Swimmers in fancy dress take part in a Christmas Day dip at Exmouth, Devon, England, Saturday, December 25, 2021. (Photo by Ben Birchall/PA Wire via AP Photo)
Icelandic stallions eat hay from a box at a stud farm in Wehrheim near Frankfurt, Germany, Wednesday, March 2, 2022. (Photo by Michael Probst/AP Photo)
Palestinians react as they gather at the site of an explosion, following Israeli strikes in Gaza City on August 5, 2022. (Photo by Mohammed Salem/Reuters)
Polar frame, by Dmitry Kokh, Russia. When Kokh’s boat approached the small island of Kolyuchin in the Russian High Arctic, which had been abandoned by humans since 1992, he was surprised to spot movement in one of the houses. Binoculars revealed polar bears – more than 20 in total – exploring the ghost town. Dmitry used a low-noise drone to document them. (Photo by Dmitry Kokh/Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2022)
A man rides a skateboard at Radical Park in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Thursday, June 24, 2021. Hundreds of joggers, dog walkers, skateboarders and picnicking families come each day. (Photo by Bruna Prado/AP Photo)
Third place: the rear leg, claw and respiratory trachea of a louse (Haematopinus suis). (Photo by Frank Reiser/Nassau Community College/Nikon Small World Photomicrography 2021)