Los Angeles native Mike Stilkey has always been attracted to painting and drawing not only on vintage paper, record covers and book pages, but on the books themselves. Using a mix of ink, colored pencil, paint and lacquer, Stilkey depicts a melancholic and at times a whimsical cast of characters inhabiting ambiguous spaces and narratives of fantasy and fairy tales. A lingering sense of loss and longing hints at emotional depth and draws the viewer into their introspective thrall with a mixture of capricious poetry, wit, and mystery. (Photo by Mike Stilkey)

A local resident helps free a car that became stranded in a stretch of flooding road as Tropical Storm Helene strikes, on the outskirts of Boone, North Carolina, U.S. September 27, 2024. (Photo by Jonathan Drake/Reuters)

Thai Princess Bajrakitiyabha (R) and Princess Sirivannavari Nariratana take part in the funeral procession for the late Thai king Bhumibol Adulyadej in Bangkok on October 26, 2017 A sea of black- clad mourners massed across Bangkok' s historic heart early on October 26 as funeral rituals began for King Bhumibol Adulyadej, a revered monarch whose passing after a seven- decade reign has left Thailand bereft of its only unifying figure. (Photo by Damir Sagolj/Reuters)

A Lowrider rides on three-wheels on Sunset Blvd., in the Echo Park neighborhood of Los Angeles late Sunday afternoon July 18, 2021. (Photo by Damian Dovarganes/AP Photo)

Elysia Gonzalez, right, helps Caterine Sanchez adjust her hat inside the ladies room ahead of the Belmont Stakes horse race, Saturday, June 10, 2023, at Belmont Park in Elmont, N.Y. (Photo by Mary Altaffer/AP Photo)

People see in the new year at Copacabana beach in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil on January 1, 2024. (Photo by Reuters/Stringer)

NATO and U.S. flags flutter as U.S. Air Force F-22 Raptor fighter flies over the military air base in Siauliai, Lithuania, April 27, 2016. (Photo by Ints Kalnins/Reuters)

Respect, Kronotsky nature reserve, Russia. The photographer’s cat, Ryska – her name means little lynx in Russian – stands outside their cabin and with aggressive posturing warns off a fox. In winter, foxes would regularly visit the cabin searching for food. If one peered in at the window, possible when the snow was deep, Ryska would sit on the other side, fur raised, and growl. When outside, she would hold her ground. The foxes were not always frightened and so encounters could be a sort of dance. (Photo by Igor Shpilenok/Unforgettable Behaviour/NHM)