Recent Posts

Most Used Categories

Author: Pierre-Louis Ferrer

The Savannah Bananas Take Banana Ball On Tour (24 photos)

by Pierre-Louis Ferrer

Grayson Stadium in Savannah, Georgia, is home to a unique exhibition baseball team called the Savannah Bananas. The Bananas were formed in 2016, and soon developed their own variation on standard baseball rules, calling it “Banana Ball,” with an eye toward making the game more fast-paced, entertaining, and fun. Games include dance routines, trick catches, costumed players, fan-participation events, and much more. The Savannah Bananas are currently in the middle of their first “Banana World Tour,” bringing the Banana Ball experience to fans in dozens of cities.


A baseball player wearing stilts pitches from a mound during a baseball game.
Dakota “Stilts” Albritton of the Savannah Bananas pitches against the Party Animals at Grayson Stadium in Savannah, Georgia, on May 11, 2023. Albritton plays the field, bats, and pitches all while wearing the stilts.

(
Al Bello / Getty)

Photos of the Week: Bull Vault, Buddha Wash, Bass Guitar (35 photos)

by Pierre-Louis Ferrer

A diving championship in England, Darth Vader on trial in Chile, Manhattanhenge in New York City, dune climbing in China, a graduation ceremony at West Point, a live-fire military exercise in Japan, dangerous drought conditions in India, ongoing floods in northern Italy, and much more


Police officers struggle to pull protesters away from each other.
Indian wrestler Vinesh Phogat (center), with others, is detained by police while attempting to march to India’s new parliament, as it was being inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, during a protest against Brij Bhushan Singh, the wrestling federation chief, over allegations of sexual harassment and intimidation, in New Delhi, on May 28, 2023.

(
Arun Thakur / AFP / Getty)

The 2023 Cooper’s Hill Cheese-Rolling Race (15 photos)

by Pierre-Louis Ferrer

On Monday, on a farm near Gloucester, England, crowds gathered once again for the annual Cooper’s Hill Cheese-Rolling and Wake, continuing a tradition that dates back at least 200 years. Participants chase a 9-pound wheel of Double Gloucester cheese down an extremely steep and uneven hill—with no police or paramedics on site this year. The winner of the race gets to take home the cheese.


About eight men are seeing tumbling and trying to run down a very steep hill.
Participants compete in the men’s downhill race during the Cheese Rolling contest at Cooper’s Hill in Brockworth, Gloucestershire, England, on May 29, 2023.

(
Kin Cheung / AP)

Photos of the Week: Double Ducks, Thirsty Monkey, Island Cathedral (35 photos)

by Pierre-Louis Ferrer

The Chelsea Flower Show in England, a scarecrow fair in Italy, a mountain bike race in Bolivia, a volcanic eruption in Indonesia, the Cannes Film Festival in France, severe drought in Spain, flooding in Italy, a lantern festival in South Korea, kitesurfing in the Netherlands, and much more


A person uses a virtual reality headset in front of a large mural of two owls.
A visitor uses a virtual reality headset in front of large nature photos as they visit the exhibition “The Fragile Paradise” at the Gasometer in Oberhausen, Germany, on May 23, 2023.

(
Martin Meissner / AP)

Photos: Ukraine’s Battlefield Drones (23 photos)

by Pierre-Louis Ferrer

More than 450 days since the start of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the value of Ukraine’s fleet of small battlefield drones is still growing. Both soldiers and civilians are being trained to pilot and maintain many kinds of purpose-built and modified commercial drones. These small quadcopters help to fill a gap between larger military drones and soldiers in the field. They are being used as reconnaissance platforms, as aid for artillery strikes, and as “loitering munitions” or “kamikaze drones,” waiting to drop grenades on enemy positions or flying explosives directly into targets. Russian forces are also using similar devices, driving each side to build up anti-drone technologies as well.


A soldier carries a drone on their shoulder while walking on a snow-covered road.
A Ukrainian soldier carries a drone close to the frontline near Avdiivka, Donetsk region, Ukraine, on February 17, 2023.

(
Libkos / AP)

Extreme Weather Brings Deadly Flooding to Northern Italy (23 photos)

by Pierre-Louis Ferrer

Exceptionally heavy rainfall in northern Italy’s Emilia-Romagna region last week led to a series of floods and landslides that have killed at least 15 people and forced more than 40,000 from their homes. Rescue work continued over the weekend, but cleanup efforts have just begun as residents, government workers, and volunteers clear out mud and recover what can be salvaged.


Several rescue workers paddle an inflatable boat, carrying civilians through a flooded street.
Rescuers evacuate residents on a flooded street in the town of Lugo, Italy, after heavy rains caused flooding across Italy’s northern Emilia-Romagna region, on May 18, 2023.

(
Andreas Solaro / AFP / Getty)

Photos of the Week: Folly Field, Falcon Box, Fountain Fun (35 photos)

by Pierre-Louis Ferrer

A breakdance championship in Morocco, rally racing in Portugal, a deadly cyclone in Myanmar, widespread flooding in Italy, pro wrestling in Japan, cattle grazing outside the Reichstag, an obelisk of plastic bags in Argentina, a fashion show in Australia, and much more


Two firefighters stand on top of a truck, looking toward a sky filled with smoke from a nearby forest fire.
Firefighters stand on a Kamloops Fire Rescue truck at a wildfire near Fort St. John, British Columbia, Canada, on May 14, 2023.

(
Kamloops Fire Rescue / Reuters)

<em>Sepak Takraw</em>, a Sport of Airborne Athleticism (18 photos)

by Pierre-Louis Ferrer

This year’s Southeast Asian Games are coming to a close today in Cambodia. One of the sports featured in the games is sepak takraw, also called chinlone or “kick volleyball.” It’s a team sport where players volley a small woven ball over a five-foot-high (1.52-meter-high) net using any body part except for their arms and hands. Players leap high into the air, launching themselves sideways or flipping upside down to kick, pass, or block the ball, their body repeatedly flying up and crashing back to the court. Gathered below are recent images of people playing sepak takraw in both stadiums and outdoor courts.


Two athletes leap high in the air to kick a small ball over a net.
Malaysia’s Muhammad Hafizul Adnan (right) vies for the ball with Cambodia’s Phom Kongkia during their men’s sepak takraw team regu match at the 32nd Southeast Asian Games in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, on May 12, 2023.

(
Nhac Nguyen / AFP / Getty)

50 Years Ago: The Launch of Skylab (22 photos)

by Pierre-Louis Ferrer

Yesterday, May 14, marked the 50th anniversary of the launch of America’s first space station, Skylab, which took off from Florida’s Kennedy Space Center on May 14, 1973. The components of Skylab were put into orbit over two missions, lifted into space by Saturn V launch vehicles. Three crewed missions spent a total of 171 days aboard Skylab, running hundreds of experiments. The final crew departed in 1974, and Skylab was left in a parking orbit that decayed faster than originally anticipated—leading to global news stories in 1979, when NASA announced the station’s imminent reentry but could not say for certain where it might land. On July 11, 1979, NASA engineers fired Skylab’s booster rockets, aiming for the Indian Ocean with partial success, but a number of large chunks did make landfall in Western Australia.


A spacecraft, shaped like a long cylinder with several outstretched solar panels, is seen above clouds, orbiting the Earth.
An overhead view of the Skylab Orbital Workshop in Earth orbit, as photographed from the Skylab 4 Command and Service Modules during the final fly-around before returning home, on February 8, 1974

(
NASA)

Photos of the Week: Jumbled Forest, Old Tree, Koala Perch (35 photos)

by Pierre-Louis Ferrer

A skateboarding dog in Bangkok, a drone and light show in central Australia, the Southeast Asian Games in Cambodia, performances from Eurovision 2023 in England, a bridge demolition in Germany, war-damaged buildings in Ukraine, scenes from the Coronation in England, and much more


A person competes in a martial arts event.
Mitz Jude Jalandoni of the Philippines competes in the women’s Kun Bokator singles Phkak final event during the 32nd Southeast Asian Games in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, on May 8, 2023.

(
Tang Chhin Sothy / AFP / Getty)