Flames from the McDougall Creek wildfire encircle a mountainside above homes in West Kelowna, British Columbia, on Aug. 18. Extreme weather conditions fueled Canada's worst wildfire season on record, with thousands of fires devastating millions of acres and darkening skies thousands of miles away.Darryl Dyck—The Canadian Press/AP
Follow this exchange with a dynamic discussion, hit repeat, and you have a pretty accurate snapshot of the TIME photo department’s typical Slack conversations. Even though we collectively scroll through thousands of photographs each day, there are still those that stop us in our tracks on a regular basis.
As we draw close to the end of another year punctuated by grief and conflict, but also records broken and breathtaking moments of human achievement, photographers continue to astound us by offering new ways of seeing the world. How incredible it is to think you’ve seen every photo of a president, a protest, a sporting event, only to see it anew through the lens of a storyteller who showed up with the intent to inform and to illuminate the connectedness of humankind.
What has become clear in 2023—a year dominated by the rapid rise of AI imagery—is that photojournalism has become more important than ever. The storytellers who are dedicated to bearing witness to events across the globe in real time are critical in providing lucidity to an otherwise muddled world. As such, the weight of responsibility on them to act ethically, and with the highest level of journalistic integrity, is greater now than perhaps ever in history.
Below is the 2023 Greatest Hits version of “Did you see this photo??”: an unranked collection of 100 of the images that moved us the most. We hope that you’ll take some time to reflect on the year that was, with thoughtfulness, clarity, and wonder.
— Katherine Pomerantz, Director of Photography
Warning: Some of the following images are graphic in nature and might be disturbing to some viewers.
Rescuers carry a girl from a collapsed building following an earthquake in Diyarbakir, Turkey, on Feb. 6.Sertac Kayar—ReutersA man waits for clients while selling mangoes from his street stall in the late afternoon in Kandahar City, Afghanistan, on June 12.Rodrigo Abd—APA police officer sprays demonstrators during a protest to mark International Women's Day in front of the National Palace in Mexico City on March 8.Toya Sarno Jordan—ReutersA child passes over a narrow stretch of the Rio Grande at the U.S. border with Mexico on March 29. Driven partly by a surge of Venezuelans seeking asylum, a record number of people migrated from South and Central America to the U.S., with arrivals reaching 2.5 million in the federal fiscal year that ended in October.Go Nakamura—The New York Times/ReduxThe Avenue of the Giants in Humboldt flooded after weeks of catastrophic downpours in Redcrest, Calif. on Jan. 13.Alexandra Hootnick—The New York Times/ReduxIsraelis donate blood at Magen David Adom emergency service in Jerusalem, following an unprecedented attack by Hamas militants on Israel, on Oct. 7.Maya Alleruzzo—APResponders near wreckage in the aftermath of a multi-vehicle pileup caused by "superfog" on I-55 in Manchac, La., Oct. 23.Gerald Herbert—APShepherd Józef Klimowski, left, and others lead a flock of sheep in Nowy Targ, Poland, in the country's southern highlands, on Oct. 8.Maciek Nabrdalik—The New York Times/Redux
A Ukrainian soldier of the 28th Brigade sits a few hundred meters from the enemy trenches, in Bakhmut on March 26. Due to the fact that they are constantly digging trenches, the hands of many infantrymen are cracked and black like the ground. Maxim Dondyuk for The New YorkerMigrant families from Venezuela disembark from the train known as ‘La Bestia,’ at the U.S. Mexico border in Ciudad Juarez after months of travel, on May 16.Jordan Vonderhaar for The Texas Observer
A woman holding a girl reacts after Israeli airstrikes hit the Ridwan neighborhood of Gaza City on Oct. 23.Ali Jadallah—Anadolu/Getty ImagesPolice fire teargas to disperse the supporters of former Prime Minister Imran Khan in Lahore, Pakistan, on March 14.Rahat Dar—EPA-EFE/ShutterstockUkrainian military medics treat their wounded comrade at a field hospital near Bakhmut, Ukraine, on Feb. 26.Evgeniy Maloletka—APPolice officers at the Porokhovskoye cemetery, where the press service owned by Yevgeny Prigozhin said he was buried, in St. Petersburg, Russia, on Aug. 29. The announcement of the burial of the Russian mercenary chief who died in a plane crash ended days of speculation over how he would be laid to rest.Nanna Heitmann—The New York Times/ReduxTyre Nichols' mother RowVaughn Wells looks on after the funeral service for her son at Mississippi Boulevard Christian Church in Memphis, Tenn., on Feb. 1.Seth Herald—AFP/Getty ImagesHatay, Turkey, a city known for its citrus industry, in the aftermath of the 7.8- and 7.5-magnitude earthquakes that claimed 55,000 lives in southern Turkey and northern Syria in February.Sabiha Çimen—Magnum PhotosPalestinian woman Inas Abu Maamar, 36, embraces the body of her 5-year-old niece Saly, who was killed in an Israeli strike, at Nasser hospital in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip, Oct. 17.Mohammed Salem—ReutersA resident rests in a makeshift shelter on a street next to a Gare Routiere, in the aftermath of a deadly earthquake, in Marrakech, Morocco, on Sept. 10.Nacho Doce—ReutersVillarrica volcano, one of the most active volcanoes in South America, is seen from Villarrica, south of Santiago, Chile, on Sept. 27. Sebastian Escobar—AFP/Getty ImagesBritain's Prince William, Prince of Wales, Princess Charlotte, Prince Louis, and Britain's Catherine, Princess of Wales, attend the Coronation of King Charles III and Queen Camilla at Westminster Abbey in London on May 6.Yui Mok—WPA Pool/Getty ImagesRep. Gloria Johnson, Rep. Justin Jones, Rep. Justin Pearson leave the Tennessee State Capitol after a vote at the Tennessee House of Representatives to expel two Democratic members for their roles in a gun control demonstration at the statehouse last week, in Nashville, Tenn., on April 6.Cheney Orr—ReutersAll that remained of a Russian soldier on a road in the Donetsk region of southern Ukraine on Sept. 26. One day later, President Volodymyr Zelensky announced that a summer counteroffensive had reclaimed the village of Staromaiorske from Russian forces.Tyler Hicks—The New York Times/ReduxAnti-war protesters raise their "bloody" hands behind U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken during a Senate Appropriations Committee hearing on President Biden's $106 billion national security supplemental funding request to support Israel and Ukraine, as well as bolster border security, on Capitol Hill in Washington, on Oct. 31.Kevin Lamarque—ReutersAn aerial view of Bakhmut, the site of the heaviest battles with Russian troops in the Donetsk region, Ukraine, on June 22.Libkos—APMembers of Spain’s women’s soccer team, with fullback Ona Batlle at center, celebrate moments after winning the FIFA World Cup on Aug. 20. They became the first Spanish women’s team to bring home a World Cup title by beating England 1-0 in Sydney.Hannah Mckay—ReutersTaken with a long exposure, girls dance during the afternoon rituals of the second day of the Wyra'whaw coming-of-age festival in the Ramada ritual center, in Tenetehar Wa Tembe village, located in the Alto Rio Guama Indigenous territory in Para state, Brazil, on June 10.Eraldo Peres—APPolice officers check documents of a man in central Moscow, Russia, on June 25.Dmitri Lovetsky—APFormer President Donald Trump stands next to a pallet of water before delivering remarks at the East Palestine Fire Department station in East Palestine, Ohio on Feb. 22. On Feb. 3 a Norfolk Southern Railways train carrying toxic chemicals derailed causing an environmental disaster.Michael Swensen—Getty ImagesCoco Gauff holds the winner trophy after defeating Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus in their Women's Singles Final match on Day Thirteen of the 2023 US Open in Queens, NY on Sept. 9.Al Bello—Getty ImagesMa’kayla Jackson uses a laptop in grandmother’s dining room in Jackson, Miss. on Jan. 5. Jackson is suffering from its third water outage in two years.Rory Doyle for The GuardianDevastation in Kibbutz Be'eri after the Israeli army regained control, on Oct. 11. Ilia Yefimovich—picture alliance/Getty ImagesA Palestinian woman wounded in Israeli bombardment of the Gaza Strip arrives at a hospital in Khan Younis, on Nov. 3.Fatima Shbair—APAccumulation of rubbish in the streets of Paris on the ninth day of the garbage collectors strike against the pension reform on March 14.Marie Magnin—Hans Lucas/ReduxClimate activists clash with police during a protest against the eviction of the village of Lützerath, Germany on Jan. 14. The village was demolished to make way for a coal mine.Nico KnollA program for adolescent mothers run by the Center for Girls Education in Zaria, Nigeria, which is expected by 2050 to overtake the United States as the world's third most populous country, on April 27. Educating girls has an unusually large impact on family size in Africa, because it delays the age of marriage and helps young women to space out their children, researchers have found.Hannah Reyes Morales—The New York Times/ReduxAretha Franklin's granddaughter Grace Franklin, 17, smiles while embracing her family members after the jury decided in favor of a 2014 document during a trial over her grandmother's wills at Oakland County Probate Court in Pontiac, Mich., on July 11.Sarahbeth Maney—Detroit Free Press/APA woman enters the sea from a beach where wildfires destroyed the woods, at Glystra near the village of Gennadi in the southern part of the Greek island of Rhodes, on July 27.Angelos Tzortzinis—AFP/Getty ImagesYoung patients of Okhmatdyt Children's Hospital, their faces painted, gather in the hospital's shelter, in Kyiv, Ukraine, on June 1.Nicole Tung—The New York Times/ReduxA vehicles carries refugees from Nagorno-Karabakhb as they arrive in Kornidzor, Armenia, on Sept. 25.Nanna Heitmann—The New York Times/ReduxCurtains blowing in the wind after an earthquake demolished the building in the center of Antakya, Turkey, on April 11.Devin YalkinA young girl stuck under her house rubble after it was bombed by Israeli airstrikes, Al Nusairat refugee camp, Oct. 31. Motaz AzaizaA group of girls embrace in front of a makeshift memorial for victims by the Covenant School building at the Covenant Presbyterian Church following a shooting, in Nashville, Tenn., on March 28.Brendan Smialowski—AFP/Getty Images
Orange skies seen in New York City from the smog caused by Canada’s wildfires, on June 7.Dina Litovsky—ReduxA striking union auto worker holds his daughter while listening to remarks from UAW President Shawn Fain during a visit to picket lines at a Jeep manufacturing plant, in Toledo, Ohio, Sept. 30.Philip Montgomery for The New Yorker
Protesters block traffic along the Arkansas-Memphis bridge in Memphis, Tenn. on Jan. 27, after the city of Memphis released video that shows several police officers beating Tyre Nichols, a 29-year-old Black man who later died.Desiree Rios—The New York Times/ReduxVisitors to Mount Carmel near Waco, Texas, the site of the former compound of the Branch Davidian sect, on March 24.Christopher Lee—The New York Times/ReduxSarah Salmonese sits where her apartment once stood in Lahaina, Maui, Hawaii, two days after it was devastated by wildfire, on Aug. 11.Go Nakamura—The New York Times/ReduxImmigrants struggle through the current of the Rio Grande while crossing from Mexico into the United States in Eagle Pass, Texas, on Sept. 27.John Moore—Getty ImagesRyan Graves, executive director of Americans for Safe Aerospace, David Grusch, former National Reconnaissance Officer Representative of Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena Task Force at the Department of Defense, and Retired Navy Commander David Fravor take their seats as they arrive for a House Oversight Committee hearing titled "Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena: Implications on National Security, Public Safety, and Government Transparency" on Capitol Hill in Washington on July 26.Drew Angerer—Getty ImagesProtesters hold train traffic at Lexington and 63rd to protest the death of Jordan Neely, a popular subway performer who was killed in an incident involving a chokehold performed by a former marine, in New York, on May 6.Hilary Swift—The New York Times/ReduxSan Diego Padres center fielder Trent Grisham collides with the wall as the RBI triple from Seattle Mariners' Dylan Moore rolls along the top of the wall during the sixth inning of a baseball game in Seattle, on Aug. 8.Lindsey Wasson—APRepublican presidential candidates, former Vice President Mike Pence, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and Vivek Ramaswamy participate in the first debate of the GOP primary season in Milwaukee, Wis. on Aug. 23.Win McNamee—Getty ImagesAfghan children attend a class at an open air school on the outskirts of Fayzabad district, Badakhshan province on March 27.Omer Abrar—AFP/Getty ImagesGiant panda mother Ai Bao and her newly born female twin pandas, the first to be born in the country, at Everland Amusement and Animal Park in Yongin, South Korea, on July 7.Everland/AFP/Getty ImagesA child cries while on the bus leaving The Covenant School following a mass shooting at the school in Nashville, Tenn., on March 27.Nicole Hester—The Tennessean/APA wounded Ukrainian soldier on a medical stretcher smokes a last cigarette before being loaded onto a mobile hospital bus by medics from the Hospitallers, a Ukrainian volunteer medical battalion providing first aid and evacuation assistance for wounded Ukrainian soldiers, in the Donetsk region of Ukraine on Sept. 12.David Guttenfelder—The New York Times/ReduxThe father of Valentin (Eli) Ghnassia, 23, who was killed in an attack by Hamas militants at Kibbutz Be’eeri near the Israeli border with the Gaza Strip cries next to the casket before it is lowered during his funeral in Jerusalem on Oct. 12.Alexi J. Rosenfeld—Getty ImagesThe Star Dance Studio is pictured days after a mass shooting in Monterey Park, Calif., on Jan. 23. The shooter who killed 11 people on Jan. 21 before shooting himself as police moved in on him was once a regular at the California dance club.Frederic J. Brown—AFP/Getty ImagesA group of spectators watch the Pride celebrations from their stoop across the street from Washington Square Park in New York City on June 25.Alex KentAn excavator removes protesters' barricades as part of the clearing of L¸tzerath, Germany, on Jan. 11. For years, activists have tried to save tiny L¸tzerath from being razed to make way for the expansion of an open-pit coal mine.Ingmar Nolting—The New York Times/ReduxDrag Queen Brigitte Bandit gives testimony in the Senate Chamber at the Texas State Capitol in Austin, on March 23. People across the state of Texas showed up to give testimony as proposed Senate bills SB12 and SB1601, which would regulate drag performances, were discussed before the Chamber.Brandon Bell—Getty ImagesMesut Hancer holds the hand of his 15-year-old daughter Irmak, who died in the earthquake in Kahramanmaras, Turkey, close to the quake's epicenter, the day after a 7.8-magnitude earthquake struck the country's southeast, on Feb. 7.Adem Altan—AFP/Getty ImagesThe hall of historic Waiola Church in Lahaina and nearby Lahaina Hongwanji Mission are engulfed in flames along Wainee Street in Lahaina, Hawaii on Aug. 8.Matthew Thayer—The Maui News/APRelatives and friends during the burial of Marcos Abdón Tziquin Cuc, 21, in the village of Paquilá, Guatemala, on April 13. The remains of 17 Guatemalans were flown home after they were killed by a fire in March at a migration center in Ciudad Juárez, Mexico, near the border with Texas, that left a total of 40 people dead.Daniele Volpe—The New York Times/ReduxProtestors shout slogans as they cross the Brooklyn Bridge in New York during a Pro-Palestine demonstration demanding a ceasefire, on Oct. 28.Andres Kudacki—APSecurity guard Michael Bock performs CPR on a man who overdosed, and regained conscious soon after, in downtown Portland, Ore., on Aug. 2. In America's overwhelmed downtowns, private security guards like Michael Bock have become the solution of last resort.Erin Schaff—The New York Times/ReduxA family runs from an explosion after a Russian rocket attack on a residential neighborhood in Pervomaiskyi, Kharkiv region, Ukraine, on July 4.Oleksandr Magula—APPeople carry injured and dead Palestinians from the rubbles of buildings as civil defense teams and civilians conduct search and rescue operations after Israeli attacks on Al-Shati refugee camp in Gaza City, on Oct. 27.Ali Jadallah—Anadolu/Getty ImagesAn Independent National Electoral Commission official speaks on the phone at the INEC offices in Awka, Nigeria, on Feb. 26 following the Nigeria presidential and general election.Patrick Meinhardt—AFP/Getty ImagesSupporters of former US President Donald Trump cheer as his plane flies over the 2024 election campaign rally in Waco, Texas, on March 25.Shelby Tauber—AFP/Getty ImagesTaylor Swift performs at Levi's Stadium in Santa Clara, Calif., on July 28.Jessica Christian—San Francisco Chronicle/APA record 466 Golden Retrievers from more than 12 countries gather at their ancestral home at the Guisaschan Estate near Tomich in the HIghlands of Scotland to celebrate the 155th Anniversary of the breed founded by Lord Tweedmouth in 1868.Sandra Mailer—ShutterstockRep. George Santos visits the scene outside of the Manhattan Courts during the Indictment trial of Donald Trump in New York City, on April 3.John Taggart—ReduxBucha relatives gather to mourn Oleksiy Zavadskyi, a Ukrainian serviceman who died in combat on Jan. 15 in Bakhmut, during his funeral in Bucha, Ukraine, on Jan. 19.Daniel Cole—APAn Afghan boy mourns next to the grave of his little brother who died due to an earthquake, in Zenda Jan district in Herat province, western of Afghanistan, on Oct. 9.Ebrahim Noroozi—APPastors and community members pray ahead of a vigil the day after a shooting during a teenager's birthday party at Mahogany Masterpiece Dance Studio in Dadeville, Ala., on April 16.Cheney Orr—ReutersAn injured Ukrainian serviceman lies inside a frontline medical stabilization point, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in Donetsk region, Ukraine on April 23.Anna Kudriavtseva—ReutersLauren Rowley and her daughter Ursula, 2, look at the surging Otter Creek River in downtown Middlebury, Vt., on July 14. Vermont began new flood protection efforts after being battered by Tropical Storm Irene in 2011. Hilary Swift—The New York Times/ReduxOmar Lafi grieves as he clings to the lifeless body of his nephew, who fell victim to an Israeli airstrike in Gaza City, on Oct. 9.Saher Alghorra—Middle East Images/AFP/Getty ImagesRescuers work at the site of a passenger train accident in Balasore district, in the eastern Indian state of Orissa, on June 3, 2023. Two passenger trains derailed in India, killing more than 280 people, with hundreds of others trapped inside more than a dozen mangled rail cars, in one of the country's deadliest train crashes in decades.Arabinda Mahapatra—AP"Costaleros", who carry on their backs the portable dais platform which supports a statue of Jesus Christ of the "Padre Jesus Nazareno" brotherhood, participate in the holy week procession in Priego de Cordoba, southern Spain, on April 7.Manu Fernandez—APFormer President Donald Trump takes the stage at a rally in Erie, Pa. on July 29.Maddie McGarvey—The New York Times/ReduxStudents from the New International School of Thailand assist with the release of young leatherback turtles on Bang Khwan beach in the coastal Thai province of Phang Nga on Feb. 20. Lillian Suwanrumpha—AFP/Getty ImagesCaitlyne Gonzales, who lost many of her friends in the shooting, sang and danced to Taylor Swift songs at Jacklyn Cazares' grave in Uvalde, Texas, on April 19. One year after 19 children and two teachers were killed at Robb Elementary, the cemetery where most of the victims are buried has become an anchor in their families' lives.Tamir Kalifa—The New York Times/ReduxIndian wrestlers Sangeeta Phogat (L), and Vinesh Phogat (C) are detained by the police while attempting to march to India's new parliament, just as it was being inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, during a protest against Brij Bhushan Singh, the wrestling federation chief, over allegations of sexual harassment and intimidation, in New Delhi on May 28.Arun Thakur—AFP/Getty ImagesPalestinian doctors search for bodies and survivors in the rubble of Al Ahli hospital after an air strike in Gaza City, on Oct. 17.Mohammed Saber—EPA-EFE/ShutterstockVarious articles of clothing belonging to asylum seekers, that have been washed inside the 47 Hall Street facility's mobile shower units, are hung to dry in the Brooklyn borough of New York City, on July 19.José A. Alvarado Jr. Former President Donald Trump sits in the courtroom during his civil fraud trial at New York State Supreme Court in New York City on Oct. 18.John Taggart—Getty ImagesMigrants prepare to cross the Panama border in the Darién Gap in Colombia, on Aug. 3.Federico Rios—The New York Times/ReduxAddie Brue, 16, and Madeline Lederman, 17, shout “Do something!” as state representative Jeremy Faison (R., Cosby) approaches the Tennessee house in Nashville on March 30, three days after six people were killed in a suburban elementary school.Nicole Hester—The Tennessean/APIsraelis opposed to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's judicial overhaul plan set up bonfires, firecrackers and block a busy highway during a protest in Tel Aviv, moments after the Israeli leader fired his defense minister, on March 26.Amit ElkayamThe aftermath of an attack by Hamas on the Israeli Kibbutz Be’eri, on Oct. 22.Ron Haviv—VII/ReduxPolice officers clash with pro-Palestinian demonstrators as they try to enter a train station in Barcelona, Spain, on Nov. 11. Emilio Morenatti—APA worker using a plasma torch cuts the head of a bronze monument to Civil War General Robert E. Lee that formerly stood in Charlottesville, Va. before it is melted at a foundry on Oct. 21. As part of the "Swords Into Plowshares" project, the statue was melted down with the intention to use the metal to make a new public artwork.Eze Amos—Getty ImagesThe remains of a beach home months after it was destroyed by Hurricane Ian on Captiva Road in Sanibel, Fla. on Feb. 9.Bryan Anselm/ReduxRichard Wilcox, left, weeps as community members gather after 18 people were killed in a mass shooting in Lewiston, Maine, on Oct. 28. Carol Guzy—Zuma PressRelatives mourn as bodies are carried for burial outside Al Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip, on Oct. 31.Majdi Fathi/NurPhoto/Getty ImagesAt Brown University, doctoral student Brooke Quinn (blue glove) and her adviser, Sharon Swartz, work with a Seba’s short-tailed bat inside a wind tunnel. They are testing how tiny sensory hairs on bats’ wings affect their flight responses to turbulence.Nichole Sobecki for National GeographicLightning strikes as smoke billows following an Israeli airstrike in Gaza City on Oct. 9.Mohammed Abed—AFP/Getty Images
Photo Editing by Kaya Berne, Kim Bubello, Eli Cohen, Sangsuk Sylvia Kang, Kara Milstein, Dilys Ng, and Katherine Pomerantz
