WITH their robotic movements and pristine uniforms, these are the sexy traffic girls of North Korea that are becoming iconic figures in the secretive state. Instead of using traffic lights to control the stop and go flow of the cross-roads, attractive women dressed in perfectly crisps and identical outfits dangerously stand along in the middle of the road on a small platform. Displaying riveting focus, they are only allowed to turn counter-clockwise, directing traffic with forceful and halting movements. They have been the subject of photographic study for many years but French photographer Eric Lafforgue, 49, captured these moments during six trips to the Marxist country.
FROM motorcycling to department store shopping these spookily faceless people are part of the Chinese-fad for wearing protective solar-visors in public .
SHOVELLING food into his mouth, this hungry gorilla enjoys a peaceful moment at dinner time .
Raising his arms above his head and lying flat on his back, a polar bear stretches as he sprawls out across the ice .
HUNDREDS of colour coordinated yarns lie abandoned in this once thriving textile mill .
NEW DELHI, A woman activist of India's main opposition Bharatiya Janata Party crosses a police barricade near the residence of ruling Congress party chief Sonia Gandhi during a protest against the recent rape of a five-year-old girl in New Delhi, India, April 21, 2013 .
AN ANGRY giraffe gave a bush-riding cyclist a scare when he stomped his £2K bike into the dirt .
SAILING peacefully across a river in the early morning light, a fisherman in China keeps a 1000 year old tradition alive .
A diver explores the crystal clear waters of the Silfra canyon in southern Iceland, which is the only place on Earth where you can dive or snorkel between two continental plates .
STRETCHING his little legs in the air, a smiley leaf-tailed gecko breaks free from his old, scaly skin .
A little caterpillar fearlessly scampers down a branch and confronts a praying mantis .
An Australian explorer has travelled the globe with a toy pig, known as Travel Piggy, in search of a missing cuddly companion .
CONTRASTING settings reveal some of England’s most beautiful landscapes in all their glory .