This year has given us a variety of powerful and emotionally wrenching photos snapped by photographers from across the world. The photos below represent the many news stories storming headlines from January to December 2011, and they are taken by Digital Journalists, local media outlets, government departments and freelance photographers.
In the comments section below, let us know what photos amazed you this year.
Here are our top 30 photos of 2011, in no particular order:
Thousands of protesters attended a rally in Tahrir Square to call on the ruling Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF) to transfer power to a civilian administration and to honour the revolution’s martyrs
Ioka
A Japanese mother and daughter pause for reflection as they find a family photo amid the wreckage of their home.
Matthew M. Bradley / U.S. Navy
An elderly woman carrying sacks used for packaging rice and cassava products with contents unkown.
White House staffers, including President Obama and Hillary Clinton, react to news about the mission to capture Osama bin Laden
Pete Souza / The White House
UC Davis Police Lt. John Pike pepper-sprays Occupy UC Davis protesters who were blocking the police from removing arrested protesters from the quad
Photo: Jasna Hodzic / © The California Aggie
Entrance to Academy Sports+Outdoors. Joplin, Mo. June 5, 2011
Picture of an aerial photograph of Peru’s Main Pyramid shows the size and complexity of the construction. The circle, below, center, was probably used for ceremonies and musical concerts.
Rioters flipped cars, started fires and broke store windows in Vancouver after the city’s hockey team lost in the Stanley Cup final game in June of 2011
Will and Kate sharing a kiss after their wedding
Beacon Radio
Danish troops fire 120mm mortar whilst engaging the enemy outside their patrol base in Helmand, Afghanistan.
Sgt Rupert Frere RLC / UK Ministry of Defence
Egyptians gathering at Tahir Square
Maggie Osama
Somali refugees sharing a meal in an Ethiopian tent
Eskinder Debebe / UN
In an event dubbed the Great Global Gaza Bounce, 7,200 campers of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) Summer Games gather in Gaza City in a bid to set the Guinness World Record for the largest simultaneous basketball bounce
Shareef Sarhan / UN
The sadhu monks of Nepal
Members of the South African Special Forces skydiving team with the flags of Special Forces and the Joint Operations Division.
Running of the bulls in Encierro, Spain
Daniel Watt
President Barack Obama and President Hu Jintao of China shake hands at the conclusion of their joint press conference in the East Room of the White House
Pete Souza / The White House
Smoke billows from the streets of Attécoubé, in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire, after forces loyal to former Ivorian President Laurent Gbagbo shut down anti-Gbagbo protests.
Basile Zoma / UN
A quarter million children in Gaza participated in the Summer Games 2011
Shareef Sarhan / UN
An installation of seats from the old Maple Leafs Garden in Toronto, now on display at the new Loblaws
Digital Journal photo
U.S. Navy Seaman Christopher Hotella wipes down the canopy of an F/A-18E Super Hornet aircraft
Benjamin Crossley / US Navy
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon (centre) and students of the New Explorations into Science, Mathematics and Technology
Eskinder Debebe / UN
A child of Somali refugees, at a camp in Malkadiida, Ethiopia.
Eskinder Debebe / UN
A view of Busan, the Republic of South Korea’s second largest city after Seoul
Kibae Park / UN
Occupy Wall Street: Thousands of people packed shoulder-to-shoulder into Liberty Plaza on September 30th, 2011
Mat McDermott
A fire blazing in London after several protests
Beacon Radio
An activist in “polite” gear helping direct traffic during the Occupy Toronto march.
Occupy Toronto sign.
A person writing a message on the ground of Nathan Phillips Square in Toronto. Messages were written on the ground after NDP leader Jack Layton died.
