Rob Kivit Natuurfotografie - Birds & Wildlife Photography

This has been another year filled with news stories and photos that can be difficult or disturbing to view. For a decade now, I’ve made it an annual tradition, after rounding up the news photos of the year, to compose a companion essay of uplifting images from the past 12 months—an effort to seek out and recognize some of the abundant joy and kindness present in the world around us. Below are images from 2024 of families and friends at play, expressions of love and compassion, personal victories, volunteers at work, assistance being given to those in need, and small and pleasant moments.

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A young resident holds a rescued puffling before releasing it from a sea cliff in Vestmannaeyjar, Iceland, on August 20, 2024. In August and September, an annual tradition brings entire families out to the streets and harbor of Vestmannaeyjar late at night, where they work to find and rescue misdirected young puffins, called pufflings. During their first flight, the pufflings can become confused in the darkness, flying from sea cliffs toward city lights rather than toward the moonlight, and ending up stranded on dangerous city streets. Once they are rescued, the pufflings are brought to either a beach or a cliff to be released into the sea. ( Micah Garen / Getty)

As the end of the year approaches, here is a look back at some of the major news moments of 2024. Events covered in this essay (the last of a three-part photo summary of the year) include Hurricanes Helene and Milton striking southeastern United States, a famous pygmy hippo named Moo Deng, the fall of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, and much more. Be sure to check out the first part, the second part, and our “Top 25 News Photos of 2024.”

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Gold medalist Mauricio Valencia of Team Colombia poses for a photo during the medal ceremony for the men’s shot-put F34 final on day 10 of the Paris 2024 Summer Paralympic Games, on September 7, 2024. Valencia had his canine teeth modified to look like fangs in order to break down any stereotypes people may have about Paralympic athletes. He says, “I didn’t want to have the same smile as the rest of the world. I’ve always said that Paralympic sport has to be a spectacle.” ( David Ramos / Getty)

As the end of the year approaches, here is a look back at some of the major news moments of 2024. Events covered in this essay (the second of a three-part photo summary of the year) include the opening of the Paris Olympics, widespread flooding in Brazil, an assassination attempt on the presidential candidate Donald Trump, and much more. Check back tomorrow for the last installment, and be sure to see the first part and our “Top 25 News Photos of 2024.”

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Kim Yeji of Team Republic of Korea prepares to shoot during the Women's 10m Air Pistol Final on day two of the Olympic Games at the Chateauroux Shooting Center on July 28, 2024. ( Charles McQuillan / Getty)

As the end of the year approaches, here is a look back at some of the major news moments of 2024. Events covered in this essay (the first of a three-part photo summary of the year) include a deadly earthquake in central Japan, the relocation of the Space Shuttle Endeavour, ongoing Israeli airstrikes in Gaza, a rat hole in Chicago, and much more. Check back later this week for Parts 2 and 3, and be sure to see our earlier “Top 25 News Photos of 2024.”

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A view of widespread destruction in Khan Yunis, Gaza, after Israeli forces withdrew from the area on February 2, 2024. Extensive devastation unfolded after weeks of continuous Israeli bombardment. ( Abdulqader Sabbah / Anadolu / Getty)

Near the end of every year, I look back through the many thousands of news photos taken in the previous months, reevaluating them to see which images stand out as iconic—which images take your breath away, bring you close, or make an emotional impact. In a year dominated by stories of warfare, divisive politics, and natural disasters, it feels even more important to showcase the incredible work of the photojournalists who bring the reality of these situations to millions of others. Here, I present my choices for the top 25 news photos of 2024. Be sure to check back throughout the week for more comprehensive stories, presented as “2024: The Year in Photos, Parts 1, 2, & 3.”

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The Republican presidential candidate, former President Donald Trump, is surrounded by U.S. Secret Service agents after an attempted assassination at a campaign rally on July 13, 2024, in Butler, Pennsylvania. ( Evan Vucci / AP)

After a rapid advance by anti-government factions, led by the group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, rebels in Syria declared today that they had taken control of Damascus, and that President Bashar al-Assad had fled the country, ending decades of Baathist rule. After enduring years of civil war, Syrians took to the streets to celebrate the sudden fall of Assad, both in their own country and in huge refugee communities that have grown across the Middle East and Europe.

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Syrians wave revolutionary flags and flash the V sign for victory in the central city of Homs early on December 8, 2024, after rebel forces entered Syria's third-largest city overnight. ( Aref Tammawi / AFP / Getty)

Christmas decorations across Germany, lake-effect snowfall in Ohio, a festival of lights in France, a brief clash between soldiers and civilians in South Korea, devastating floods in Malaysia, sumo wrestlers in London, anti-government protests in Georgia, and much more

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Navy sailors take part in a simulated rescue operation during Navy Day celebrations at the Gateway of India in Mumbai on December 4, 2024. ( Punit Paranjpe / AFP / Getty)

It’s time once more for one of my favorite holiday traditions: the 17th annual Space Telescope Advent Calendar, featuring remarkable images from both NASA’s Hubble telescope and James Webb Space Telescope. Every day until Wednesday, December 25, this page will present a new, incredible image of our universe from one of these two telescopes. Be sure to come back every day until Christmas, and follow us on social media for daily updates. I hope you enjoy these amazing and awe-inspiring images, as well as the continued efforts of the science teams that bring them to Earth—it is a joy to put this calendar together each December.

Wishing you all a Merry Christmas, happy holidays, and peace on Earth.

A grand spiral: The spiral galaxy NGC 5248, located 42 million light-years from Earth, is one of the so-called grand-design spirals, with prominent spiral arms that reach from near the core out through the disc. It also has a faint bar structure in the center, which is difficult to see in this visible-light portrait from the Hubble space telescope. Features like these, which break the rotational symmetry of a galaxy, can feed gas from a galaxy’s outer reaches to inner star-forming regions, and even to a galaxy’s central black hole, where it can kick-start an active galactic nucleus. These flows of gas have shaped NGC 5248 in a big way; the spiral has many bright starburst regions of intense star formation spread across its disc, and it is dominated by a population of young stars. ( ESA / Hubble & NASA, F. Belfiore, J. Lee, and the PHANGS-HST Team)

An autonomous delivery robot in Barcelona, a heat wave in Australia, a triceratops auction in France, a reef shark in the Red Sea, a lava flow in southwestern Iceland, migratory birds in flight over China, Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade in New York City, and much more

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President Joe Biden pardons the National Thanksgiving Turkeys Peach and Blossom during an event on the South Lawn of the White House, in Washington, D.C., on November 25, 2024. ( Drew Angerer / AFP / Getty)

Het was alweer twee jaar geleden dat ik deze hut bezocht heb. Eén van mijn favoriete hutten waar je eigenlijk van te voren nooit weet of je überhaupt wel wat voor je lens krijgt. Maar de mooie hut, setting en het wijdse uitzicht over het meer doet mij toch iedere weer terugkomen. Toevallig hadden wij een van de betere dagen waar het eens een keer n...

After reviewing more than 3,600 entries from professional and amateur photographers around the world, judges of the 11th International Landscape Photographer of the Year contest narrowed the field down to a “Top 101” and then further, to award several category prizes and their top award, which this year went to Andrew Mielzynski. The organizers were once more kind enough to share some of this year’s top and winning images below.

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Fireflies Flying in the Misty. Special Award, Forest. Mountains in Wufeng Township, Hsinchu, Taiwan. ( Shirley Wung / The 11th International Landscape Photographer of the Year)

Christmas decorations in England, long-term typhoon damage in the Philippines, a virtual Taekwondo championship in Singapore, a mummified saber-toothed tiger cub in Russia, the Miss Universe competition in Mexico, thick fog in northern China, a new volcanic eruption in Iceland, and much more

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A herd of red deer look out from the bracken on an autumn morning in Richmond Park, southwest London, on November 17, 2024. ( Justin Tallis / AFP / Getty)

The Close-up Photographer of the Year competition is now in its sixth year, and recently released its shortlisted picks, with the winners set to be announced in January. The contest “celebrates close-up, macro, and micro photography,” among 11 separate categories. Competition organizers were once again kind enough to share some of these amazing images with us here.

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Wallaby Baby. Animals. "A baby wallaby tries to settle into the warm security of its mother's pouch, but because it has grown quite large, it is not easy to fit inside. After several tries and with a great deal of persistence, it finally managed to fold its long legs in and get comfortable. This image was captured at a conservation center in France." (© Copyright Pedro Jarque Krebs / cupoty.com)

Millions of people across northern India and Pakistan have spent the past few weeks under a blanket of toxic smog, enduring some of the region’s worst air quality ever recorded. The sky is filled with particulates from the seasonal burning of rice-paddy stubble on nearby farms, mixed with other vehicular and industrial emissions. Several health emergencies have been declared, many schools have been closed, and residents are being encouraged to stay indoors.

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A crow perches on a fence in front of the Taj Mahal amid thick smog in Agra, India, on November 15, 2024. ( Pawan Sharma / AFP / Getty)

Speed climbing in Saudi Arabia, wildfires in California and New Jersey, a blanket of smog in New Delhi, a celebration of rural life in Turkey, Veterans Day in Seattle, a surfing record attempt in Brazil, a rodeo exhibition in Argentina, and much more

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Members of the public take photographs following the unveiling of the 2024 Christmas jumper design on the animatronic Tyrannosaurus rex at the Natural History Museum in London, England, on November 12, 2024. ( Alice Horsley / Getty)

More than 125 years ago, Erwin Barbour, a geology professor at the University of Nebraska, took an interest in what he described as an “agricultural movement”—the proliferation of creative and inexpensive homemade windmills on farms across Nebraska. In 1897, Barbour documented this phenomenon, traveling the state, photographing the mills, interviewing their inventors and owners, and estimating the costs and benefits. He found that both wealthy and poor farmers built a wide variety of mills, many of them of novel or experimental design, made largely out of spare parts and scrap wood. These mills were used to pump water for irrigation and livestock, and to power farm machinery—often giving the owners a huge advantage in a time of drought. During a recent visit to the U.S. National Archives, I found and converted these images from an 1898 photo album that had not previously been digitized. Many of the woodcuts used in Barbour’s 1899 report were based on these photographs.

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A four-blade mock turbine windmill, belonging to Friederich Ernstmeyer, seen near Grand Island, Nebraska, used to pump water for livestock. The eight-foot-diameter rotor is attached to the frame of an old mower that was mounted atop a tower of four cottonwood logs with the bark still on. Because the project used mostly found and unused parts, its total cost was 32 cents, which was the price of a long plank used for the rotor blades. ( U.S. National Archives)

Het was weer een tijdje terug maar vandaag voor een paar uurtjes ransuilen in Vlaardingen gaan fotograferen. Het was even zoeken waar ze uithingen maar uiteindelijk hadden we3 ransuilen kunnen vinden en allemaal in een (1) boom. Normaal gesproken zijn ze overdag vaak aan het rusten maar een (1) ransuil was voor ons speciaal even wakker gebleven en ...

The German Society for Nature Photography recently announced its winning images from the European Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2024, selected from nearly 18,000 entries from 38 countries in 11 categories. This year’s overall winner was Jaime Rojo, with a remarkable photograph of monarch butterflies clustered in trees in Mexico’s El Rosario Monarch Butterfly Sanctuary. Competition organizers were kind enough to share some of the winning and honored photographs with us here.

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Shaking off the Snow. Runner-up, Mammals. "This picture was taken in Wapusk National Park on the coast of Hudson Bay, Canada, during a heavy snowstorm in November 2022. With a single vigorous movement, the polar bear (Ursus maritimus) shakes off the powdery snow that has accumulated during the storm. A gust of wind picks up the snow and forms a decorative veil around the animal." (© Copyright Daniel Valverde Fernandez / European Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2024)

Election Day in the United States of America, a volcanic eruption in Indonesia, roller-skating in Georgia, continued flood cleanup in Spain, a figure-skating competition in France, a penny-farthing race in Prague, autumn colors in China, and much more

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Vancie Tuner and her horse Clementine rally people on Main St. to vote on Election Day, November 5, 2024, in Driggs, Idaho. ( Natalie Behring / Getty)

Autumn colors across Europe, Day of the Dead displays in Mexico, Diwali lights in India, deadly flooding in Spain, a kite festival in South Africa, the School of Santa Claus in Brazil, World Series celebrations in Los Angeles, and much more

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A 16-foot-tall hand sculpture named Quasi stands perched on its fingertips atop the roof of an art gallery in Wellington, New Zealand, on October 30, 2024. ( Charlotte Graham-McLay / AP)