Photographer Mihaela Noroc travelled the world from Ethiopia to the US and from Guatemala to France in search of natural and authentic beauty. She introduces some of the inspiring women she met on her journey. Here: Ecuador. “More and more tribes of Amazonia are starting to adopt modern clothes for everyday life. But they are still keeping their traditional clothes for important events. I photographed this young woman in her wedding outfit”. (Photo by Mihaela Noroc/The Guardian)

Mammoet Rallysport's Martin Van Den Brink and Co-Driver Wouter De Graaff in action surrounded by camels during stage 10, Neom to AlUla, Saudi Arabia on January 13, 2021. (Photo by Hamad I Mohammed/Reuters)

Costumed dancers parade on the first day of the annual Qoyllur Rit'i festival on May 27, 2018 in Ocongate, Peru. Every year, since 1783 in the Sinakara Valley at the foot of Mt Ausagante, the Qoyllur Rit'i, or “Snow and Star” festival draws tens of thousands of pilgrims from across the Peruvian Andes and beyond to what is the biggest religious gathering of its kind. Since 1780 the event merged into a mosaic of indigenous, pagan and Catholic worship when an image of Jesus appeared on a boulder after the death of a young shepherd. (Photo by Dan Kitwood/Getty Images)

This is a “swami” - Valeria Lukyanova (born August 23, 1985), from Odessa, Ukraine. Her other names: Naamah (Нахема; Na'amah (Hebrew: נעמה‎) – is a demonic legendary creature, the mother of divination), Amatue, Nagval and Goddess (бАгиня). She is fond of esoteric, believes that 2012 will be the end of the world, and waits for the planet Nibiru (I'm not kidding). This girl had amused the Russian-language Internet (because the Russians are cynical and heartless people). IMHO she is very beautiful (technical characteristics – Chest: 88cm (34,64 in; may be longer already); Waist: 47cm (18,5 in; may be lesser already) and Hips: 88cm (34,64 in)). Enjoy. (Photos by Valeria Lukyanova)

A woman takes part in a carnival parade as part of New Year's Eve festivities in San Jose, Costa Rica, 27 December 2023. (Photo by Jeffrey Arguedas/EPA/EFE)

A model takes part in an exhibition, a part of Lingerie Show-Forum 2016 international lingerie, swimwear, homewear and hosiery trade show in Moscow, Russia, February 26, 2016. (Photo by Sergei Karpukhin/Reuters)

Modern art is truly fascinating. Not in a way that it produces some novel things that will fascinate future generations for decades and even centuries to come. No, that is very far from the truth. On the contrary, modern art is essentially anything (yes, any little thing) that is a bit unusual and was created by a famous person. Let’s take the creation of Antoine Bridier-Nahmias for example. His brainchild is a set of pictures of petri dishes that were contaminated by various cultures of fungi. If this is art, I missed my chance of becoming famous when I accidentally left a piece of bread in a bag in a cupboard for about six months, and didn’t take a picture of the rather shocking results that awaited me when I finally discovered it. (Photo by Antoine Bridier-Nahmias)