A dog jumps into the air to catch a ball along the beach near the County Kerry village of Rossbeigh, Ireland, February 4, 2018. (Photo by Clodagh Kilcoyne/Reuters)

Travel photographer Amos Chapple recently crossed into Turkmenistan on a three-day transit visa and was able to photograph many of the sights and monuments in Ashgabat, the capital and largest city. Turkmenistan is a single-party country, a former Soviet state, run by a president at the center of a cult of personality.

Photo: A young couple leave the Alem Entertainment Center in Ashgabat. The current president has a history of breaking obscure records. In 2012 the wheel atop this complex was entered into the Guinness Book of World Records as the world's largest enclosed Ferris wheel. The structure was built at a cost of $90m. (Photo by Amos Chapple via The Atlantic)

People caress a horse during the traditional “El Tope” end-of-year parade in San Jose on December 26, 2023. Cowboy hats and boots, in the purest “wild west” style, flooded the streets of downtown San José to proudly display the horse culture in Costa Rica. (Photo by Ezequiel Becerra/AFP Photo)

A devotee sits with lighted oil lamps while offering prayers during the “Dashain”, Hinduism's biggest religious festival in Bhaktapur October 3, 2014. Hindus in Nepal celebrate victory over evil during the festival by flying kites, feasting, playing swings, sacrificing animals and worshipping the Goddess Durga as well as other gods and goddess as part of celebrations held throughout the country. (Photo by Navesh Chitrakar/Reuters)

People jump over the fire wearing traditional Russian village-style clothes as they celebrate the summer solstice with a bonfire in the village of Okunevo, about 200 kilometers (125 miles) northeast of the Siberian city of Omsk, Russia, in Okunevo, Russia, late Thursday, June 20, 2024. (Photo by Evgeniy Sofiychuk/AP Photo)

Women stand on the “martyrs' bridge” spanning the Tigris River in Baghdad, Iraq, Friday, February 24, 2023. (Photo by Jerome Delay/AP Photo)

A picture made available on 13 May 2016 shows A Tiwa girl performing her traditional dance as they celebrated the Wanchuwa festival in Karbi Anglong District of Assam state, India, 11 May 2016. Wanchuwa is one of the most important festivals of the Tiwa tribal community living in the hills as it is related with agriculture which is the mainstay of their economy. Tiwas pray for a bountiful harvest during this festival and to protect their crops from pest and other natural calamities. Tiwa is a major tribe of Assam state who practice Jhum or shifting cultivation for their living in the hills. (Photo by EPA/Stringer)

The two Pulis Quastie and Gin-Gin run in the snow in their garden in Lautertal, southern Germany, Thursday, January 5, 2017. (Photo by Michael Probst/AP Photo)