US President Joe Biden departs the White House for California, where he will review damage from recent flooding, in Washington, DC, USA, 19 January 2023. (Photo by Jim Lo Scalzo/EPA/EFE)

Iranian chess player Sara Khadem competes, without wearing a hijab, in FIDE World Rapid and Blitz Chess Championships in Almaty, Kazakhstan December 26, 2022, in this picture obtained by Reuters on December 27, 2022. (Photo by Lennart Ootes/FIDE/via Reuters)

Belarus' Aryna Sabalenka in action against Karolina Muchova at Roland Garros Grand Slam Tournament – Day 12 on June 08, 2023 in Paris, France. (Photo by Lisi Niesner/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)

Groom Praem Pam Srichamnan and his bride Suriya Utai jump into a pond during a wedding ceremony ahead of Valentine's Day in Prachin Buri province, east of Bangkok February 13, 2014. Three Thai couples took part in the wedding ceremony arranged by a resort aimed to strengthen the relationships of the couples by doing fun activities. (Photo by Damir Sagolj/Reuters)

Saint Nicholas poses with students during a traditional parade in central Brussels, Belgium December 3, 2016. (Photo by Yves Herman/Reuters)

Period-costumed actors participate in the 150th anniversary re-enactment of the surrender of General Robert E. Lee to General Ulysses S. Grant at the Museum of Confederacy in Appomattox, Virginia, April 9, 2015. (Photo by Jay Paul/Reuters)

In this Friday, February 6, 2015 photo, sandhill cranes begin to stir after resting for the night at a roosting location along their winter migration route in Cecilia, Ky. According to counts made by biologists with the Kentucky Fish and Wildlife Resources, about 12,000 of the birds have stopped in Cecilia this week during their winter northward migration on their way to their nesting grounds in the Great Lakes region. (Photo by David Stephenson/AP Photo)