A starling jealously guards a seed station in the back garden of the photographer’s Michigan home in January 2024. (Photo by Lisa Cavanary/Solent News)

Participants take part in a parade in traditional attire to celebrate Tamu Lhosar, a New Year festival of the Gurung community in Kathmandu, Nepal on December 30, 2024. (Photo by Navesh Chitrakar/Reuters)

Festival crowd enjoying the weather on Day 1 of Reading Festival on August 25, 2017 in Reading, England. (Photo by Dean Fardell/Barcroft Images)

A model presents a creation by designer Alexis Mabille as part of his Haute Couture Spring/Summer 2020 collection show in Paris, France, January 21, 2020. (Photo by Francois Lenoir/Reuters)

A kingfisher dives into the leafy water of the River Alde near Rendham, Suffolk in the second decade of November 2022 and catches two fish. Kingfishers must be able to see the fish they want to catch before making their dive, so for this bird to be successful when leaves covered the surface of the water shows its true skill for survival. (Photo by Ivor Ottley/Animal News Agency)

Adrian Reyes, representing Canada, prepares backstage before competing in the Miss International Queen pageant on June 24, 2023 in Pattaya, Thailand. Thailand hosts Miss International Queen, the largest and most prestigious international transgender beauty pageant. The pageant, held annually in Pattaya, Thailand is held takes place during Pride month. Throughout Thailand, Thai LGBTQ activists have held Pride events calling for equality and pressuring the incoming government to move forward with legislation that would allow marriage for all. (Photo by Lauren DeCicca/Getty Images)

Deaf and hard of hearing people perform a Buddhist Guanyin Thousand Hand dance to mark Sunday's National Day for Helping the Disabled in Yunnan, Kunming province, China on May 19, 2018. (Photo by Wong Campion/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)