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Pictures of an albino couple, Turkish horsemen and haunting landscapes are among the stunning images competing in the annual Sony photography awards next year.
Others capture Buddhist monks dining in a monastery, the vast landscape of Ethiopia's salt flats and sprawling cities from above.
The selection of images has been released by the World Photography Organisation as it announces the judges for the prestigious awards.
The shortlist for all competitions will be announced on February 27 while the Open and National Awards winners will be announced on March 20. The Photographer of the Year and the Professional category winners will be announced on April 19.
One judge advising candidates said: 'Be sincere, think about the message within your work, keep it simple and work from the heart.'
This photo was taken in a village called Hörmetçi in Kayseri, Turkey. It shows a ceremony in which men catch and ride a wild horse before domesticating and looking after it. A horse is a symbol of freedom in Turkish folkloric culture
This photo taken by Ischan Sudarmanto shows a little girl sleeping while waiting to appear in a marching band competition in the US
This image depicts a salt caravan in the Danakil Desert in Ethiopia, one of the least hospitable places in the world. It is here that the Afar people extract the salt and transport it via huge camel caravans to the Tigray Highlands
This picture by Victor Vargas Altamirano shows the daily movement in the Oculus Subway Station in New York
This image was taken in Russia. The photographer wrote: 'The idea is to show how beautiful and amazing Albino people are, how they hypnotize with their unusual beauty'
This incredible picture of Hong Kong from above was taken by a local photographer launching a drone from a mountain
This photo was taken in Lofoten, Norway. The photographer wrote: 'When I got out I already knew that this was going to be beautiful morning'
This photograph was taken in South Africa's Kruger National Park under stormy skies, reflecting the the extinction crisis facing black rhinos
This image shows a scuba diver in Cenote Tajma-Ha, Yucatan, Mexico. The yellowish colour is obtained from the high levels of tannic acid in the water
This stunning image taken by Felipe Tomas Jiminez Ordonez shows an incredible horizon by the sea in Spain
This photos captures the Mahagandayon Monastery at Amarapura in Myanmar. At noon, monks, nuns and novices lined up outside for their main and last meal of the day
This photo was taken in a studio and enhanced. Captioned 'imagine a poetic world,' it is competing in the category for best enhanced photo
The photograph was taken in Mallorca, Cap de Formentor. The photograph was taken with a long exposure just before sunset
An elderly man and his dog were pictured by Dmitry Mordvintsev in Russia after the snapper saw them at an old factory
The photo shows a group of shipmates on an oil tanker relaxing in the mid-Atlantic. It was taken by Cezar Gabriel Popescu
This pool is part of a technical college in Munich, Germany. It was taken by a photographer as part of a 'pools' series
The image was taken from a hill called Ajdna. It offer