A model presents a creation from the collection Agua de Coco during the Sao Paulo Fashion Week, Brazil on October 26, 2018. (Photo by Nacho Doce/Reuters)

A woman poses with her twins before the Igboora World Twins Festival 2024, in Igbo-Ora on October 12, 2024. (Photo by Olympia de Maismont/AFP Photo)

The “Sarandi” stream, dyed red due to unknown contaminants allege residents, flows into the Río de la Plata on the outskirts of Buenos Aires, Argentina, February 6, 2025. (Photo by Rodrigo Abd/AP Photo)

Yaroslava Mahuchikh of Ukraine in action during the High Jump in the Meeting de Paris, part of the 2025 Diamond League at Stade Charlety on June 20, 2025 in Paris, France. (Photo by Gonzalo Fuentes/Reuters)

Israeli woman, Nora Lifschitz, 28, holds an injured Egyptian fruit bat at her home in Tel Aviv February 22, 2016. Lifschitz says that she began caring for injured fruit bats from her home two years ago and now has some 70 of the flying mammals which she plans to release back into nature once they are healthy. (Photo by Baz Ratner/Reuters)

Light is the sole reason why life exists. It provides us with warmth; it allows us to see; it nourishes all the living things on this planet. Many painters, especially the masters of Old Renaissance Period, have recognized the importance of light and its intimate connection with nature and life itself. In their paintings they gave tribute to light, giving the impression that their paintings had a light source hidden within them. Al Hogue, the artist who created the paintings that you see before you, has studied their techniques for many years. As time went by, light permeated not only his paintings by also his life, becoming his sole philosophy.

Kale grows at Kajodlingen farm in Gothenburg, Sweden, September 28, 2016. They are doing it on the rooftops, on tower block balconies and even on a disused railway: Swedes have discovered a passion for urban gardening as a way of growing fresh food and getting back in touch with nature. Part of a global movement, an increasing number of Swedish city-dwellers are growing their own in window boxes and allotments or are visiting public gardens built in or on industrial or office spaces. (Photo by Maxim Shemetov/Reuters)

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)