With a presence in nearly every city and town across Iran, the paramilitary Basij volunteer corps has an ever-increasing influence on life in the Islamic Republic. Authorities created the Basij, which means mobilization in Persian, just after the country's 1979 Islamic Republic. It is part of Iran's powerful Revolutionary Guard. Photo: In this Thursday, August 22, 2013 photo, a female member of the Basij paramilitary militia aims a rifle as a trainer looks over her shoulder in Tehran, Iran. (Photo by Ebrahim Noroozi/AP Photo)

Krystian Herba, a Polish extreme cyclist jumps up the steps of Eureka Tower on a bicycle as he breaks a Guinness World Record at Eureka Tower on February 4, 2014 in Melbourne, Australia. Herba jumped up 2,919 steps on his bicycle in 1 hour 45 minutes without supporting himself with his hands or feet to break his own Guinness World Record. (Photo by Scott Barbour/Getty Images)

A visitor takes photos while attending the Dandenong Festival of Lights in the suburb of Dandenong in Melbourne, Australia, September 23, 2015. The month-long festival, set up by the Chinese Cultural Works Light Spectacular, celebrates Chinese culture through a display of hundreds of beautiful and unique silk light displays, according to the event's website. (Photo by Darrin Zammit Lupi/Reuters)

Dogs of a visitor pass by the grave of Marquise and Tony, the two small dogs of the Princess Lobanoff de Rostoff at the cimetiere des chiens (Cemetery of dogs) ahead of the commemoration of All Saints Day at the Montmartre cemetery in Asnieres, northern Paris, France, October 30, 2016. (Photo by Charles Platiau/Reuters)

An artist airbrushes a model during the “World Bodypainting Festival 2017” in Klagenfurt, Austria on July 28, 2017. (Photo by Leonhard Foeger/Reuters)

For the Torajan people of Indonesia, death is part of a spiritual journey: families keep the mummified remains of their deceased relatives in their homes for years – and traditionally invite them to join for lunch on a daily basis – before they are eventually buried. Here: Todeng died in 2009. A young relative of his, Sam, lights him a cigarette and changes his glasses. (Photo by Claudio Sieber Photography/The Guardian)

A selection of winning images from the Life in Another Light photo contest 2020, from Kolari Vision. Here: Lights and Shadows in the Dolomites, in the landscape infrared category. (Photo by Tomasz Grzyb/Kolari Vision)

A model poses backstage during the International Flamenco Fashion Show in Seville, Spain, on February 2, 2013. (Photo by Associated Press/Miguel Angel Morenatti)