Members of the O’Neill and Gallagher families from Sydney, Australia take to the water at the 40 Foot for a Christmas Day Swim in Ireland on December 25, 2022. (Photo by Alan Betson/The Irish Times)

Handlers control the giant puppet MOCCO during a special training session in Takamori, Nagano prefecture, Friday, April 23, 2021. Tokyo 2020 organizers created about 10 meter-tall puppet to symbolize the spirit of the people from the regions affected by the 2011 earthquake and tsunami. The puppet will travel from Tohoku to Tokyo in May to be in place for the games scheduled to open in July. (Photo by Koji Ueda/AP Photo)

A villager offers prayer to a dead body of an elephant, which is killed by lightning at atop of Bamuni hill in Assam's Nagaon district, on May 14, 2021. 18 wild elephants were found dead atop Bamuni Hills in Assam's Nagaon district today after lightning struck them during the showers in the area on May 12, 2021. At least 18 elephants are suspected to have been killed by lightning in northeastern India, officials said on May 13 as they launched a probe into the incident. (Photo by Biju Boro/AFP Photo)

(L-R) Ruby Zinner, 21, Caroline Reinstadler, 22, Marie Kallis, 22, and Julia Bogdanoff, 21, wearing graduation caps and gowns drink champagne while taking graduation photos in Washington Square Park amid the Coronavirus pandemic on May 09, 2021 in New York City. Due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic NYU's commencement ceremony will be held virtually on May 19th. Students from the 2021 will be invited back for an in person graduation when public health guidelines allow. (Photo by Alexi Rosenfeld/Getty Images)

Commuters wear protective face masks as they walk through a subway station, in Sao Paulo, Brazil, Wednesday, December 1, 2021, amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Brazil joined the widening circle of countries to report cases of the omicron variant. (Photo by Andre Penner/AP Photo)

A boy holds a green sea turtle hatchling before releasing it at Pekan Bada beach on the outskirts of Banda Aceh on March 14, 2023. (Photo by Chaideer Mahyuddin/AFP Photo)

Heartlyn Rae duo (Alexis Driscoll and Julia Frys) poses for a picture in Barbie's Space Center during the World of Barbie immersive experience preview in Santa Monica, California, U.S., April 12, 2023. (Photo by Mario Anzuoni/Reuters)

Nine years ago, Tom Carter traveled from San Francisco to China, responding to a job posting that turned out to be a scam. He managed to find another job as a teacher, and saved enough money to embark on a 56,000 km trip through all of China's 33 provinces that lasted two years. Carrying a camera – just a a 4-megapixel point-and-shoot – Carter captured some amazing images of the widely varying landscape, people, and architecture across the nation. Photo: Buddhist pilgrim family from Sichuan. (Photo by Tom Carter via The Atlantic)