Guardian of the Mangroves – Overall Winner. Tanya Houppermans, Cuba. A curious American crocodile (Crocodylus acutus) swims right up to Tanya, at Gardens of the Queen (Jardines De La Reina), an archipelago off the coast of Cuba. It has been strictly protected since 1996, and is one of the most untouched marine ecosystems in the world. ‍ “The healthy population of American crocodiles is down to the pristine condition of the mangroves and I wanted to capture close ups of this gentle giant in its natural habitat. I hope this image can illustrate that protecting areas like this is so critical”. (Photo by Tanya Griffin Houppermans/Mangrove Photographer of the Year)

Aerialist Erin Blaire, 33, performs a hair hanging trick for a photographer while hanging from a metal bar on a subway platform on March 14, 2023 in New York City. Erin Blaire, originally from Vermont, has lived in New York City for eight years and has been performing her aerial hair routine for the last three. The origin of hair hanging is believed to have originated in China, according to reports, and is a closely guarded circus trick passed from mentor to mentee. Although it is possible to find the technique and secrets online it is most-likely not how professional performers learned the skillset, and not how Blaire did either. (Photo by Alexi Rosenfeld/Getty Images)

Korean artist Hyungkoo Lee has created a series (Homo Animatus) of works featuring skeletal representations of familiar cartoon characters. He uses resin, aluminum sticks, stainless steel wires, springs, and oil paint. If you look closely, you will see the bones of our favorite childhood friends like Canis Latrans Animatus (Wile E. Coyote), Geococcyx Animatus (Roadrunner), Lepus Animatus (Bugs Bunny), Felis Catus Animatus (Tom), Mus Animatus (Jerry), Anas Animatus (Donald Duck) and his three nephews, Animatus H, D and L ( Huey, Dewey and Louie)

New York-based visual artist and filmmaker Rä di Martino has taken a series of eerie and beautiful photos that capture scenes of abandoned Hollywood film sets. Martino spent over a year traveling throughout the desert towns of Morocco and Tunisia hunting down the old Star Wars sets, exploring these massive structures that stand almost like ancient ruins. “No More Stars” showcases the backdrop of Luke Skywalker's home on the fictional desert planet Tatooine. (Photo by Rä di Martino)

French retoucher Christophe Huet is a true photoshop Master! His work is fascinating. He is the one who creates the famous advertising for Playstation, but also some for Nike, Motorola, Surfrider Foundation…. I spend an hour on his site looking all of his work, and the Best of all is that he has few working progress slideshows where you can see the process of each image, Like the one above… Its really interesting and inspiring.

Flossis by the artist Rosalie are known far beyond the boundaries of Dьsseldorf, Germany. In this city on the Rhine, the Flossis became famous. Many buildings’ outer walls are decorated with these figures. Flossis by Rosalie come in different variants of small to large and they are popular among young and old. Flossis are made of resin and resist temperatures under -15 degrees. Below that, they should be brought to the warm inside of the building. The currently most sold Flossi, is the “type I” in red, like shown in the following illustration.

The three peaks of Lavaredo, or the “Tre Cime di Lavaredo” in Italian, are three distinctive battlement-like peaks, in the Sexten Dolomites of northeastern Italy. They are probably one of the best-known mountain groups in the Alps, and one of the most photographed in Italy. The three peaks are named, from east to west, "little peak" (Cima Piccola), "big peak" (Cima Grande) and "western peak" (Cima Ovest). The Cima Grande has an elevation of 2,999 metres (9,839 ft). It stands between the Cima Piccola, at 2,857 metres (9,373 ft), and the Cima Ovest, at 2,973 metres (9,754 ft).