American sculptor Michael Alfano has been sculpting for over fifteen years. A native of New York, he now lives and works in Hopkinton, Massachusetts. His major influences are Salvador Dali, Jo Davidson, and Jean-Antoine Houdon, as well as Buddhist, Taoist, Sufi and other eastern philosophy and literature. He first studied at the Art Students League of New York, with an emphasis on life-size sculpture from the model. His formal education continued at Boston University and was augmented by internships with several prominent sculptors.

German photographer Tobias Lang had a brilliant idea, he started photographing his friends and their pets and suddenly folks from all over the world where asking him to capture them too. Check out his Facebook page to see. Tobias is in the process of putting together a coffee table book of his impressive collection. Photo: Pet owner Isabel with her blind housecat, “Captain Jack”. (Photo by Tobias Lang)

Houthi followers perform the traditional Baraa dance ahead of a demonstration against the Saudi-led air strikes in Yemen's capital Sanaa August 24, 2015. The nothern-based Houthis, a Shi'ite Muslim group, took control of Sanaa last September. Arab countries intervened in the conflict in March to halt a Houthi advance into the south which caused the Saudi-backed government to flee to Riyadh from its refuge in the southern port of Aden. (Photo by Khaled Abdullah/Reuters)

A Thai veterinarian takes a picture of a 2-year-old orangutan during a health examination at Kao Pratubchang Conservation Centre in Ratchaburi, Thailand, August 27, 2015. Thai veterinarians from the Department of National Park Wildlife, and Plant Conservation conducted a health check of 14 orangutans for preparation for the repatriation to their country of origin, Indonesia. (Photo by Athit Perawongmetha/Reuters)

Afghanistan, published by Taschen later July, is a retrospective portfolio of the Magnum photographer Steve McCurry’s most striking images of the country, from 1979 to 2016. Here: Kunar province, 1980. Armed mujahideen carry animal skins to use as inflatable buoys to cross rapids. (Photo by Steve McCurry/Taschen/Magnum Photos/The Guardian)

A Chinese tourist wears protective gloves as she holds a baby Siberian tiger as they pose for pictures at the Heilongjiang Siberian Tiger Park on August 16, 2017 in Harbin, northern China. The center is one of two Siberian tiger parks in the Chinese province of Heilongjiang, about 500 kilometers (300 miles) from the border with Russia. It is considered the world's largest for breeding the Siberian, or Amur, tiger which is listed as endangered by the World Wildlife Federation. (Photo by Kevin Frayer/Getty Images)

A competition, now in its 43rd year, dedicated to showcasing the beautiful and bizarre as seen under a light microscope attracted over 2,000 entries from 88 countries. Here: Honorable Mention by Emre Can Alagöz, Istanbul, Turkey: The eyes of a jumping spider, magnified 6x. (Photo by Emre Can Alagöz/2017 Nikon Small World Photomicrography Competition)

Nguyen Thi Vui paddles her boat in the flooded streets of Hoi An, Vietnam, Monday, November 6, 2017. A powerful typhoon that rocked Vietnam has killed dozens of people and caused extensive damage to the country's south-central region ahead of the APEC summit that will draw leaders from around the world, the government said Monday. (Photo by Hau Dinh/AP Photo)