US NewsThe Amazon Tribes Battling Brazil's Bolsonaro

South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg kisses husband Chasten as they attend a rally to announce his 2020 Democratic presidential candidacy on April 14.

Ferrari's Charles Leclerc rushes to a pit stop during the Chinese Grand Prix on April 14.

Demonstrators seen on the Waterloo Bridge during the Extinction Rebellion protest on April 16.

A voter casts her ballot during the general election on April 17.

A visitor jumps to pose for a photo behind a display at the the Unko ("poop" in Japanese) museum in Yokohama, Japan, April 17, 2019.

An art installation shaped like an astronaut is seen at the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival on April 12.

Balloony McBalloonface is seen during a hot air balloon show during the Hunter Valley Night Glow at Roche Estate vineyards on April 13, 2019.

Competitors ride a home-made vehicle on a downhill track during the Red Bull Soapbox Race on April 14.

A Sumatran elephant calf plays with its mother on April 15.

A street artist blows soap bubbles in front of the Brandenburg Gate on April 12.

Twitter SUSPENDS Tommy Robinson's campaign account within days of him announcing plan to become a Euro MP - as it emerges he 'could get £2million in taxpayers' cash if elected'

Tommy Robinson's campaigning Twitter account was suspended just two days after he announced he would run before a crowd in Manchester.

A woman walks through an art exhibition titled "Mirrors: In and Out of Reality" on April 12.

Senior Adviser to the U.S. President, Ivanka Trump (R) reacts as she poses with woman from cocoa cooperative farmers near Adzope as the first Women Entrepreneurs Finance Initiative (We-Fi) West Africa Regional Summit on April 17.

People salvage belongings in a flooded area, caused due to the overflowing of the Paraguay River, on April 15.

A cherry tree is seen in full bloom on April 15.

Tiger Woods is ecstatic as he wins the 2019 Masters Tournament on April 14.

Workers set up the stage for the upcoming Eurovision Song Contest on April 15.

Revelers put on traditional masks as they take part in a procession to mark the Lao New Year on April 15.

Fatou, a Western Lowland gorilla eats a hard-boiled Easter Egg at the zoo on April 16.

U.S. First Lady Melania Trump poses with the troops during a visit to the Fort Bragg military installation on April 15.

Children play near an art installation by Spain's Martin y Sicilia at the Malecón waterfront during the Havana Biennial art exhibition on April 14.

Police officers stand guard at the emergency hospital Casimiro Ulloa where former President of Peru Alan Garcia died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head as police was going to arrest him at his home in Miraflores on April 17.

Performers showcase traditional Indian martial arts during an annual parade marking Baisakhi, the Sikh New Year, on April 14.

Farmers sued by Pepsi for 'illegally growing potato seeds'

Four Indian farmers are being sued by PepsiCo for more than £100,000 each for allegedly growing a variety of potatoes which infringes the company's patent. The type at the centre of the legal action is known as FC5 which the US food giant says is used exclusively to make its Lay's crisps. The firm currently supplies the FC5 seeds to a group of farmers who then sell their potatoes to the company at a fixed price. PepsiCo claims the four being sued have been "unlawfully using the seeds of its registered variety", but it says they could join the other group.

Shan people participate in a rehearsal prior to a military parade marking the 30th anniversary of the ceasefire signed with the Myanmar military, on April 15.

Great white cherry trees blossom in full bloom on April 15.

A gardener places flowers on an art structure at the Guggenheim Museum on April 16. Designed by American artist Jeff Koons, the giant statue known as "Puppy" is meant to welcome the guests into the museum.

An Afghan hunter tries to catch his crane at a field on April 10.

Barcelona striker Lionel Messi in action during the UEFA Champions League quarter-final match against Manchester United on April 16.

A young woman takes a break on a oversized pillow, which is part of the artwork "Himmel auf Erden" (Heaven on Earth) by German artist Susanne Egle at the Federal Horticultural Show, or Bundesgartenschau, on April 16.

Tulips seen in fill bloom in front of the White House on April 16.

Police confront students as they take part in a protest seeking the departure of the ruling elite on April 16.

The world’s largest tropical rainforest (it covers approximately 40 percent of the continent) has not only experienced rising deforestation but also extreme drought that has left it susceptible to fires, says a report published by the United Nations Environment Program. Entire species of vegetation and animals are on the brink of extinction.

The saltwater lake has shrunk by a third over the last 40 years since development in the region started. Sinkholes are appearing where the water has receded, while mineral extraction by cosmetic companies has further eroded it. Rainfall in the region has declined and a study conducted by Columbia University's Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory found that thousands of years ago, when temperatures were similarly rising, the entire region suffered a megadrought worse than any ever recorded.

One of the oldest living organisms in Africa, these trees can live up to 3,000 years and are often called “the tree of life.” However, over the past 12 years, five of the six largest and nine of the 13 oldest have died, either completely or partially. According to a study published in Nature Plants, this may be due to climate change. “We suspect the demise of monumental baobabs may be associated at least in part with significant modifications of climate conditions that affect southern Africa in particular,” the report says.

Popular with tourists, this coastal city came perilously close to literally running out of water early in 2018. The situation forced officials to restrict the amount of water an individual, home or building could use in a day. At their most extreme, these restrictions capped daily usage at a maximum of 50 liters per person.

As of December 2018, the mayor’s office has raised that limit to 105 liters but other rules, like the flushing of toilets (only with greywater or non-drinking water, and only when absolutely necessary) remain in force.

Locals have slowly come to accept the flooding of Piazza San Marco (pictured) and other low-lying areas of the city but, with ocean levels rising, Venice is inundating further. The city of canals is sinking fast enough to become uninhabitable by the end of this century, scientists at the Venice in Peril fund have warned.

The largest coral reef in the world, covering more than 132,973.5 square miles (344,400 square kilometers), has started showing signs of damage due to rising ocean temperatures. Vast regions have experienced coral bleaching – a condition where the coral turns white and is prone to mass death. A report by the ARC Center of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies found that around 93 percent has experienced bleaching to some degree.

The winemaking region has sprawling vineyards that are slowly being affected by increasing temperatures. In a profession where even a small degree change can cause differences in the produce, or even completely ruin it, a report published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences forecasts an 85 percent decrease in wine production in the combined Bordeaux, Rhone and Tuscany region.

Erratic rainfall and increasing desertification, accompanied by intense droughts, have pushed temperatures so high in the north African country that harvests are being ruined. Warming temperatures have rendered farmlands unsuitable and will continue to affect the country’s food security, according to a report published by the World Food Program and the UK Met Office. Gigantic dust storms called haboob (pictured) have also become more commonplace in recent years.

The city is made up of a mainland and a series of islands that are all at risk of flooding with increasing sea levels. To prevent that, efforts are on to build an artificial mega city, named Eko Atlantic, on reclaimed land and then build a seawall. Researchers like environmental writer Martin Lukacs have named this “climate apartheid,” as the wall will push storm surges from more affluent locales to neighboring unprotected areas.

Floods during the Atlantic hurricane season have caused increasing damage in the archipelago. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers estimates sea levels will rise 15 inches (38 centimeters) over the next 30 years, submerging many parts of the city.

The coastal city is growing so quickly it has been unable to consider the harm it is causing to the ecosystem. With increased rainfall, it is increasingly prone to floods and downpours, causing $47.3 million worth of damages in just the area surrounding the Msimbazi River, according to the World Bank.

Researchers at the University of Exeter have found that elevated surface ocean temperatures during the 2016 El Niño led to a major coral die-off event in the Maldives. Further rise in temperatures due to global warming will only worsen the situation of the coral reefs, scientists warn.

In Russia’s far north, permafrost is melting as the weather has become increasingly unpredictable. Giant craters (pictured) are forming as frozen grounds start thawing. The winter season has shortened and unusually warm temperatures caused an outbreak of anthrax in 2016. “Such anomalous heat is rare for Yamal, and that’s probably a manifestation of climate change,” said Alexei Kokorin, head of WWF Russia’s climate and energy program.

The Arctic is warming at almost twice the global average with sea ice disappearing from the ecosystem. While this has made the waters more navigable through the Northwest Passage, it is also contributing to a rise in global sea level. In the future, this could make Arctic fisheries disappear and harm the coastline, according to the WWF.

Situated along the Atlantic Coast, the city’s coastline, and specifically the harbor areas, are experiencing high erosion rates, according to news reports. The Ebrie lagoon has also become increasingly polluted and this has led to the loss of fisheries. Heavy and untimely rains are also threatening cocoa growers in the region.

Over the last 150 years, snowfall in south-central Alaska has increased dramatically by 117 percent due to climate change, according to a study published in the journal Scientific Reports. Another report, by the Alaska Division of Public Health, states that additional diseases, lower air quality from more wildfires, melting permafrost, and disturbances to local food sources are some of the outcomes of climate change affecting the area.

A mild 2007 winter in the region allowed Asian tiger mosquitoes to breed and when a tourist returned from India with chikungunya, the mosquitoes became the carriers of the new disease. According to the WHO, this was the first European outbreak of a tropical disease. The localized epidemic was repeated in 2017. In a study that year, researchers at the University of Bayreuth reported the spread of the virus was facilitated by climate change and that the "risk of infection will continue to increase in many regions of the world through the end of the 21st century. If climate change continues unchecked, the virus could even spread to southern Europe and the U.S."

The changing monsoon season that has caused intense flooding in the economic capital over the past decades has been attributed to climate change in a report published by global development research resource Eldis. The World Bank found that changing rainfall patterns in India was one of many impacts of climate change. "An extremely wet monsoon that currently has a chance of occurring only once in 100 years is projected to occur every 10 years by the end of the century," according to the report.

The 2.69 million people of the city have been battered by unseasonable typhoons and torrential rains that cause extensive floods. If temperatures continue to rise, the entire commercial region of Osaka could go under water by the 2070s, predict the Union of Concerned Scientists.

One of the most famous skiing regions in the world, the Alps stretch across eight countries. Due to their low altitude, they have seen significant snow melt during shorter winter periods over the years. Around three percent of Alpine glacial ice is lost per year and experts from the University of Innsbruck in Austria believe the glaciers could disappear by 2050 if the melting continues.

One of the largest ice fields in the world is receding at shockingly fast speeds. A Nature Geoscience paper found that accelerated melting ice fields account for nearly 10 percent of the global sea-level change from mountain glaciers. Over the last few years, dozens of glacier lakes have virtually disappeared.

These Pacific island nations are slowly being submerged and, by 2100, many of the lower islands could be uninhabitable, news agencies have reported. The Pacific Climate Change Science Program study found Tuvalu (pictured) would not only see a rise in sea level but also more extreme rainfall and intense cyclones. Five reef islands in the Solomon Islands have already been lost, while another six are eroding quickly.

Once home to over 150 glaciers, Montana’s majestic park now has just about 26 left. Scientists, including those from the U.S. Geological Survey, believe rapid climate change could see that number shrink to zero between 2030 and 2080, which would not only leave the park without a glacier but also severely disrupt its ecosystem.

Flooding every rainy season is becoming a common event on the Caribbean island. The reefs around the area have been mined to build up the islands to prevent sinking, reported Reuters. A scientist from the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute quoted in the report said, “It’s another example that climate change is here, and it’s here to stay.” The report also cites natives are prepared to relocate if the rise in sea level continues.

Image name: Five Degrees

Image description: "India, Tamil Nadu, May 2018. Rasathi, the wife of Selvarasy, a farmer who committed suicide in May 2017 by hanging himself in his own field. He got into debt with a cooperative society. A study carried out by Tamma A. Carleton, and published by PNAS (Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences) analysed climate data from the last 47 years and compared it with the number of farmer suicides in the same period. The research concluded that changes in temperatures which have been occurring since the 1980s have played a role in the decision by thousands of farmers to take their own lives."

Image name: Abuot

Image Description: "I had this image in my mind before I took it. This was the very first shot, just to test the lighting. Right away, I knew this was exactly what I was going for. The rest of the shoot was spent collaborating with Jordan. Abuot is my friend from school and she is one of the funniest people I know. In today's society, with skin bleaching products and colorism flooding the media, it's important to highlight the beauty of dark-skinned women who are often told that they are 'too dark.'"

Image name: Harmony

Image description: "Shot underwater in Hawaii, this image is part of my Muses Collection. What started to work best for me was having a perspective from outside of the water, looking in and using the surface of a pool as a canvas, utilizing natural effects like the refraction of light with movement to bend reality, and shooting at night so I could really control my light."

Image name: Three people picking oranges in the field of one of them

Image description: "In my dialect, Valencian, there is a word that describes pride for the land where I belong: La Terreta. A feeling that surrounds us all, be part of La Terreta is to love our roots, the richness of our land, our culture, our people, our identity. Every time I go to La Terreta there is a sign that I see on the road that welcomes me home: the orange groves. That is why in this series I have focused on capturing daily life around the orange trees. From the farmers who plant and care for the trees to harvest the fruit, to the women who choose the oranges that will end up around the world. The orange tree is the essence of my land, it maintains the feeling of belonging and leaves the door open to future generations, spreading a message about the value of taking care of what nature gives us as a part of our identity."

Now, take a look at the Professional category winners and finalists.

Image name: Akashinga

Image description: "Phundundu Wildlife Area, Zimbabwe, June 2018. Petronella Chigumbura, 30, an elite member of the all-female Akashinga conservation ranger force undergoes stealth movement and concealment training in the bush near their base. Petronella says she previously worked on her ex-husband's family tobacco farm in slave-like conditions. This job has increased her self-respect and the salary enabled her to leave her abusive husband. She is now engaged in trying to get her children back and is being helped by the support of her ranger sisters to do so. Petronella is regarded by her instructors as easily as good as the best of the men they have trained for similar difficult conservation work. She also brings the added value of better community relations and intelligence gathering as a woman, the instructors are quick to add."

Image name: Popular Resistance Icon

Image description: "A shirtless young protester in Gaza gripping a Palestinian flag with one hand and swinging a slingshot over his head with the other, on the northern border between the Gaza Strip and Israel in the weekly protests organized by Palestinian protesters to protest against the Israeli blockade of Gaza, which has been imposed by Israel for the past 12 years."

Image name: cut outs - lanes

Image description: "The Swimming pool of the Leobad in southern Germany."

Image name: Untitled

Image description: "The lobby of the sanatorium with the original reception booth."

Image name: Untitled

Image description: "Heroes shine even at night."

Image name: Bridesmaids

Image description: "After arriving of all guests, the couple enters the room while the bridesmaids are dancing together with all guests."

Image name: Mühlenbach

Image description: "Local, traditional costume during a Corpus Christi procession."

Image name: Miss Faversham. Margate, Kent.

Image description: "Miss Faversham. Margate, Kent."

Image name: Chosen [not] to be

Image description: "In this moment in time, many marginalized groups are getting more vocal, gaining confidence and claiming their rightful place in society. Whether it is the LGBT+ community, people of color, women resisting the objectification of the female body via #metoo and #timesup or the community of people with Down’s Syndrome. It is long overdue and just in time. Especially in case of Down’s Syndrome because the pace of technological advances concerning prenatal screening dictate that we need to have this discussion about inclusion sooner rather than later."

Image name: The Once Mighty Ko'olau

Image description: "Many Natives believe that the H3 is cursed, and in many ways they are not wrong. Ongoing environmental concerns include weed encroachment, light pollution, asbestos pollution, water and stream life problems, and a host of other concerns; among these are the ongoing decline of native owls called "pueo," and other native birds. One native bird has not been seen since the construction of the H3. The weakening of the environment is evident in this image as I tried to laser cut out one of the most controversial builds on Oahu. The actual removal of the structure on the paper has weakened the paper as a whole."

Image name: Bubble Up!

Image description: "By definition most people are 'normal.' Some want to be different and follow the norms of a specific social or cultural tribe, they are normal too. And there are those who would laugh at nonsensical categorizations, who don’t believe in or live by conventions, who create their own reality and live it naturally. They are the subject of Pol Kurucz’s last photo series: genuine eccentrics, weirdos and lunatics who in the eyes of the photographer are the new normals. Shooting for this last series took entirely place in the Kolor Studio, in the heart of Rio de Janeiro, where all the sets and accessories were built by the Kolor Art Collective. Most models, performers, and actors featured in the photos come from the city’s humanist microcosm and themselves belong to redefined group of the eccentrics."

Image name: Untitled

Image description: "Bosphorus boat wedding parties are very popular choice among young couples, in particular for long time established middle class immigrants people from the Eastern countries, like Armenians, Iraqi and Afghans."

Image name: The day before the Corban Festival

Image description: "The day before the Corban Festival, people return to their hometown for a reunion."

Image name: The two parallel 8

Image description: "This black-and-white series of photos 'about two sisters abandoned by their father, a reunion which can be no question. Just because they don't know about each other the most important thing...' They meet once a year in a small village, - communicate, play, weave braids to each other, but don't know that they are sisters. Gulshat lives in a poor family, in a small village. Alina lives in the city, studies in a prestigious school, and does ballet. Two lives that run parallel and that should not intersect never, according to the lV postulate of Euclid. And yet this happens, as in the hyperbolic geometry of Nikolai Ivanovich Lobačevskij. In a Russian village two parallel lines meet once a year."

Image name: Haidong North Mountain Forest Park construction site, Dali, China, 2017

Image description: "A group of transplanted trees wrapped in green and white plastic, standing quietly above a new pond as part of the Haidong North Mountain Forest Park."

Image name: Untitled

Image description: "Rows of asparagus line the fertile soil of the tunnel."

Image name: Debre Ensesa

Image description: "Debre Mihret Arbiatu Ensesa church near Ambesane surrounded by subsistence agriculture."

Image name: Untitled

Image description: "Bob walks through the hallway, past the bathroom, back to his room. During rehabilitation, DVM Odette Doest found out that Bob had been habituated by humans and therefore could not be reintroduced back into the wild. So now he spends his time at her house, where he shares a room with his other avian rescue friends."

Image name: Striped Marlin hunting

Image description: "Mexico, Baja California Sur, Bahia Magdalena. A striped marlin hunting a school of mackerel some 40 miles off the coast of San Carlos."

Image name: Sunset on the Sierra Madre

Image description: "Garlic Flower in Sierra Madre de Oaxaca."

Image name: Untitled

Image description: "Yuri Halecky. Vankarem 1952. In Chukchi culture, past, present and future are intimately linked. They see life as a circle. When someone dies, his soul travels to the spiritual level until he or she is reborn in a new body. Paternal branch: Q-L53 Maternal branch: A2 This lineage was born in eastern Siberia soon before groups of migrants traveled over the icy land bridge to the Americas. Moving with these new world explorers, this line helped settle the Americas."

Image name: Untitled

Series description: "Henkō - a Japanese word composed of kanjis meaning “change” and “variable/unusual light” - conveys the idea of a shifting light which transforms our perception of the objects it illuminates. The work is not intended to trick the viewer, only to introduce doubt; to make them question preconceived ideas on gender and the presumed veracity of even the most candid photographic image. Apart from retouches to soften or accentuate the Adam’s apple, the images were not Photoshopped in post-production. Only lighting, make up and the subject’s facial expressions convey the symbolic gender reassignment. The choice of format – traditional photographic portraits in diptychs – and the seemingly simple image conceal the complexity of the subject matter, forcing the viewer to question the medium and their ability to see through it. If lighting and a skin-deep makeover can make viewers question their understanding of gender, perhaps the border between masculine and feminine is hazier than we are led to believe?"

Image name: At the End of the Day

Image description: "Benbecula island. Danielle Mac Gillivray 28 years old, raises alone her son Peter, four​ years old. She works in her father's souvenir shop in Benbecula, the island where she lived and grew up. A single​​ mother, suffering from multiple sclerosis, Danielle is aware that in her small community it will not be easy to rebuild her life."

Image name: Untitled

Image description: "Democratic Republic of Congo. Goma. 29/05/2018. Elysèe, 16 years old. portrayed on the streets of central Goma, she is part of one of the official boxing clubs in Goma. Elysèe tells: 'I've been boxing for two years, it's something that gives me strength and courage to defend myself and makes me feel accepted everywhere. In this city there is so much violence that you must always be ready to react. Under the ashes of this society there are latent conflicts, a violence ready to explode at any moment. Thanks to boxing I feel ready to face these dangers.'"

Image name: Awareness

Image description: "A freediver has to learn to accept being watched by many eyes, including his/her own. The difference is that only you can watch yourself from the inside, the secret to positive self-consciousness without worrying about how others see you. Taken at the AAS Depth Championships 2018, Bali Indonesia."

Image name: The big score

Image description: "Outside The Griffin, one of the four pubs encircling the stadium, the Reading fans are cheering. With the final score of 2-2, they are the ones who have something to celebrate. Even though it has gone a bit downhill since the football club between 2006 and 2008 spent two seasons in Premier League."

Image name: Tartine à mâcher (Chewing Toast)

Image description: "Two opposites things in the same image. At first sight, this is disgusting, but at the same time the photo's got something hypnotic. Isn't it ?"

Image name: Map

Image description: "Taken in Connecticut, USA. Black items are undeveloped camera films."

Image name: The Struggle for Freedom

Image description: "My family loves music. Ogene sound of Igboland Nigeria. Two people in my family are dead. My dad and Emmanuel. The Biafran war of 1967 was the worse thing that has ever happened to my family. I try to forget it but cannot. It does not go away."

Click through for some more stunning images shortlisted in the competition.

Series description: "I chose Syukor as the model to show that he belongs with animals: I decided to focus on the harmony between humans and animals. This idea was really challenging because I needed to find the right moments of animal behavior toward Syukor. I’m not someone who is brave enough to touch these animals or even go near them. However, I tried to overcome my weakness little by little to capture those beautiful moments. I took a lower angle of Syukor and his buffaloes to give the picture more impact. Next, I took a picture from further away to capture a group of buffalo with Syukor to give a sense of belonging. I faced difficulties from unwelcome weather: heavy rain made it harder for me to take the pictures I wanted. This concept shows how human can communicate with animals and how they belong with each other: humans and animals can love each other and animals can recognize their loved one. I find this relationship very beautiful."

Series description: "The Symbiosis of Belonging. Belonging to… a person, a place, a family, a moment. An ordinary moment belonging to you. To immerse yourself in a moment is to belong. To belong is to choose to devote yourself to loved ones who may or may not share your blood, to feel connected and share a history with a place, to live in a state of mutual symbiosis. Influenced by the idea that queer belonging always exists within a marriage between the awareness of being watched and an attempt to exist at ease, my photographs aim to showcase a symbiosis between the private space and the spectacle: ordinary moments of belonging, disrupted by the presence of the photographer, who plays the role of an outsider. The tension between confronting those watching and immersing oneself in simply belonging is explored through this intimate and queer lens."

Series description: "Viewed through the nocturnal gaze, Dhaka’s roads become elevated corridors which crisscross over the entire city, a city in the process of expansion as the locals are stressed, dawdling near the traffic. The unprecedented growth of a city’s infrastructure amuses any explorer in the dark. The developing city has its own supernatural reflection at night, after the day has burnt out. Resonating in the midnight silence, the banal monumental structures transform Dhaka into a modern city. This ethos manifests in competing urbanization in the capital city to which I belong. Exploring the wider spaces of a crowded city, my intention is to observe these monuments of invisibility with several light sources projecting from uncanny directions. I produce images in a 4:5 aspect ratio in greyscale. The photographs depict the reality of the 21st century which we inhabit, possessed by our civilization."

Series description: "I am French Canadian, from Montreal, and I belong to the largest French-speaking territory in North America. Québec is a province with its own particular culture, distinct from its surroundings. What makes me belong to Québec? According to my experience, Québec is: winter and hockey season, maple syrup and its aroma in every kitchen, inclusion of LGBTQ communities, First Nations, Irish ancestry, our important history of mining and fishing, cultural diversity from immigration, our Catholic heritage and the coexistence of Francophones and Anglophones. Every single image tells the story of someone or something connected to Québec, and the entire series expresses my vision of belonging to Québec."

Series description: "S + R. Shais (23) and Rahul (20) live in Delhi and are in a relationship. Sex between two people of the same gender was illegal for 154 years, until the Indian Supreme Court decriminalized it in September 2018. Indian society is still having issues with the acceptance of homosexuals. Shais told his family about his sexuality six years ago, which resulted in him receiving death threats from his brother. He has had no contact with him for five years. Rahul has not told his family about his sexuality yet, because he fears the consequences. He hopes that he can tell them, before the family arranges a marriage for him with a woman."

Series description: "'Dissonance is a visual exploration of the space between preconceived ideas and physical reality. Taken in Northern California, U.S., this series reflects a search for belonging in a landscape of concrete and shifting national identity."

Series description: "We’re told graduating is exciting. A celebratory step towards the future. A bright new beginning. However for Alice, it presents a lonely prospect; a loss of belonging. For a French student in London, it means leaving four years of life behind. Leaving her boyfriend, leaving best friends, leaving coursemates, leaving her home, and losing her community. And as we leave the European Union, will she ever belong again? Will it be a final farewell? One last adieu. The project aimed to capture the stages of losing belonging as Alice progresses through her final year, mourning her belonging but also mine. Conveying my own anxieties at losing my girlfriend of over three years and leaving the EU."

Series description: "I sit here now once; do you think it will be different to sit here again? “I’m nervous, more nervous than I expected. Thank you for the coffee this morning. You are reading at the queer event for Pride Month. Two more days. I’m sitting here, and I cannot sit still. My binder is damp because I forgot to hang it out to dry last night. It’s 10.12 am. Three minutes to go. I love you.” I write this while waiting for my appointment at the sexuality clinic. A copy of National Geographic’s January 2017 issue titled “Gender Revolution” is on the table. The shifting landscape of gender. How can I survey the shifting landscape which is my own body with photography? It is in flux and I am fully aware of its boundaries or limitations. This is a snapshot of my queer lived experience in images."

Now, take a look at some of the shortlisted entries from the Professional category...

Image description: "A cabana on Miami Beach."

Image description: "Multi-layered portrait of Hong Kong, shot from the Hopewell Tower in 2018. North-South-East-West perspective digitally merged together."

Image description: "Within the traditional Romanian mindset, the house is considered the nucleus of the family life, a primordial space which generates and preserves vital energies. As a photographer traveling across Romania, I watched villages and towns being architecturally transformed during the last years, as a consequence of cultural appropriation, as part of the globalization process. I photographed the remains of a so-called 'traditional' world and also a more 'modern' approach to the concept of home, featuring imposing palace-like houses and apartment complexes built at the cities' outskirts. By isolating them in natural landscapes, as a form of decontextualization, I questioned the meanings and attributions of the habitat, and how they are reflected in the fluidity of the architectural styles. Is the house a primordial site anymore, or have its functions diminished to an utilitarian meaning? Has the house been relocated from the center of the world to its periphery?"

Image description: "A U.S. border wall prototype stands in San Diego, near the Mexico U.S. border, as seen from Tijuana, Saturday, Dec. 22, 2018. U.S. President Donald Trump wants to build a border wall for the total length of the continental border, that is 1,954 miles (3,145 km) aimed at preventing illegal crossings from Mexico into the United States. His administration has submitted to Congress a $25 billion dollars figure. A partial federal shutdown has been put in motion because of gridlock in Congress over funding for U.S. President Donald Trump's Mexican border wall."

Image description: "Window"

Image description: "The dormitory is the living space of college students. The objects in the dormitory embody personal hobbies, habits and so on. I exaggerate the articles in the dormitory to show the personality of these people. I call these individualized objects dormitory furniture, which are the most characteristic items of these people in the dormitory. Through this, I can see that some personal possessions can show their interesting features."

Image description: "Belfast, Shankill. Young boy and old men at a Protestant parade on Crumlin Road."

Image description: "Parents inadvertently create self-focused children. 'Focus on the books,' 'focus on what you’re doing,' 'child you can’t hear I say focus?!.' My mother says she’s happy. I know that her life hasn’t been easy. I refrain from projecting a link between the two. She loves looking her best and felt empowered buying this purple dress from Amazon. After wearing it to a neighbor’s Christmas party she beamed 'Everyone loved it.' Next to looking her best is her love of plants, prominently displayed on the porch for all to pass and admire. Maybe one day I’ll have the courage to ask her 'Do you have any dreams of your own?'"

Image description: "Eshmeal Ahrens, Lauren Lee Hendriks, Anushka Keteldas and Bussisiwe Mnqumevu. The Elgin Majorettes team is made up of girls from a number of schools around the area. These 4 girls attend St Michael's Primary. The team's coach is also the headmaster of this school."

Image description: "This is an ongoing project/series called Capsulated, an interpretation of an imaginary inner world translating numerous emotions and states of minds brought by rejection, solitude and stereotypes. To be inside a bubble, the world is a bubble. I am encapsulated in my own bubble. Within my own self, connected and disconnected all at once. Express, repress. Rejection makes me fragile and strong all at once. See me beyond the surface, see me beyond my differences. I am an Introvert in a world of extroverts. Movement of expression and self-reflection are the way forward. To touch someone’s heart is to touch the world one drop at a time so that the misconceptions melt away. See me for who I am, don’t judge me for what you see. I am inside a bubble. Capsulated."

Image description: "Germany circa 1965, Georgia 2014, Poland 2018."

Image description: "Drought, poverty, unemployment and addiction have spread through the region. Hoveida, 30, is an addict and lives next to the Zahak dam, which was until recently full of water but is now dried up and full of garbage, with only urban sewage flowing through it. Aged only 30, he says that he is at the end of his rope and hopes to die soon. The Zahak municipality and city council are located nearby."

Image description: "Ayah, 37, and Aisha, 18, drink from Burger King cups in a mall ahead of the face veil ban in Hundige, Denmark, July 19, 2018."

Image description: "Fernando Velosque, a migrant boy from Honduras sits in front of Mexican policemen while a group of migrants gather near the El Chaparral port of entry (or border crossing) between Mexico and the United States in Tijuana, Mexico November 22, 2018."

Image description: "SQM mine in the Atacama desert in northern Chile. The Atacama is famous for being the world’s driest place. Four thousand metres above sea level in the rain shadow of the Andes Mountains, almost no rain falls here and the people who do live here have historically scraped a living breeding llamas and goats or knitting hats. So it’s remote and isolated. It’s also the world’s largest source of lithium, home to minerals that provide the power that fuels our modern daily life. Break down a smartphone battery and you’ll find 3 grams of lithium in there. A lap top has around seventy grams. Move up to an electric car and you’ll find twenty kilograms. Lithium is the element of the moment and the Atacama is where most of it comes from."

Image description: "Joshua Tree National Park in California is one of the four Gold Tier International Dark Sky Parks in the US, It is known by its beautiful trees and also by the Cholla Cactus Garden situated approximately 12 miles (20 km) south of the park’s north entrance. I wanted to capture such beautiful cacti under the starry sky This photograph was taken in May 2018. To capture the star trails, the camera stays fixed, while, as the hours pass, the stars move. The resulting photos show the nightly movement of stars on the sky’s dome. The only star that does not move is the North Star and is found at the center of all concentric circles. Another image was taken with a light painted foreground to get the cactus details and blended with the sky image. The submitted images are part of a current project to raise awareness about the importance of nature conservation efforts and in particular, protecting the night sky from light pollution. Preserving the night time environment helps support human health and heritage and preserves wildlife habitats."

Image description: "Sibolangit, SOCP Quarantine Centre, Northern Sumatra, Indonesia. Substitution mother Selvi, is teaching Jating, a one-year-old orphaned male orangutan to climb on trees in the playground at the SOCP (Sumatran Orangutan Conservation Programme) Quarantine Centre. The playground is part of the infant house for baby orangutans. Like humans, the mother orangutan has to teach her kids everything they need to know to survive on their own. Here at the centre, human caregivers take on the maternal role. It is the first step in a teaching, socialization and rehabilitation program with the goal of release at the age of seven to eight years old. This corresponds with the age when orangutans naturally leave their parents in the wild."

Image description: "A white-banded cleaner shrimp hopped into the mouth of a grouper."

Image description: "Every year in the days of martyrdom of Shia Muslim's eighth Imam, Muslims from all over Iran even from other Muslim countries like Pakistan, Iraq and etc. Coming Mashhad on their feet to visit the holy shrine in Mashhad city, as pilgrims. These portraits taken from pilgrims who has walked in route to Mashhad (Razavi Khorasan) in winter."

Image description: "Stephen, New Orleans LA, USA 2018"

Image description: "Cheikh & Zoé"

Image description: "Inner Atlas, Robert Sherwood 2018."

Image description: "Faith Sihoho laces up her skates in the changing room at the Panari Hotel in Nairobi which hosts East Africa’s only ice rink. Sihoho started playing hockey about a year ago. She heard about the team through some friends she plays ball hockey with. Sihoho said she wanted to play ice hockey since she was a child. 'I want to show girls that it is important to be themselves,' she says. 'That every person is a unique piece of art and finding what makes you different is the key to success. For me, that thing was hockey.'"

Image description: "Pyongyang, North Korea. On the football field adjacent to Mirae Primary School, with the typical skyscrapers of Pyongyang in the background, children practice the synchronized execution of a tul, a series of offensive and defensive techniques against one or several virtual adversaries. The chon ji tul, which means heaven and Earth is the first tul (pattern) taught to beginners. General Choi Hong Hi, who was born in North Korea and served both the Japanese and Korean armies throughout his military career, developed his own movements which were officially recognized as the martial art of Taekwondo on April 11, 1955."

Image description: "Archery is, above all, a sport of precision, so in principle its practice requires a great capacity for concentration."

Image description: "Dennis and Cindy Adere are not racing themselves, but brought their car collection along to watch the action at Speed Week."

Image description: "It looks like this time the coach will be hit in the face..."

Image description: "Berlin 2018, papier mache tiger, ema, porcelain bowl."

Image description: "The inspiration for this work comes from springs. A state of discontinuity is represented by the shape of the disconnected spring."

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