Photography

Photos of the Week: Polar Bears, Sports Fans, Water Forest

A golfing cholita in Bolivia, a 90-minute “space out” competition in Japan, a torchlight procession in Spain, a wildfire in Namibia, soapbox racing in Colombia, and much more

By Alan Taylor
A competitive kayaker, seen during a race, with water flowing across their face and body.
Darrian Traynor / Getty
Maialen Chourraut of Spain competes in the women’s kayak-cross time trials during the 2025 ICF Slalom World Championships at Penrith Whitewater Stadium on September 29, 2025, in Penrith, Australia.
Several people ride on a cart past a crowd during a downhill race.
Jaime Saldarriaga / AFP / Getty
Soapbox-cart riders race downhill during the 2025 Cerro Quitasol Festival in Bello, Antioquia Department, Colombia, on September 28, 2025.
A group of costumed people carrying torches march in a parade procession.
Samuel De Roman / Anadolu / Getty
Villagers carry torches during El Vitor civic procession, on September 27, 2025, in Mayorga, Spain. During the festival, participants wear old clothes and cover their head to remember Saint Toribio, a missionary born there who became a saint in the 18th century.
An effigy of a mythical demon goes up in flames during a festival.
Channi Anand / AP
An effigy of Kumbhakarna, brother of the demon king Ravana, goes up in flames, marking the end of the Dussehra festival in Jammu, India, on October 2, 2025.
A person takes a photograph of a large sculpture made of plastic, shaped like ocean waves with boats on it.
Sahiba Chawdhary / Reuters
A man takes a picture at the entrance of a plastic-themed pandal resembling a man-made aquarium, highlighting the environmental crisis of plastic pollution and its impact on marine life, during Durga Puja celebrations in Kolkata, India, on October 1, 2025.
Tourist ride on a raft through a forest with evenly-planted rows of trees.
CFoto / Future Publishing / Getty
Tourists ride on a bamboo raft in Water Forest Park in Huai'an City, Jiangsu province, China, on October 1, 2025.
A single sheep stands atop a grass-covered dike.
Marcus Brandt / DPA / Getty
A single sheep stands atop a grass-covered dike along the North Sea coast in Hillgroven, Germany, on October 2, 2025.
A worker cleans windows on a modern building with a curved roof and supports.
Kevin Frayer / Getty
Workers cleaning windows are secured by ropes as they rappel down the Phoenix Center in Beijing, China, on September 29, 2025.
People walk past a sinkhole in a road with a bus and car in the hole.
Nina Liashonok / Reuters
Residents walk near a bus and car stuck in a hole that had opened in a road, following unprecedented rainfall in Odesa, Ukraine, on October 1, 2025.
Only the face of a person is visible, buried in a pile of dried corn.
Godofredo A. Vásquez / AP
Shelley Tang is covered with corn kernels by her son Brandon while playing in a pile of corn at Cool Patch Pumpkins in Dixon, California, on September 29, 2025.
A young soccer fan wearing a blue-white-and-red wig makes a face at the camera.
Matias Delacroix / AP
A child poses for a photo prior to a FIFA U-20 World Cup Group A soccer match between Chile and New Zealand at National Stadium in Santiago, Chile, on September 27, 2025.
A crowd of soccer fans gather and cheer behind Rory McIlroy after a golf match.
Maddie Meyer / PGA of America / Getty
Rory McIlroy of team Europe celebrates with fans at the trophy-presentation ceremony after the team’s 15–13 win over team America during the Sunday singles matches of the 2025 Ryder Cup at Bethpage State Park Golf Course, on September 28, 2025, in Farmingdale, New York.
A crew of rowers use their legs to paddle a long boat during a festival.
Thein Zaw / AP
Intha people participate during the Phaung Daw Oo pagoda festival in Inle Lake, Shan State, Myanmar, on September 23, 2025.
A close view of a young raccoon
Martin Bernetti / AFP / Getty
A raccoon at the Cinta Costera in Panama City, Panama, on September 27, 2025.
People wearing numbered jerseys lie on the floor during a
Tomohiro Ohsumi / Getty
Participants compete to do nothing during the “space out” competition at the World Expo 2025, on September 27, 2025, in Osaka, Japan. For 90 minutes, participants sat in silence, trying to remain in a dazed state without distraction. The winner was determined not by activity but by calmness—maintaining the most stable heart rate amid the lively crowds at the site.
A group of older people exercise together in a park.
David Mareuil / Anadolu / Getty
During the International Day of Older Persons, a small group of elderly residents gather at dawn in their local park to take part in a communal exercise routine, as they do every day in Tokyo, Japan, on October 1, 2025.
Dozens of people sit on chairs along circular walkways, competing in a fishing contest.
CFoto / Future Publishing / Getty
Fishing enthusiasts participate in a competition in the rain at International Round Pond in Suqian City, Jiangsu province, China, on October 2, 2025.
People look up toward a drone show which is creating the shape of a spiral galaxy in the sky above them.
Liu Zhankun / China News Service / VCG / Getty
Drones form a galactic pattern in the night sky during a drone show celebrating the 76th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic of China, on October 1, 2025, in Nanchang, Jiangxi province, China.
An inflatable replica of the Statue of Liberty sits, mostly-submerged in a pool of water in front of an exhibition hall, with a sign reading
John Macdougall / AFP / Getty
An inflatable replica of the Statue of Liberty is submerged in a pool in front of the Haus der Kulturen der Welt, in Berlin, Germany, as part of the exhibition “Possibility of Unvernunft” (Die Moeglichkeit der Unvernunft), on September 29, 2025.
A view from inside a vehicle driving down a road that is covered on both sides and above by netting attached to poles.
Serhii Nuzhnenko / Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty / Reuters
A car drives down a street covered with anti-drone netting in the front-line town of Kostiantynivka, amid Russia’s ongoing invasion of Ukraine, in Donetsk region, Ukraine, on September 29, 2025.
A person walks past a storefront with a half-dozen mannequin heads displaying warm hats.
Dmitri Lovetsky / AP
A woman walks past a hat store at a clothing market in St. Petersburg, Russia, on October 1, 2025.
A dozen hot air balloons float along past historic cliffside structures in France.
Valentine Chapuis / AFP / Getty
Hot-air balloons take off during the Montgolfiades festival above the tourist site of Rocamadour, France, on September 28, 2025.
A woman wearing a traditional cholita outfit stands on a green above a rough canyon, swinging a golf club.
Claudia Morales / Reuters
The cholita golfer Martha Mamani, one of the last Aymara women practicing the sport, wears traditional pollera skirts while playing at La Paz Golf Club during her free time, in La Paz, Bolivia, on September 29, 2025.
An aerial view of a rural road beside a large circular sinkhole.
Rodrigo Gutierrez / Reuters
A drone’s-eye view shows a sinkhole near the Alcaparrosa copper mine in Tierra Amarilla, Chile, on September 26, 2025. A Chilean environmental court has ordered Minera Ojos del Salado, owned by Canada’s Lundin Mining, to repair environmental damage linked to activity at the site, believed to have triggered the sinkhole that appeared in 2022.
A polar bear sits on a grassy hillside in front of a wooden structure that is part of an abandoned research station.
Vadim Makhorov / Reuters
Polar bears have taken over an abandoned Soviet-era research station on Kolyuchin Island in the Chukchi Sea, in Russia’s far northeast. This still image was taken on September 14, 2025, from a drone video and released on September 26.
An elk walks through the parking lot of a shopping mall.
David Zalubowski / AP
A bull elk walks through the parking lot of a shopping center in Estes Park, Colorado, on October 1, 2025.
A herd of elephants and a giraffe gather beside a shallow watering hole, with plumes of smoke rising in the distance.
Noah Tjijenda / Reuters
Animals stand by a water hole following a wildfire in Etosha National Park, in the Kunene region of Namibia, on October 1, 2025.
A small kitten, standing on a sidewalk, looking straight at the camera.
Jakub Porzycki / NurPhoto / Getty
A kitten walks on a sidewalk in Kutaisi, Georgia, on September 25, 2025.

About the Author

Alan Taylor is a senior editor at The Atlantic.