2016 has been a year like no other. From the U.S. campaign trail to the refugee crisis and the Olympics, the news has kept photographers on their toes, pushing new boundaries and expanding their vision. We were blown away by the exquisite work we have seen day in and day out. They are a relentless group.
Over the last few months we have been poring over thousands of photographs that provide a snapshot of the year in news and culture. There were so many runners up to this year’s Top 10 photos but these, we feel, are the most striking and lasting. We spoke to each of the photographers about the picture they made; their words provide the captions that accompany their photos in this unranked gallery.
Demonstrator Ieshia Evans is detained by law enforcement as she protests the shooting death of Alton Sterling near the headquarters of the Baton Rouge Police Department in Baton Rouge, La., on July 9, 2016.
IESHIA EVANS’ ARREST
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Soldiers involved in a coup attempt to take control of Turkey surrender on Bosphorus bridge on July 16, 2016 in Istanbul.
TURKEY COUP
A Syrian boy is comforted as he cries next to the body of a relative who died in a reported airstrike in a rebel-held neighborhood of Aleppo on April 27, 2016.
SYRIAN DESPAIR
Jimji, 6, cries out in anguish, saying “Papa” as workers move the body of her father, Jimboy Bolasa, 25, for burial, in Manila, Philippines, Oct. 9, 2016.
JIMBOY’S FUNERAL
Air Force One carrying U.S. President Barack Obama and his family flies over a neighborhood of Havana, Cuba, as it approaches the runway to land at Havana’s international airport, on March 20, 2016.
AIR FORCE ONE IN CUBA
Migrants wait to be rescued by members of the Proactiva Open Arms NGO in the Mediterranean Sea, some 15 nautical miles north of Libya, on Oct. 4, 2016.
A RESCUE AT SEA
Refugees wearing rain gear stand on a food distribution line at refugee camp in Greece, near the border with Macedonia. March 12, 2016.
REFUGEES
Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks to an overflow crowd during a campaign rally on Sept. 6, 2016, in Greenville, N.C.
DONALD TRUMP
Usain Bolt of Jamaica competes in the Men’s 100-meter semifinal race during the Rio Olympic Games at the Olympic Stadium on Aug. 14, 2016 in Rio de Janeiro.
USAIN BOLT
A massive snowstorm blankets the East Coast of the U.S., visible in a photograph taken from the International Space Station on Jan. 23, 2016.
SNOWSTORM
