People try to keep warm their hands by a heater as they wait for their seats outside a restaurant at an outdoor shopping mall in Beijing, Saturday, December 23, 2023. A cold wave began earlier in the week bringing extensive snowfall and freezing temperatures across China. (Photo by Andy Wong/AP Photo)

“Red Land: Sunset Cloud Village is one of the most picturesque places in Red Land, China. As its name indicates, it's best to see before sunset. The reddish brown soil turns redder after rainfall and after farmers plow the land”. (Photo and comment by Peng Jiang/National Geographic Photo Contest via The Atlantic)

Women take a selfie next to a police officer as they take part in New Year's Eve celebrations in the Bund, in Shanghai, China December 31, 2016. (Photo by Aly Song/Reuters)

The wreckage of a van is overgrown by plants in Simacem village in North Sumatra, Indonesia, November 16, 2015. The village was abandoned following the eruption of Mount Sinabung as it was considered too close to the still rumbling volcano. (Photo by Binsar Bakkara/AP Photo)

Nurse's Home, North Brother Island, New York. Photographer Christopher Payne specializes in the documentation of America’s vanishing architecture and industrial landscape. His new book, North Brother Island: The Last Unknown Place in New York City, explores an uninhabited island of ruins in the East River of New York City. (Photo by Christopher Payne)

A municipal worker sits on a bench, next to a statue, in Nizhny Novgorod, Russia, during the 2018 soccer World Cup, Thursday, June 28, 2018. Nizhny Novgorod was a “closed city” during the Soviet era. It was known as Gorky until 1990 and it was here that dissident scientist Andrei Sakharov was held under house arrest. Now the city hosts six World Cup matches and is teeming with tourists. That was unthinkable in the Soviet era and even rare now in a city that is seldom visited by outsiders. (Photo by Vadim Ghirda/AP Photo)

“Touring the Koko-en Gardens adjacent to the Himeji castle was an unexpected highlight of our visit”, wrote Jeff Solar, 64, of Silver Spring, Md., about his trip to Japan. “The fall colors were outstanding and the gardens were both amazing and a bargain (just a few Yen added to the cost of the Himeji Castle admission)”. (Photo by Jeff Solar/2017 Washington Post Travel Photo Contest)

An actor portraying Jesus Christ takes part in the interactive street-theatre Passion play “Il-Mixja” (The Way), one of a series of Holy Week activities in the run-up to Easter, in the grounds of Mount Carmel Mental Hospital in Attard, outside Valletta, Malta, March 22, 2016. (Photo by Darrin Zammit Lupi/Reuters)