A girl walks down the runway during a class at a modelling academy in Caracas, Venezuela, on September 20, 2014. Venezuela's famed models and aspiring beauty queens are struggling to doll themselves up. In a country that glorifies voluptuous women and opulent beauty pageants, even basics like deodorant are now at times tricky to find as strict currency controls have led to a scarcity of dollars for imported goods. (Photo by Carlos Garcia Rawlins/Reuters)

People of the LGBTQI community pose for a photo on a large rainbow colored flag as they take part in the parade to mark Thailand Pride Festival 2022 in Bangkok, Thailand, 27 November 2022. Thailand's LGBTQI groups and foreigners attended the Pride festival to raise awareness and promote sexual diversity and equal rights for the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Queer (LGBTQ) community. The festival also aims to promote tourism in Thailand as Covid-19 restrictions are being lifted, with hopes to becomes an annual and sustainable event in November. (Photo by Narong Sangnak/EPA/EFE/Rex Features/Shutterstock)

A participant gets ready backstage before the start of the “Miss Gay Nicaragua 2016” beauty pageant in Managua, Nicaragua June 25, 2016. Picture taken June 25, 2016. (Photo by Oswaldo Rivas/Reuters)

A woman has her hair done as people visit the International Beauty Show New York at Javits Center in New York, U.S., March 13, 2017. (Photo by Eduardo Munoz/Reuters)

A Taliban fighter walks past a beauty salon with images of women defaced using spray paint in Shar-e-Naw in Kabul on August 18, 2021. (Photo by Wakil Kohsar/AFP Photo)

Shuichi Mizoguchi is the forerunner of Japanese digital graphic art. He is known for his fantastic Japanese feminine beauty imagery. SHU can get the best of his talent to use various colors freely and uniquely to create fantastic imagery of ancient scenery, robots on top of the Japanese feminine beauty. His imagery has been captivated by Japanese young and middle class generations.

“Taking the lead in this year’s Calendar is beautiful Oscar winning actress, Penelope Cruz, whilst noted fashion photographer, Kristian Schuller, shot the intense imagery”. (Photo by Kristian Schuller)

P.S. Very bad photoset. Penelope Cruz – the beautiful woman and the characteristic actress. Also that as a result? ANYTHING.

Honorable Mention: “The Storm”. During I was taking photo with my nephew, the storm came and I caught this beautiful moment. Photo location: Kocaeli, Turkey. (Photo and caption by Aytül Akbaş/National Geographic Photo Contest)