Illuminated Cut Paper Light Boxes by Hari & DeeptiDeepti Nair and Harikrishnan Panicker (known collectively as Hari & Deepti) are an artist couple who create paper cut light boxes. Each diorama is made from layers of cut watercolor paper placed inside a shadow box and is lit from behind with flexible LED light strips. The small visual narratives depicted in each work often play off aspects of light including stars, flames, fireflies, and planets.

Even the powerhouse of Europe has its fair share of abandoned properties and empty shop fronts as seen in these pictures of decaying buildings in Germany. Photographer Daniel Barter, 30, from London traveled Berlin and the surrounding countryside to capture buildings in need of work on film. Far from being resplendent in vintage glory, the deserted music venues and crumbling hospitals are a shadow of their former selves. German eagle motifs flake off ceilings and concert halls designed for hundreds have not seen a show for years. Photo: Lung sanatorium. (Photo by Daniel Barter/Caters News)

“Japanese artist and designer Makoto Tojiki innovatively uses light as his primary medium of expression. In his latest exhibition, No Shadow, Tojiki manipulates thousands of small hanging lights to create 3D images of a man and animals. I’m pretty amazed by how the artist is able to “see” the image while meticulously placing the lights. Makoto’s creativity doesn’t stop at light production; he is also involved in jewelry making and furniture design”. (Photos by Ryo Ishihara/Josh Rothman)

Born in 1958 in Kiev, Ukraine, artist Mark Khaisman studied Art and Architecture at the Moscow Architectural Institute in Russia. Now living in Philadelphia, USA, Khaisman uses rolls of brown packaging tape to create incredible works of art. Mark characterizes his work as ‘pictorial illusions formed by light and shadow’. The three key elements are: translucent packing tape, clear acrylic or film panels, and light. By superimposing layers of packaging tape Mark can ‘play on degrees of opacity that produces transparencies highlighted by the color, shading, and embossment’.

A handful of villages in the U.K. share the same name as cities or countries from around the world, and they’re spending life in the shadows of their more famous namesakes. Photo: A road sign points the way on August 6, 2013 in Toronto, England. Originally called Newton Cap in the county of Durham, built for workers at the nearby colliery, owner Henry Stobart re-named the village Toronto after visiting Canada. (Photo by Peter Macdiarmid/Getty Images)

A belly dancer performs in a talent show in early morning ceremonies for Groundhog Day on February 2, 2018 in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania. Punxsutawney Phil, the weather-forecasting groundhog, emerged from his burrow in Pennsylvania on Friday, saw his shadow and predicted six more weeks of winter, despite his rival Staten Island Chuck in New York predicting an early spring. (Photo by Brett Carlsen/Getty Images)

A disabled child is buried up to his neck in sand during the partial solar eclipse in belief its rays can heal, in Karachi, Pakistan, 25 October 202. A partial solar eclipse occurs when a portion of the Earth is engulfed by the shadow (penumbra) cast by the Moon as it passes between our planet and the Sun in imperfect alignment. During this eclipse - the first of the decade – the Moon appears to cover the Sun, leaving the Sun's halo as a visible rim forming an annulus, popularly known as the 'ring of fire. (Photo by Shahzaib Akber/EPA/EFE/Rex Features/Shutterstock)

“Eye of a toad”. Animal Portraits, Łukasz Bożycki, Poland. Early spring sees a pond near Łukasz’s home city of Warsaw, Poland, full of mating frogs and a few toads. On this March day, Łukasz shared the pond with them for an evening, sitting in the icy water in his chest-high waders, keeping as still as possible, despite the numbing cold, so that the amphibians could get used to him. “I wanted to find a fresh way of portraying the amphibians”, he says, “at water level”. Using a telephoto lens, he focused on one lone toad and waited for the sun to dip almost below the horizon before pressing the shutter, using flash to bring out the details in the shadow. His prize was “the glorious pool of sunset colour” and fiery glow of the toad’s eye. Nikon D80 + 70-300mm f4.5-5.6 lens + extension tube; 1/125 sec at f9 (-2.3 e/v); ISO 100; built-in flash. (Photo by Łukasz Bożycki)