A coil-shaped Helix Nebula showing a fine web of filamentary “bicycle-spoke” features embedded in the colorful red and blue ring of gas. At 650 light-years away, the Helix is one of the nearest planetary nebulae to Earth. A planetary nebula is the glowing gas around a dying, Sun-like star. (Photo by Reuters/NASA)

Annelie Vandendael was born in Belgium and grew up in the South of France. After college she came back to Belgium to study at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts (Kask) in Genth where she got a master degree in Photography; Images have always been a passion for her. After finishing her studies, she was invited to “La Fabrica”, the Benetton Communication and Research Center in Treviso, Italy. She was also nominated for the photo academy Award in the Netherlands and won the Award of the Roorda Agency, Amsterdam. (Photo by Annelie Vandendael)

“Cyber Monsoon”, honorable mention in Places category. A torrential monsoon rain in Bhaktapur, Nepal. (© Anuar Patjane)

“Panopticons is an arts and regeneration project of the East Lancashire Environmental Arts Network managed by Mid Pennine Arts. It involved the construction of series of 21st-century landmarks, or Panopticons (structures providing a comprehensive view), across East Lancashire, England, as symbols of the renaissance of the area”. – Wikipedia

Photo: “Singing Ringing Tree. The Singing Ringing Tree is a musical sculpture overlooking Burnley. It was designed by architects Mike Tonkin and Anna Liu of Tonkin Liu and constructed from pipes of galvanised steel”. (Photos by WandereringSoul/Mark Tighe)

A close up of a Khon mask July 8, 2011 in Angthong, Thailand. The paper mache Khon masks, are part of the ornate glittering costumes used in the stylized classical Thai dance form known as Khon. (Photo by Paula Bronstein/Getty Images)

The Boeing 747-8 cargo plane pilot has seen thunderstorms, shooting stars and sunsets from up above the clouds and has looked down on mountaintops, carpets of cloud and cities lit up at night. The incredible pictures give a glimpse of the view from the pilots are treated to every day. Here: Shooting stars over India. (Photo by Christiaan van Heijst/Caters News Agency)

A hot air-balloon flies during the International Lorraine Mondial Air Balloons Festival, in Chambley-Bussieres, eastern France, Friday, July 26, 2013. (Photo by Mathieu Cugnot/AP Photo)

Take me away, deer, Russia. The Nenet people of Arctic Russia use reindeer and sledges as a prime mode of transport. The animals’ navigational ability means that in severe conditions they are sometimes the only hope of survival. (Photo by Kamil Nureev/Smithsonian Photo Contest)