Initially the project started when I was working in Atlanta. About four years ago, a roommate of mine had a Yorkie and we thought it would be funny to take some photos of this really cute dog with a few handguns. Once my friends saw the photos they started asking me to take pictures of their dogs with other firearms... (Photo and caption by Ben Haulenbeek/Puppies with guns calendar 2015)

Handguns turned in from the public as part of the “Gun Turn-in” event where a $100 gift card is given for every firearm and a $10 gift card for each BB-gun, air-gun, or replica firearm turned over to police at Universal Missionary Baptist Church in Chicago, Illinois, U.S. May 28, 2016. (Photo by Jim Young/Reuters)

A man fires a weapon as he dances during a traditional excursion near the western Saudi city of Taif, August 8, 2015. Saudis usually party in such excursions as they celebrate weddings or graduations. (Photo by Mohamed Al Hwaity/Reuters)

Guns decorated with gold and jewellery are displayed in the Drugs Museum, used by the military to showcase to soldiers the lifestyles of Mexican drug lords, at the headquarters of the Ministry of Defense in Mexico City, October 14, 2016. (Photo by Henry Romero/Reuters)

Many people have seen feathers as decorative items before. Today, ostrich, peacock and bird of paradise feathers can be seen in haute couture and in the costumes of indigenous peoples. They can be colorful and spectacular in their own right, but how much more stunning might they be when used as canvases for artists, eager to demonstrate their talent for the unusual? Alaskan-born and -bred artist Julie Thompson is an astounding exponent of this incredible art form.

The civilised world lies on its knees, a sickness wracking its body. The affliction causes a necrotising of tissues so perfectly uniform in distribution that victims take on the appearance of corpses long before death occurs due to organ failure or secondary infections. ...