An aerial image shows hot air balloons, mostly made from recycled paper and tied with ropes, floating in the air during the annual hot air balloon festival, held since 1950 to celebrate Eid al-Fitr, the Islamic holiday marking the end of Ramadan, in Wonosobo, Central Java, on April 2, 2025. (Photo by Devi Rahman/AFP Photo)

Joseph's Amazing Racing Pigs entertain the crowds at the Gillingham And Shaftesbury Spring Countryside Show, on June 09, 2024 in Shaftesbury, England. The countryside show celebrates Dorset's rural life, traditions and culture. Initially set to be the first countryside show of Dorset's rural calendar but now featuring near the end of Spring after a postponement due to a waterlogged showground. (Photo by Finnbarr Webster/Getty Images)

“They’ve been obsessing me for years. I searched and found them in Benares, on the banks of the river Gange (India). They arrive here to get rid of everything and to wait for death. This existence can last for years, sometimes decades, almost a life. Opposite to mine, well organised and filled as a human life can be, to try in vain to push the limits of its end”. – Denis Rouvre. (Photo by Denis Rouvre)

A collection of Sir Winston Churchill's wartime cigars, including four Romeo y Julieta Cuban Cigars given to Mr Percy Bower, Manager of the cigar department of his suppliers, the Army and Navy Stores to mark the end of the war, are displayed on January 13, 2012 in London, England. (Photo by Matthew Lloyd/Getty Images)

A competitor poses on the catwalk during the Miss Bumbum Brazil 2016 pageant in Sao Paulo, Brazil on November 9, 2016. Fifteen candidates compete in the annual pageant to select Brazil' s sexiest female rear end. (Photo by Miguel Schincariol/AFP Photo)

At the end of rice harvesting season, the folks of the Kagawa and Niigata Prefectures in Japan hold a straw festival to celebrate the abundance of the harvest. Dried straws cover wooden frames to form larger-than-life sculptures from animals like sharks and gorillas to vessels such as ships and tanks. The family-friendly event invites visitors of all ages to engage, interact, and play on the enormous structures.

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)

“I was born in the United States in 1985. As early as I can remember I’ve been a “doodler”. From even the early days I’ve always loved strange, offbeat, beautiful, and slightly melancholy things. Something about the mixed grabbed me. My love for sketching carried on throughout my high school days. Which is when I took a small class on watercolor. Watercolor is what birthed my passion for mixing colors and how a color can tell a story. In year 2009 I discovered digital painting and my new found passion for the medium. It’s been the favored medium for the past years since. I’ve used online tutorials and videos to help me learn along the way and then in late 2011 I took a workshop called Becoming a Better Artist. The beginning of 2013 I won a class from The Art Department which will start this spring.”