People are often fascinated by things that baffle them. For example, Livia Marin creates porcelain pottery that looks as if it has partially melted. This pottery might serve little purpose, yet it is definitely a curious thing to have in your house. This set of pictures shows off her “Nomad Patterns” series of deformed vases, pitchers, and teacups. The most appealing thing about these pieces of art is that the patterns on the “melted” parts are as beautiful as on the rest of the pottery. (Photo by Livia Marin)

A girl floats in a bucket in the village of Ologa in the western state of Zulia October 23, 2014. This year the Catatumbo Lightning was approved for inclusion in the 2015 edition of Guinness World Records, dethroning the Congolese town of Kifuka as the place with the world's most lightning bolts per square kilometer each year at 250. Scientists think the Catatumbo, named for a river that runs into the lake, is normal lightning that just happens to occur far more than anywhere else, due to local topography and wind patterns. (Photo by Jorge Silva/Reuters)

All throughout history of mankind people were fascinated by time, its flow, and how to measure it. Thus, the science of horology can into being, as people invented more and more sophisticated ways of measuring the passage of time. Truly, it’s one of the most profound characteristics of being a human, to feel and to ponder the meaning of time, its properties, and will we ever be able to move through it, not with it. Now, however, horology is mainly referred to the art of mechanical watchmaking. (Photo by MB&F)

If you were to meet this guy in the woods, especially if it’s nighttime, you’d probably think that it’s a local troll or a yeti. However, in reality, he’s no yeti. His name is Mick Dodge, and before deciding to live in the woods, he was a marine for six years at Fort Lewis. It is hard to tell what moved him to leave the busy life of the city and start living in the Hoh Rain Forest. It could have been that he decided the leave the stressful life of the city, or maybe he simply loves the solitary life of a hermit. Another thing that is peculiar about Mick Dodge is that most of the time he walks barefoot, hence the nickname “The Barefoot Sensei”.

“In 1967, Zhang Yaxin was 34 and working as a photojournalist at China’s state-controlled Xinhua News Agency when he was assigned to a top-secret government project. He was to be the official photographer of a new arts program led by Chairman Mao and his wife – the Model Operas. Though he was not to know it then, Zhang would spend the next seven years documenting the evolution of one of the most dramatic and elaborate attempts to redefine artistic sensibilities in modern art history”. – Chengcheng Jiang via TIME. Photo: Raid on the White Tiger Regiment, 1971. (Photo by Zhang Yaxin/Courtesy See+ Gallery, Beijing)

“Pieter Hugo was born 1976 and grew up in Cape Town, South Africa. He is a South African photographer who primarily works in portraiture and whose work engages with both documentary and art traditions with a focus on African communities. His most recognized work is the series called “The Hyena & Other Men” and which was published as a monograph. It has received a great deal of attention. Hugo won first prize in the Portraits section of the World Press Photo 2005 for a portrait of a man with a hyena”. – Wikipedia

Photo: Abdullahi Mohammed with Mainasara, Ogere-Remo, Nigeria 2007. (Photo by Pieter Hugo)