An extraordinary photo of a horse comforting a cancer-stricken mum as she hugs her masked son in her last moments has made the World Press Photo Contest final.
Forty five stunning shots from around the globe have been shortlisted for the 2021 awards, including many which capture the devastating impact the coronavirus pandemic has had on the planet.
In one powerful image an 85-year-old woman embraces her nurse through a plastic sheet - the first hug she received in five months - to protect both of them against the ravages of the bug.
Another shows a Californian sea lion playing underwater with a discarded surgical face covering in the ocean.
Mask pollution has become a major issue for the world's wildlife since the outbreak of the pandemic.
Jeremy Lempin, who snapped an incredble scene of a horse in a palliative care centre in Calais, France, is one of the finalists.
The photo shows Manon, 24, who is suffering from metastatic cancer, holding her seven-year-old son Ethan as he wears a face mask.
Her horse Peyo was also brought into the room so that she could be close to the things in her life she loved while she died.
A total of 4,315 photographers from 130 countries entered a staggering 74,470 images. The nominees are made up of 45 photographers from 28 different countries.
'One Way to Fight Climate Change: Make Your Own Glaciers' by Ciril Jazbec from Slovenia, shows Gya Village - the first village settlement in Ladakh in northern India.
Communities in the region are building huge ice cones in the desert that provide water into summer.
Another entry, 'Niewybuch' by Natalia Kepesz, from Poland, captures one of the country's military summer camps for youths which have existed since the 1920s.
The young participants are put through boot camps where they are challenged physically and mentally and taught to take instruction, often on former army training grounds.
'Fighting Locust Invasion in East Africa' by Luis Tato, Spain shows Herny Lenayasa, a Samburu man and chief of the settlement of Archers Post trying to scare away a massive swarm of the pests.
A billions-strong plague of the pests triggered by unpredictable weather patterns hit East Africa last April.
Locusts have had a devastating impact on parts of Kenya in the past year, ravaging large expanses of land just as the coronavirus outbreak began to disrupt livelihoods.
Lincoln Emancipation Memorial Debate by Evelyn Hockstein, United States, shows Anais, 26, who wants the statue toppled, and a man who argues it should be kept.
'Sakhawood' by Alexey Vasilyev, Russia, captures twin actors Semyon and Stepan starring in the fairytale movie "The Old Beyberikeen" as mythical creatures called dulgancha living in the swamps.
In the dramatic shot titled 'Pantanal Ablaze' by Lalo de Almeida, from Brazil, a dead deer lies in a scorched pasture in an area of the Pantanal devastated by a wildfires.
Even the swiftest animals could not escape when, from January to October last year, blazes burned through 4.200.000 hectares of Pantanal.
'The Ameriguns’ by Gabriele Galimberti, from Italy, was snapped for National Geographic.
It shows gun fanatic Will Renke, 35, of Myrtle Beach, South Carolina who buys a new firearm every two weeks.
Curator Rodrigo Orrantia, said about this year's entries: "I think what stood out the most was the variety of approaches to visual storytelling.
"Photographers in general, but specifically photojournalists and press photographers, are discovering new ways of telling stories visually.
"Some entries stood out because their visual language was really sophisticated, which is a very exciting change from the classic press photography tradition."
The finalist images reflect a range of issues that dominated 2021 from the pandemic to social justice and the climate crisis. The winners will be announced at the awards show on April 15.
