This year there were a record-breaking 230,103 entries to the world's biggest photography competition: the Sony World Photography Awards.
Entries in three main categories — professional, open, and youth — were received from a record 186 countries.
Here, we've selected 17 of our favorite images that were shortlisted in the professional and open categories.
Official winners will be announced April 21, but we wouldn't be surprised if these 17 make the cut.
SEE ALSO: 12 eerie images of enormous Chinese cities completely empty of people
Very few people are brave enough to dive the cold waters off the coast of Russia, but photographer and diver Alexander Semenov has been exploring the waters to find these fantastic, archaic creatures living in the sea.
Matthias Hangst documented the Women's Team Free Synchronized Swimming at the FINA World Championships in Kazan, Russia.
Attila Balogh shot Larung Gar, a town in the Chinese Sichuan province that's home to 40,000 Buddhist monks.
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