This picture taken in late December 2022 and released from North Korea's official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) on January 2, 2023 shows North Korea's leader Kim Jong Un meeting with representatives who participated in the 9th meeting of the Korean Boy Scouts during a commemorative photo session in Pyongyang. (Photo by KCNA via KNS/AFP Photo)

People attend the New Year's eve gala of youth and students at Kim Il Sung Square in Pyongyang, North Korea Sunday, December 31, 2023. (Photo by Jon Chol Jin/AP Photo)

A man inspects a plastic cover placed over an artwork attributed to Banksy on May 17, 2012 in London, England. The stencilled image depicts a poor child making Union Jack flags on a sewing machine and is located on the wall of a Poundland discount shop in the Wood Green area of north London. (Photo by Peter Macdiarmid)

North Korea has closed its borders in fear of the spread of the Ebola virus. But at a time when the secretive state was still welcoming tourists, former aid worker Andrew Macleod made the journey to the repressive nation. Andrew's holiday snaps and camera footage provide a unique insight into the reclusive country, where he came across deserted motorways, metro stations plastered with propaganda and attractive border guards. Here: a female traffic police officer in the snow in February 2013, in Pyongyang, North Korea. (Photo by Andrew Macleod/Barcroft Media)

Dargavs is a small necropolis outside the village of Dargavs in North Ossetia-Alania. It comprises 99 different tombs and crypts. It is often called city of the dead. Some sources say the oldest of the crypts dates back to the 12th century, though others say the oldest crypt dates back to 14th century and some say it dates to the 16th century. At the back of the complex there is a tower, though the top of it is destroyed.

Jeff and Kelly Lyons clear the first obstacle while competing in the North American Wife Carrying Championship at Sunday River ski resort in Newry, Maine October 11, 2014. (Photo by Brian Snyder/Reuters)

A North Korean war veteran is decorated with medals as he attends a parade to celebrate the anniversary of the Korean War armistice agreement, Sunday, July 27, 2014 in Pyongyang, North Korea. North Koreans gathered at Kim Il Sung Square as part of celebrations for the 61st anniversary of the armistice that ended the Korean War. (Photo by Wong Maye-E/AP Photo)

Ed Freeman was born and raised in Boston and majored in French and Russian at Oberlin College in Ohio. After college, he worked as a performing musician, arranger and record producer, creating dozens of pop and jazz vinyls, including Carly Simon’s debut album and Don McLean’s American Pie. Ed Freeman in 1990 and have watched him grow as an artist and a teacher. For the past eight years, Ed has been teaching a Photoshop class at Santa Monica City College and currently has large pieces of his work, Desert Realty, featured in a traveling museum.