange winter foliage of the metasequoia trees – dawn redwoods – at Huanghai Forest Park on the east coast of China in the second decade of December 2024. (Photo by Splash News and Pictures)

A woman wearing traditional Chinese costumes holds two snake figurines as she poses for a photo by Houhai Lake in Beijing on January 26, 2025, ahead of the Lunar New Year of the Snake which falls on January 29. (Photo by Pedro Pardo/AFP Photo)

“People and Space”. Winner: Wanderer in Patagonia by Yuri Zvezdny (Russia) A lone stargazer stares up at the stars of our galaxy, the Milky Way, as they stretch across the night sky over the glacier “White Stones” (Piedras Blancas) in the Los Glaciares National Park, Argentina. El Chaltén, Santa Cruz Province, Argentina, 27 September 2016 iOptron Sky-Tracker mount, Sony A7S camera, 18 mm f/2.8 lens, ISO 5000, 30-second exposure Wanderer in Patagonia. (Photo by Yuri Zvezdny/Insight Astronomy Photographer of the Year 2017)

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)