Asya Seker of NSW competes in the Rhythmic Gymnastics during the 2024 Australian Gymnastics Championships at Gold Coast Sports and Leisure Centre on May 20, 2024 in Gold Coast, Australia. (Photo by Matt Roberts/Getty Images)

A woman is soaked as she runs down the street as revellers take part in a water fight on Khao San road on the eve of Thai New Year, locally known as Songkran, in Bangkok on April 12, 2023. (Photo by Jack Taylor/AFP Photo)

A Just Stop Oil demonstrator throws orange confetti on court 18 as he disrupts the women's singles tennis match between Australia's Daria Saville and Britain's Katie Boulter on the third day of the 2023 Wimbledon Championships at The All England Tennis Club in Wimbledon, southwest London, on July 5, 2023. (Photo by Glyn Kirk/AFP Photo)

People travel by tube on the London Underground to take part in the Pride in London parade, London, Saturday, July 1, 2023. (Photo by Jordan Pettitt/PA Wire via AP Photo)

A diver dressed in a Santa Claus costume swims at the Lotte World Aquarium in Seoul, South Korea, Monday, December 23, 2024. (Photo by Ahn Young-joon/AP Photo)

Blossoms and dust are blown by the wind as Jasmin Ricks, left, and her sister, Jessica Ricks, center, take in the cherry blossoms near the Tidal Basin in Washington on April 12, 2018. (Photo by Matt McClain/The Washington Post)

A cosplayer poses for a photograph during the Tokyo Rainbow Pride Parade on May 6, 2018 in Tokyo, Japan. The LGBT community and supporters marched down Shibuya and Harajuku areas on the final day of the Tokyo Rainbow Pride 2018 event. (Photo by Tomohiro Ohsumi/Getty Images)

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)