Annual celebration of Dinagyang festival of Iloilo, Philippines. (Photo by Raniel Jose Castañeda/Sony World Photography Awards)

“Just hanging out”. As full autumn hits the valley of Hallingdal in Norway, this bear chills out in a tree which seems to barely cover its weight. Photo location: Flå, Hallingdal, Norway. (Photo and caption by Jorgen Tharaldsen/National Geographic Photo Contest)

Masked Palestinian demonstrators hide behind a metal plate during clashes with Israeli soldiers on March 12, 2018 in the West Bank town of Birzeit, near Ramallah, following a protest by students of the Birzeit University against the arrest of the the head of Palestinian student council by an Israeli undercover commando. (Photo by Abbas Momani/AFP Photo)

A student of the Orchestra of Recycled Instruments of Cateura holds an instrument made from recycled material by craftsman Nicolas Gomez, in Cateura, near Asuncion, May 9, 2013. The orchestra is the brainchild of its conductor Favio Chavez, who wanted to help the children of garbage pickers at the local landfill, and the instruments are made from salvaged materials by craftsman Gomez. The orchestra now involves 30 schoolchildren who have toured countries in Latin America, North America and Europe to play music ranging from Beethoven and Mozart to the Beatles and Paraguayan folk songs. (Photo by Jorge Adorno/Reuters)

“A snapshot from mountaineer's life”. Have you ever wondered how does a mountaineer's day start? I will give you a hint: you wake up at 3 am, set the stove, wake up your partner, pretend it is warm, quickly consume a high-calorie breakfast, watch your friends slowly ascending the icy slopes of your dream summit with their tiny head torches glimmering against perfectly blue ice, and hope for the good weather. One would ask: why all this trouble? The answer is easy: for the love of the adventure and the unknown. Location: Chamonix, Haute Savoye, France. (Photo and caption by Kamil Tamiola/National Geographic Traveler Photo Contest)

ATTENTION! All pictures are presented in high resolution. To see Hi-Res images – just TWICE click on any picture. In other words, click small picture – opens the BIG picture. Click BIG picture – opens VERY BIG picture.

Commended. In late May, about a quarter of a million snow geese arrive from North America to nest on Wrangel Island, in northeastern Russia. They form the world's largest breeding colony of snow geese. Photographer Sergey Gorshkov spent two months on the remote island photographing the unfolding dramas. Arctic foxes take advantage of the abundance of eggs, caching surplus eggs for leaner times. But a goose (here the gander) is easily a match for a fox, which must rely on speed and guile to steal eggs. “The battles were fairly equal”, notes Sergey, “and I only saw a fox succeed in grabbing an egg on a couple of occasions, despite many attempts”. Surprisingly, “the geese lacked any sense of community spirit”, he adds, “and never reacted when a fox harassed a neighboring pair nesting close by”. (Photo by Sergey Gorshkov/Veolia Environnement Wildlife Photographer)

A tattoo of a weapon covers the arm of a female inmate waiting to compete in the annual beauty contest at Talavera Bruce penitentiary in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, early Thursday, November 23, 2017. Jail authorities say they organize the annual contest to encourage self-esteem, fight idleness and promote integration among women prisoners. (Photo by Silvia Izquierdo/AP Photo)

A dog named Izzy licks its chops as Craig Morland of Crofton, Maryland, buys a bucket of Thrashers famous fries on the first day of eased coronavirus disease (COVID-19) restrictions for the beach and boardwalk in Ocean City, Maryland, U.S., May 9, 2020. (Photo by Kevin Lamarque/Reuters)