Nature – first prize, stories. Pandemic Pigeons – A Love Story. The photographer’s daughter, Merel, cowers after Dollie flies past and perches on the balcony before entering the house in Vlaardingen in the Netherlands on 6 April 2020. “She’s still frightened when Dollie suddenly lands on the balcony railing. I hide my smile behind the camera, as I try to comfort her by saying they won’t hurt you. “I thought he was going to attack me”, she replies. As the nesting pigeons keep coming back to our place, slowly my girls have started to appreciate them – perhaps not as much as I do, but it’s a start”. (Photo by Jasper Doest/World Press Photo 2021)

Using body paint and a woodland like location, Gesine appears to have created a model to look just like a red panda, Dortmund, Germany, October, 2016. An artist brings animals to life using body paint and contorted models. At first glance, these images could be mistaken for portraits of wildlife in their natural habitat were created with paper and paint. However, they are actually the incredible works of illusion by talented body painter Gesine Marwedel, who paints models to creates realistic animals. (Photo by Gesine Marwedel/Barcroft Images)

Fossilized whale bones are on display outside the Wati El Hitan Fossils and Climate Change Museum, a UNESCO natural World Heritage site, on the opening day, in the Fayoum oasis, Egypt, Thursday, January 14, 2016. Egypt has cut the ribbon on the Middle East's first fossil museum housing the world's largest intact skeleton of a "walking whale" in an attempt to attract much-needed tourists driven off by recent militant attacks. The construction of the much-hyped Fossils and Climate Change Museum was covered a 2 billion euros (2. 17 billion dollars) grant from Italy, according to Italian Ambassador Maurizio Massari. Its centerpiece is an intact, 37-million-year-old and 20-meter-long skeleton of a legged form of whale that testifies to how modern-day whales evolved from land mammals. The sand-colored, dome-shaped museum is barely discernible in the breathtaking desert landscape that stretches all around. (Photo by Thomas Hartwell/AP Photo)

Globe-trotting photographer couple Peter Sedlacik and Zuzu Galova have found a fun way to document their travels around the world. Wherever they are, they face each other, frame up a great composition, and take a picture of each other… taking a picture of each other. Thus was born the photo series/project “Lens Between Us”, which is quickly scooping up followers on Tumblr, Facebook and Instagram alike. The resulting diptychs are creative, well-composed, and whimsical in the best way. A tribute to how their focus is always on each other, the images are part travel photography, part portraiture, and challenging to boot since each shot requires that they figure out not one, but two compositions. (Photo by Peter Sedlacik/Zuzu Galova)

A stunning photographic collection featuring portraits of people from 30 countries and the food they eat in one day. In this fascinating study of people and their diets, 80 profiles are organized by the total number of calories each person puts away in a day. Featuring a Japanese sumo wrestler, a Massai herdswoman, world-renowned Spanish chef Ferran Adria, an American competitive eater, and more, these compulsively readable personal stories also include demographic particulars, including age, activity level, height, and weight. Essays from Harvard primatologist Richard Wrangham, journalist Michael Pollan, and others discuss the implications of our modern diets for our health and for the planet. This compelling blend of photography and investigative reportage expands our understanding of the complex relationships among individuals, culture, and food.

“Sergey Mikhaylovich Prokudin-Gorsky (August 30 1863 Russian Empire – September 27, 1944 Paris, France) was a Russian chemist and photographer. He is best known for his pioneering work in color photography of early 20th-century Russia”. – Wikipedia

Photo: Dinner during haying. Russian Empire, Novgorod province, county Cherepovets, 1909. (Photos by Sergey Prokudin-Gorsky via US Library of Congress and Prokudin-Gorsky.org)

P.S. All pictures are presented in high resolution. To see Hi-Res images – just TWICE click on any picture. In other words, click small picture – opens the BIG picture. Click BIG picture – opens VERY BIG picture (if available; this principle works anywhere on the site AvaxNews). Enjoy.