Our writers describe and sometimes interpret the world for our readers, but our photographers literally show our readers the world. As some people retreated to working from home, or keeping their distance, these committed journalists did not have that option. This period has underscored the special communicative power of the image, as well as the risks taken and hardship endured by photographers so they can show us the world. This is the story of 2021 told visually, through the eloquent universal language of photography. The vaccine saved some lives, but human passions, hopes and fears did their usual work to create a year that was anything but calm, and is ending with the prospect of a new variant upending plans once again. Governments fell, democracies were challenged, and climate-related destruction was unleashed, all while the casualties of the pandemic continued to amass.

Capitol, and saw a summer of carefree gatherings derailed by a fast-spreading virus. But the year instead took off with an insurrection in the U.S. The year 2021 opened with the promise of vaccines, and the belief that we would all return to “normal” after the tumultuous year of the pandemic. By Meaghan Looram, Director of Photography

Night at the roxbury kamala