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.
GETTING behind the camera, this monkey practices his photography skills on his friends .
BEHIND the doors of this building, with its stacks of mattresses and discarded remains of wheelchairs, lies another victim of austerity cuts .
A floating market in Indonesia is bursting with vibrant colours as wooden rowing boats loaded with fruit and vegetables crowd the river .
If you had to scrape the snow off your car this morning or slip-slide your way into work over icy pavements spare a thought for these little critters .
A quiet Himalayan mountain village springs to life for a colourful Buddhist festival designed to expel evil spirits and bring happiness .
Raising his arms above his head and lying flat on his back, a polar bear stretches as he sprawls out across the ice .
An intrepid explorer hopes to be reunited with his travel partner, after his cuddly toy companion was stolen .
A group of shelter dogs showcase their loveable personalities in a series of passport-style photographs - in the hope of finding their forever homes .
Lying angelically with a range of expressions etched on their tiny faces, little bundles of joy are innocently captured in their first few days in these adorable photographs .
THIS is the fascinating abandoned house, complete with mystery portraits and homely items, that has been dubbed - crooked cottage .
A lazy otter finds the ideal spot to soak up the sun and sleep off his lunch .
A pair of adorable polar bear cubs play-fight with each other in the Alaskan snow .