Pinning a purple flower into her bleach blonde hair, pretty Ava admired herself in the mirror. She had every reason to be proud. In the space of a year, she had lost an incredible 17 stone. Her weight dropped from 37st 1lbs to 19st 7lbs, and she slipped into a dress before gazing at her newly svelte figure. With her smokey eye makeup and black skater dress, she could have been glamming up for a night on the tiles with her girlfriends. Instead, it was Halloween, 2013, and Ava was hiding a huge secret. Born a boy named William, it was the first time she had ever dressed as a girl – and everything fell into place.
This frozen lighthouse in Michigan could easily be mistaken for a still from the snow swept disaster movie The Day After Tomorrow .
WITH his spiked ears and yellow and blue body, a colourful monkey bears an uncanny resemblance to Marvel Comics’ Wolverine .
SURROUNDED by divers, a hungry green sea turtle enjoys being the centre of attention .
Beautiful turquoise waves rise and fall in a series of stunning images taken along the coastline of south-eastern Australia .
A soap bubble lands on the frosty ground and creates a shimmering snow globe as crystals form around it .
IN a galaxy not so far away lies a magical display of lights that could be the latest image from NASA .
PERCHING on top of a gate, this young barn swallow waits patiently for his mum to return with dinner .
These photographs of extreme weather capture storms furiously rolling across the sky above America .
Scurrying along the branch of a tree, a little squirrel pushes a pram packed full of Easter treats .
A BROWN bear wades through waters in Alaska and waits for his lunch .
A hypnotherapist filmed himself sexually abusing a 19-year-old patient while she was in a trance-like state .
A KITTEN'S teaparty and rat's playing dominoes are the bizarre creations by one of Britain's great eccentrics pictured in an incredible new book .