Pan Yizhong reacts as he eats worms during an eating race in Liuyang in China’s central province of Hunan. Pan Yizhong has eaten 147 dumplings in one sitting and polished off 40 bowls of noodles in 15 minutes – and now China’s most renowned competitive eater is now searching for his most ambitious challenge yet, even though he says his hobby has cost him his marriage. By Wang Zhao/AFP/Getty Images.
How artist Samantha French describes her work:
My current body of work is focused on swimmers underwater and above. Using vague yet consuming memories from my childhood summers spent immersed in the tepid lakes of northern Minnesota, I attempt to recreate the quiet tranquility of water and nature; of days spent sinking and floating, still and peaceful.
See more of her work here.
A project to ponder in the wake of Christmas:
Shot over a period of 18 months, Italian photographer Gabriele Galimberti’s project Toy Stories compiles photos of children from around the world with their prized possessions—their toys. Galimberti explores the universality of being a kid amidst the diversity of the countless corners of the world, saying, “at their age, they are pretty all much the same; they just want to play.”
But it’s how they play that seemed to differ from country to country. Galimberti found that children in richer countries were more possessive with their toys and that it took time before they allowed him to play with them (which is what he would do pre-shoot before arranging the toys), whereas in poorer countries he found it much easier to quickly interact, even if there were just two or three toys between them.
Toy Stories will be published by Abrams Books on March 24. Explore more of Galimberti’s work here.
South Korean conservative protesters scuffle with police during an anti-Japan rally in front of the Japanese embassy on December 27, 2013 in Seoul, South Korea. On December 26, 2013, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe visited the controversial shrine, which honors Japan’s war dead including war criminals during the period from 1867 to the end of the Second World War. By Chung Sung-Jun/Getty Images)
Alice at My Modern Met has details:
The winners of the National Geographic Photo Contest 2013 have just been announced! Taking home the grand prize is an image you probably remember spotting on a blog post right here on My Modern Met just over a week ago. Seattle-based photographer Paul Souders took the beautifully eerie photo of a polar bear positioned right beneath the surface of Hudson Bay’s freezing waters.
More of Souders’ work here.
Pope Francis attends the Christmas night mass at the St. Peter’s Basilica on December 24, 2013. Pope Francis celebrates the first Christmas of his pontificate. By Franco Origlia/Getty Images.
Vincent Herman waits in line during the Father Woody money giveaway at the Cathedral Basilica of the Immaculate Conception in Denver, Colorado. Herman said, “I’m having a rough time trying to find a job, this is great.” More than 1,000 people, some of them homeless, all of them struggling, circled a Capitol Hill block Friday morning, waiting in the gray, freezing cold so they could pocket $20 in an annual Christmas event started by the late Monsignor Charles B. Woodrich. By Craig F. Walker/The Denver Post/Getty.
Walking with the Wounded team member Duncan Slater is embraced by his daughter Lilly on his return to London Heathrow on December 23, 2013. The South Pole allied expedition comprised of three international teams made up of wounded servicemen and women from the UK, the US and the Commonwealth (Australia and Canada) trekking across 335km of the Antarctic Plateau to reach the South Pole in 16 days. By Dan Kitwood/Getty Images
A man wearing a pagan mask poses for a photograph as druids, pagans and revelers gather, hoping to see the sun rise as they take part in a winter solstice ceremony at Stonehenge yesterday, December 21, 2013. Despite the rain and wind, a large crowd gathered at the famous historic stone circle to celebrate the sunrise closest to the Winter Solstice, the shortest day of the year – an event claimed to be more important in the pagan calendar than the summer solstice, because it marks the ‘re-birth’ of the Sun for the New Year. By Matt Cardy/Getty.
David Rosenberg captions:
At the end of 2012, photographer Ernest Goh collaborated with the Canadian charitable organization, Veterinarians Without Borders (VWB) on a project to vaccinate dogs and cats (and one monkey) against rabies. Goh traveled with VWB to roughly two to three villages daily in rural Laos to document the process that invited pet owners to receive the rabies vaccination free of charge. After the vaccination process, Goh invited the owners to pose for a portrait with their pets. From the images, he created a series titled simply “Pet Owners of Laos.”
(Photo by Ernest Goh. See more of his work here and here.)
The Dish 