Women take photos on Lake Salt, which is on the UNESCO World Heritage Tentative List, during the sunset in Ankara, Turkiye on July 3, 2023. Lake Salt, which is one of the important wetlands of Turkiye and is of great importance for the protection of biological diversity in our country, also attracts the attention of visitors. (Photo by Aytac Unal/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)

China's Qinwen Zheng celebrates with fans after winning their second round match against Britain's Katie Boulter at the Australian Open in Melbourne on January 18, 2024. (Photo by Edgar Su/Reuters)

Andrea Spendolini Sirieix and Lois Toulson of Britain in action during the women's synchronized 10m diving at the Paris Olympics on July 31, 2024. (Photo by Leah Millis/Reuters)

A woman rides a mechanical bull while tailgating before a college football game between the Arizona Wildcats and West Virginia Mountaineers at the University of Arizona in Tucson, Arizona on October 26, 2024. (Photo by Ernesto Benavides/AFP Photo)

A Brazilian drug gang member nicknamed Pilintra, 26, poses with a gun atop a hill overlooking a slum in Salvador, Bahia State, April 11, 2013. One of Brazil's main tourist destinations and a 2014 World Cup host city, Salvador suffers from an unprecedented wave of violence with an increase of over 250% in the murder rate, according to the Brazilian Center for Latin American Studies (CEBELA). (Photo by Lunae Parracho/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)

In this June 1, 2016 photo, Maria Arias stands near her kitchen as she puts on earrings while getting ready for school in Caracas, Venezuela. So many students have fainted from hunger at Maria's school that administrators told parents to keep their children home until they could find more food. (Photo by Ariana Cubillos/AP Photo)