Sebastião Salgado is a Brazilian documentary photographer living in Paris. He has produced several books, and his work has been exhibited extensively around the world. His latest work, «Genesis», premieres at The Natural History Museum in London on April 11, on view through September 8, 2013. Photo: On South Georgia, a barren island in the far South Atlantic, a pair of southern elephant seal calves beckon before a colony of king penguins. “The male seals can grow to almost five tons,” says Salgado, “but these are just babies. This one looked at me with beautiful eyes”. (Photo by Sebastião Salgado/Amazonas/Contact Press Images)

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)

“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)

Fireworks light the morning sky March 6, 2012 as the Disney Fantasy, the newest Disney Cruise Line ship, arrives in her home port of Port Canaveral, Florida after traveling nearly 4,700 miles across the Atlantic Ocean from Bremerhaven, Germany. The 4,000-passenger Disney Fantasy will welcome guests on her maiden voyage on March 31, 2012, sailing seven-night cruises to the Caribbean and Disney's private island Castaway Cay, from Port Canaveral. (Photo by Todd Anderson/Disney Parks via Getty Images)

Senior hurricane forecaster Dr. Jack Beven studies computer models as he tracks Tropical Storm Arlene at the National Hurricane Center on June 29, 2011 in Miami, Florida. Arlene is the first named storm of the 2011 Atlantic hurricane season and is moving at 8 mph, packing sustained winds of 50 mph as it heads towards the east-central coast of Mexico. (Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images)

“A huge wasp measuring 2.5 inches in length, visiting the banana tree in my front yard”. (Photo and comment by John Matzick, USA/2013 Sony World Photography Awards via The Atlantic)

Reuters photographer Carlos Barria recently spent time in Shanghai, China, the fastest-growing city in the world. A week ago, he took this amazing shot, recreating the same framing and perspective as a photograph taken in 1987, showing what a difference 26 years can make. (Photo by Carlos Barria/Reuters/Stringer via The Atlantic)

Brandy Shelton of Greensboro, North Carolina, “twerks” for a group of bikers on Ocean Boulevard during the 2015 Atlantic Beach Memorial Day BikeFest in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina May 22, 2015. After three people were killed and seven wounded in shootings during 2014 Bikefest, State officials called for an end to the event that draws thousands to the family-friendly beach town.Their efforts were unsuccessful. Bikers returned to Myrtle Beach – just a week after a bloody motorcycle gang shootout in Waco, Texas. But this time authorities are more prepared, with dozens of new surveillance cameras and a police force three times the size of last year's. (Photo by Randall Hill/Reuters)