Our creative designer Mark Lukas picks his favourite pictures from the past year.
It’s been a year like no other. With the world changing from day to day, news from this year tells quite the story. Just as journalism holds up a mirror to the world, photojournalism holds up a lens, recording moments of hope, beauty, compassion, turmoil, happiness and anger in a way that words can’t always capture.
We started our ‘Picture of the day’ feature back in March, still blissfully unaware of the tumultuous year ahead, so while we don’t have a complete year of photos, this year has given us more than enough impactful images to choose from.
Go Home Idiots
March 2020
Captured in The Times. “Campervans at Glencoe, as Scottish ministers criticised those travelling to the Highlands to avoid the virus. People in Wales took matters into their own hands.”
Credit: Paul Ellis/AFP
Quarantine
April 2020
Captured in The Guardian. “Unai Beroiz, a journalist, visits his grandfather, Miguel, 90, near Pamplona, in the fourth week of the lockdown. Spain has seen more than 13,000 Covid-19 deaths – largely in those over the age of 80.”
Credit: Unai Beroiz
One Small Snap for Man
May 2020
Captured in The Daily Express and The Daily Telegraph. “This composite picture of the Moon, made up from thousands of pictures of different Moon phases, was created by Andrew McCarthy, a Californian astrophotographer. He aimed to capture every detail of its craters.”
Credit: Andrew McCarthy/SWNS.com
Colonel Tom Moore
April 2020
Captured in The Daily Telegraph. “Capt Tom Moore holds the Yorkshire Regiment medal before his 100th birthday celebrations today, in recognition of his fundraising efforts to support the NHS. He has raised around £29 million to date.”
Credit: Cpl Robert Weideman/MOD
Blackout Tuesday
June 2020
Captured in The Times. “The White House took the unusual step of dimming its lights as unrest spread across American cities in response to the death of George Floyd.”
Credit: Jonathan Ernst/Reuters
AmeriKaren
June 2020
Captured in The Guardian. “St Louis, Missouri. A couple draw their guns as a protest against the city’s mayor, Lyda Krewson, passes their home in Central West End.”
Credit: Lawrence Bryant/Reuters
Making a splash
July 2020
Captured in The Daily Telegraph. “A helicopter makes a water drop on a wildfire in the US near Evergreen, Colorado. Cooler weather and rain have settled into the region, giving firefighters hope they can contain the blaze which has yet to cause injury or destroy structures but has forced 1,000 people to flee their homes.”
Credit: RJ Sangosti/The Denver Post via AP
Vertical forest
September 2020
Captured in The Guardian. “The Qiyi City Forest Garden complex was designed to be an ‘eco-paradise’ for its residents, with a garden balcony for each flat. However, few families have moved in after the plants attracted an infestation of mosquitoes and its eight towers have now been overrun by greenery.”
Credit: Sunling/EPA
Lake Inle, Myanmar
September 2020
Captured in The Guardian. “A fisherman and his family retrieve small baskets used to trap fish in the shallow waters of a mangrove forest.”
Credit: Zar Yar Lin/Solent
Trump troops
November 2020
Captured in The Guardian. “Supporters of Donald Trump watch the president on a giant screen in the key battleground state of Michigan.”
Credit: Nicole Hester/AP
Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow
December 2020
Captured in The Daily Telegraph. “A train passes over the snow-covered Ribblehead Viaduct in North Yorkshire. Highways England gritting lorries are on standby as parts of northern England and Scotland brace for more wintry showers today.”
Credit: James Speakman/Mercury Press
Rays of Hope
December 2020
Captured in The Guardian. “Rainbow in the Dark by Benjamin Clegg, part of a mile-long art trail on the theme of hope. The sound and light show, in the grounds of Wiston House, Steyning, West Sussex , runs until 3 January.”
Credit: Elliott Franks
