Dec 2, 2014

Reuters picture editors have chosen key images from 2014 and asked the photographer to tell the story behind the picture. This package, taken from news, sport and entertainment coverage, highlights some of the iconic, unusual and breathtaking imagery taken by Reuters photographers. The photographer’s story is in the caption of each image.

: Riot police use pepper gas against residents of the Telerj slum as they attempt to repossess the land in Rio de Janeiro, in this April 11, 2014 file picture.
I was shooting the clear-out by the police of a building which belonged to a giant telecommunications company and had been taken over by homeless people a week earlier. It was my third day there as I was doing a photo essay on the occupation and I was more interested in the aesthetics of the shacks and how people managed to build a home. Still, there was tension in the air that the police could invade the place at any moment. When I arrived that morning, it was still dark and I saw more than 1,000 police officers surrounding the area. Some of the homeless were leaving on their own but there was a lot of confusion and small riots outside. I took this picture about 15 minutes after I managed to enter the area, which was very challenging. The image is both strong and sad because the man is poor, black, unarmed and helpless against a whole squad of a heavily armed police spraying tear gas right into his eyes. – Ana Carolina Fernandez

: Zhiliang, whose fiancee was onboard Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 which disappeared on March 8, 2014, is silhouetted at an empty house which he had planned to decorate with her for their marriage, in Tianjin, in this August 26, 2014 file photo. Almost six months had passed since the Malaysian Airlines MH370 disappeared. Although authorities concluded that the plane crashed in the remote Indian Ocean and lost all the passengers, many family members refuse to accept that conclusion. They hope that they are still alive. However, public interest towards this incident faded, so I decided to record what these family members are still going through and shed light on this mysterious incident once again. I thought that portrait-style pictures showing family members together with the missing passengers’ mementos would tell a story. I was very careful not to hurt their feelings or invade their privacy when taking these pictures. My first priority was showing my respect for the family members, so before photographing them, I would wait to ask their permission to take pictures until I felt that they were ready and would always spend some time listening to them talk. Sometimes this brought tears to my eyes. – Kim Kyung Hoon

: Palestinian pedestrians and a motorcyclist commute along a road between ruins of houses, which witnesses said were damaged or destroyed during the Israeli offensive, in Beit Hanoun town in the northern Gaza Strip in this September 7, 2014 file photo. I was shooting pictures of houses that were destroyed during the 51-day war in Gaza to cover the life of displaced people after the offensive. I was moving from the ruins of one house to another adjacent house where people were staying in makeshift shelters in their devastated neighbourhood. The man riding a motorcycle past destroyed houses captured my attention. It was not easy to get the picture as the light was very dim and I was very lucky that a light from a car illuminated the motorcycle. – Mohammed Salem

: A cradle left behind by Syrian Kurdish refugees lies at the Turkish-Syrian border near Suruc, in this September 27, 2014 file photo. A crossing point along the Turkish-Syrian border frontier was normally a hive of activity, with wailing children and families desperately trying to carry whatever they could manage across the dusty terrain. To my surprise on this particular day, the refugee collection didn’t start. Bewildered, I started to look around me. My eyes fell on an empty baby’s cradle and I thought: “How is it possible for someone to leave behind such a basic, but important, thing for a baby? Were the owners in a hurry? Was there no space in the bus or truck?” As I photographed the cradle I thought how lonely and sad it seemed. For me, it signified a kind of hopelessness. If its owners had felt hope, perhaps they would not have left it. I took four images using a 24mm wide-angle lens and photographed the deserted border area in the background aiming to illustrate the desperation the refugees feel, and the harshness of the environment, where baking sun can turn to driving rain in an instant. – Murad Sezer

: A male red deer with antlers covered in bracken, walks through undergrowth in Richmond Park in south west London, in this October 3, 2014 file photo. Although Richmond Park is only 3.69 square miles (9.56 square kilometres) wide and 650 deer graze there during the autumn deer rutting season, I spent nine hours on foot with my 500mm lens as well as shorter optics following the haunting and spine tingling barking of the male deer. Trying to find strong images of animal behaviour combined with attractive light and backgrounds. The mist had long gone and the sun was dipping lower to the horizon when I found the male in the photograph in the undergrowth. I had followed him for roughly an hour before this frame, and an hour afterwards, hoping he would either get an even more impressive head-dress, pick a battle with another male or chase some potential mating partners…but eventually the light went and so did I shortly after. I think the bracken stuck amongst the deer antlers gives the picture a certain appeal by adding a little humour to a natural history photograph, with a hat-like appearance, plus the tongue out looks a little as if the deer is licking his lips! – Toby Melville

: The U.S. side of the Niagara Falls is pictured in Ontario, in this January 8, 2014 file picture. I was out on a specific assignment to photograph the partially frozen Niagara Falls. There was a lot of angry muttering under my frozen breath that day, mostly asking myself why I lived there in winter, laced with several expletives. I wasn’t outside for very long, but taking photographs in such a bitter-cold temperatures was challenging. I was dressed appropriately for the weather, but the bone-cracking cold still pierced through all the layers. I had only brought two cameras and two lenses knowing there was no way I’d be changing anything out there. For such a static landscape image I thought it was strong, and from what I’ve seen and heard, it was widely published. I didn’t think the image would strike the chord it did, as I’ve never photographed a weather feature generating so much of a reaction. I think it was a testament to how strongly people felt about the miserable winter we had to endure. – Aaron Harris

: Pro-European integration protesters take cover from water sprayed from a fire engine at the site of clashes with riot police in Kiev in this January 23, 2014 file photo. Everyday protestors moved up to the barricades, made from burnt buses and cars, to clash with the police. It was winter, cold, and police used water hoses to turn the streets in front of the barricades to ice. The protestors kept moving up to the police positions to throw molotov cocktails and the police kept driving them back with rubber bullets and water hoses. This was happening for many days. Molotov cocktails were everywhere – in the air, being thrown at the police and behind barricades ready to be used. The flag of Ukraine was seen everywhere, and one song was sang many times a day – the Ukraine anthem. To shoot pictures every day in a bulletproof vest and helmet, while walking among the piles of burnt tires and avoiding rubber bullets was a challenge. I was surprised by the strong desire of the protestors to change something in their life, how they helped each other – many people, including the very old, brought warm clothes and hot food to them. – Vasily Fedosenko

: People hang out in a Publix grocery store after being stranded due to a snow storm in Atlanta, Georgia, in this January 29, 2014 file photo. Atlanta is usually known for its mild winters but when an ice storm began hitting the Metro area directly, traffic reached nightmarish proportions and vehicles became stranded for long hours. I began my day on another assignment 100 miles north of Atlanta but immediately headed back when I saw the snowfall. Having grown up there, I know the back roads well, which helped as I hit traffic in the northern suburbs. I began taking pictures and transmitting what I could on the drive, arriving into the city at sunrise. My sister said a friend of hers was stuck at a Publix grocery store that stayed opened all night to shelter and feed people. Ironically, I had slid into a bush nearby so after extracting my car, I went to the store to take pictures. The scene was surreal; scattered people slept soundly on the floor or tried to stay awake. Several of the pictures were widely published and friends called me from all over to ask about them. In total I spent over 30 hours in my car before I made it home. – Tami Chappell

: Four out of five Olympic rings are seen lit up during the opening ceremony of the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics, in this February 7, 2014 file photo. This image is a great example of the cliche ‘always expect the unexpected’. Two days before, at the Olympic opening ceremony rehearsal, I had seen that the Olympic rings were supposed to open from a small, flower-shaped ball and then explode in flash of extreme brightness. The massive changes in light required a quick estimation as to how to adjust the exposure, so every photographer was anxious, knowing what was supposed to come next. I had just reduced my ISO and increased my shutter speed when I noticed the top-right ring was not forming like the others. So I took a few photographs, still anticipating the next stage. But no. Nothing. The incomplete Olympic symbol just hung there before disappearing completely. Did I manage to correctly adjust the camera settings for the unpredicted dull Olympic ring? Thankfully, you see the answer before you. Needless to say, it was the talking point of the opening ceremony, and became one of the most memorable images of the Sochi Olympic Games. – David Gray

: Central African Army (FACA) soldier stabs the corpse of a man, who was killed as he was accused of joining the ousted Seleka fighters, in the capital Bangui in this February 5, 2014 file photo. I was heading back to the hotel to file after a ceremony in Bangui, where the interim president had promised to reinstate the country’s armed forces, urging for national unity. I was in the taxi for just a few minutes when my fixer asked me to come back as people were attacking and killing a man. The crowd was in a violent, bloodthirsty frenzy and I tried to stay alert; an angry crowd can be dangerous, unpredictable and very scary, something I had unfortunately witnessed there before. The lifeless body of the victim, suspected of having joined the former Seleka rebel group, was being dragged, kicked, stabbed and pelted with rocks by Central African Republic soldiers. Although no one noticed the journalists, I didn’t feel like witnessing the lynching for a moment longer than I thought necessary. I must have stayed at the scene for no more than ten minutes. I don’t believe that photographers should ever get used to witnessing such violence and the event definitely affected me. Still, during these situations, I try to protect myself by not allowing certain memories to linger in my mind too long. I believe this picture is a strong reminder of how deep the thirst of revenge runs in the country and how difficult it will be for any internal or external force to stabilise and bring long lasting peace in the Central African Republic. – Seigfried Modola

: Anti-government protesters take over the parliament building in Ouagadougou, capital of Burkina Faso, in this October 30, 2014 file photo. I’d been following the protesters since the morning. Parliament was set to vote on a law extending the current president’s 27-year term and the people were protesting against that. By the time it reached 9 a.m., tens of thousands had marched to the national assembly and physically stopped the vote from taking place. That’s when I shot the picture – right at the beginning when the vote was supposed to be held. Inside parliament there was an atmosphere of pure ecstasy. I’m not sure the protesters themselves believed they had made it. Some might look at the images and say ‘These are unruly people, they’re destroying public buildings’. But the protesters felt they were destroying public buildings that no longer represented the public. They felt they were taking matters into their own hands. – Joe Penney

: A man is arrested by security as he tries to slip under the dress of actress America Ferrera (3rd R) in Cannes in this May 16, 2014 file photo. I was covering the stars’ red-carpet arrival for the film screening of “How to Train Your Dragon 2”. Suddenly Vitalii Sediuk, a Ukrainian journalist also known as a red-carpet prankster, tried to stick his head under actress America Ferrera’s netted skirt. No doubt feeling fabulous in her beautiful couture gown, the moment was clearly ruined for Ferrera. I had only ten seconds to realise what was happening and take the shot. Security rapidly dealt with the culprit amid shocked looks from Ferrera and co-star Cate Blanchett. After a flash of appearing red faced and confused, the actress continued the red carpet walk as if nothing had happened. – Benoit Tessier

: Smoke rises over Syrian town of Kobani after an airstrike, as seen from the Mursitpinar border crossing on the Turkish-Syrian border in the town of Suruc in this file October 18, 2014 file photo. A U.S.-led military coalition has been bombing Islamic State fighters who hold a large swathe of territory in both Iraq and Syria, two countries involved in complex multi-sided civil wars in which nearly every country in the Middle East has a stake. The Turkish military and police had declared the Turkish-Syrian border area a “military zone”, which limits the ability of the press to move around. In these days of modern warfare, the weaponry is more powerful than that in the old days. So all of my colleagues and I have to be doubly careful to ensure we do not end up in the line of fire, as positions of Kurdish YPG fighters and IS militants change quickly. For all those reasons, to stay away is the only solution at the moment. We ended up on hills about 2km (1.24 miles) away from Kobani using very long telephoto lenses, often more than 1000mm, to get a peek into the city while listening to the sound of war and smelling its scent. Sometimes you see a shadow of a fighter hiding behind a building and more often you see the massive impact of heavy airstrikes. It is a bit strange sitting there with lenses I usually use for sports photography alongside people from the area, who come to the hills to see what’s going on. They bring binoculars and make tea – making it almost seems like a tourist attraction. – Kai Pfaffenbach

: Secret Service agents keep watch as U.S. President Barack Obama visits a Pat Quinn campaign office in Chicago in this October 20, 2014 file photo. Two agents were posted outside this generic campaign office, and the simplicity of the setting and placement of the agents caught my eye. I took about 10 frames, and then one agent looked up. The juxtaposition of the agents was visually interesting and unique to me. For White House news photographers, a lot of what we do is orchestrated in advance. “Different” images can be few and far between.†To capture a photo that is not preconceived or influenced by the political image makers is quite satisfying. Taking these photos is one of the greatest challenges in this kind of work. At the end of the day, the job of a Secret Service Presidential Protective Detail agent and a White House press travel pool photographer are not all that different. We go everywhere the President goes, we are ready to react to anything that might happen to the President, we think on our feet, we spend lots of hours waiting, we spend a lot of time on the road, we work strange hours and we are very close with our colleagues. Of course there some major differences.† While we watch the President the agents scan the crowd. We carry cameras and they carry guns. Oh, they also tend to look a whole lot sharper than we do….those suits, haircuts and sunglasses do not come cheap. – Kevin Lamarque

: A Hindu devotee worships in the polluted waters of the river Yamuna during the Hindu religious festival of Chatt Puja in New Delhi in this October 30, 2014 file photo. I enjoy photographing religious events, especially those which involve late evening and early morning shoots. Chatt Puja is a Hindu festival worshipping the Sun God Surya, and thousands of people come and go throughout the day. Upon searching for images to shoot I came across a portion of the river where the foam had gathered in large amounts. I saw the men trying to push back the layer of foam on top of the water to make enough space for the women to stand in order to complete the rituals before sunrise. It was quite a struggle, men against foam. It looks like soap or a mountain of snow but actually it’s all pollutants from sewage waters flowing into the Yamuna river. I started shooting women praying but had one eye on the men working their way through the foam. Once they spotted the sun which took longer due the fog in the air the man in the picture was at his best. I had a minute and thankfully some clean space to frame it. – Ahmad Masood

: An aerial view of the Atibainha dam, part of the Cantareira reservoir, during a drought in Nazare Paulista, Sao Paulo state in this November 18, 2014 file picture. Words can’t express what it feels like to view a landscape as bleak and disturbing as the one in this photo. In the four years I’ve lived in Brazil I’ve seen many extraordinary and terrifying things, but the current drought surrounding Sao Paulo for the past nine months surpasses all. Without rain, the reservoirs that provide South America’s largest city with water are at their lowest level in decades. The World Cup and recent elections managed to distract the attention of the population away from the looming problem. They also seem to have kept the state’s institutions busy with little attention paid to this pending disaster. As I rode in the helicopter to take this and other aerial photos, it was only after landing and opening the image on a computer that I noticed the real message that of a woman in panic as in Edvard Munch’s painting “The Scream.” For me, this is Mother Nature screaming for help. – Nacho Doce

: Uttara Saud, 14, sits inside a Chaupadi shed in the hills of Legudsen village in Achham District in western Nepal in this February 16, 2014 file picture. Chaupadi is the practice of treating women as impure and untouchable when they menstruate. In isolated regions like Achham, chaupadi has been a custom for centuries. But those from Nepal’s cities or from abroad often don’t know what it means. When women go through their monthly cycle, they are not allowed to enter a house or pass by a temple. They cannot use public water sources, touch livestock, attend social events like weddings, or touch others. And at night, they are not allowed to sleep in their homes – instead they have to stay in sheds or outbuildings, often with no proper windows or doors. As I worked on this story, I met many women who had been affected by the tradition. Uttara Saud, a shy 14-year-old girl, told me that she has to miss school during her monthly cycle. I realized that chaupadi does not just bring discomfort and isolation to the women practicing it – sometimes they even have to pay with their lives. Isolated and poorly protected from the elements, they can be killed by snake bites, freezing weather, wild animal attacks, or fires they light to keep warm, which can cause blazes or suffocation in small sheds with poor ventilation. There have also been cases of these women, cut off from their families, being the victims of rape. – Navesh Chitrakar

: Demonstrators use a slingshot against the National Guard during a protest in San Cristobal, in this February 27, 2014 file photo. Following a couple of days of riots in Caracas, we decided to travel to the Venezuelan city of San Cristobal to photograph the conflict there. In the afternoon, I was told of clashes between anti-government protests and the National Guard, but barricades blocking almost every street made it extremely difficult to commute from one place to another, even by motorbike. When I finally arrived, it looked like the worst had passed as there was debris everywhere, but a group of youths with giant slingshots remained. With the help of their neighbours, who hurled objects from the top floors of buildings, they had driven the National Guard back to the end of the street. – Carlos Garcia Rawlins

: Local women watch armed men, believed to be Russian soldiers, assemble near a Ukrainian military base in Perevalnoe in this March 5, 2014 file photo. During Russia’s occupation of the Crimean peninsular in Ukraine, masked men without insignia had appeared at Ukrainian army bases and important transport hubs all over the peninsular. Although they declined to say who they were, their Russian accents, military kit and license plates left little doubt that Moscow had sent them. The locals believed they would protect them from attackers from Kiev and consequently welcomed the Russian soldiers like liberators, bringing them flowers and food and flocking to wherever they set up base as if a travelling circus had come to town. These two women had clearly dressed up for the occasion and flirted with the young men in uniform, who were visibly grateful for the distraction to their sentry duty. Eventually, Russian soldiers became less anxious to be seen by foreign media chatting with their Ukrainian counterparts across the compound walls. – Thomas Peter

: Two women wearing nun outfits drink beer while watching the 2014 Tim Hortons Brier curling championships in Kamloops, British Columbia in this March 8, 2014 file photo. Although some people might conclude that a curling event could produce a dull atmosphere, it is actually far from it. Some of the most energetic and loyal fans are committed to showing their colours at tournaments around the world. There was a lull in the games that were being held on this day and I remember spotting these nuns sitting in their seats earlier. Although them just sitting there didn’t produce a picture, I kept my eye on them for the entire match. As soon as I spotted them with beer in their hands, I slowly turned my camera towards them and waited for them to take a drink. One of the challenges of shooting this image was to not have everyone notice me taking the photo. I had a longer lens on and was right in the middle of the rink. I slowly turned my lens, not to make my intentions too obvious, and waited until they drank from their beers together. – Ben Nelms

: Anti-government protesters kiss during a protest against Venezuela’s President Nicolas Maduro’s government in Caracas in this March 22, 2014 file photo. I was covering a Caracas rally against Nicolas Maduro’s government. Students were setting up a blockade and several had been arrested. They were organizing their counter-attack against the police when this girl, ironically the daughter of a government employee, suddenly appeared with a stone in her hand. I pointed my camera towards her as she walked up to her boyfriend and kissed him intensely in the midst of disaster. The challenge and the biggest reward of this picture was capturing something different to the tear bombs and shooting, an intimate and personal moment in the middle of chaos, something with soul and heart. The moment I took it, I knew this photo had something special, but I didn’t realise the image’s power until next day, when it went viral on social media. The photo is inspiring. Love is everywhere. – Christian Veron

: Brazil’s coach Luiz Felipe Scolari (L) gestures to Bernard during their 2014 World Cup semi-finals against Germany at the Mineirao stadium in Belo Horizonte in this July 8, 2014 file photo. After Germany had scored an amazing six goals to none from Brazil, I thought I should start keeping an eye on Brazil’s coach Luiz Felipe Scolari as he would certainly receive some harsh criticism after the game for his team’s dramatic loss. He is always very animated during a game, and this moment occurred as he was yelling to a player to come off the field. The number he was yelling ended up being extremely symbolic, as Germany went on to defeat Brazil by 7 goals. I had a split-second to capture this moment. – David Gray

: Former French President Nicolas Sarkozy sits on a bench with his wife Carla Bruni-Sarkozy in Paris, in this March 23, 2014 file photo. I was covering the first round of the French municipal elections in Paris and went to a local poll station in a school where Nicolas Sarkozy and Carla Bruni-Sarkozy were due to cast their votes. Afterwards they exited through the courtyard to avoid the crowds outside and realising the door was shut, sat together on a bench while waiting for the concierge to fetch the key. I had stayed behind in a school corridor to send out the photos I had just taken when I spotted the open door. I got inside the courtyard where there were two other photographers. Nicolas Sarkozy and Carla saw us, so I got only around 15 seconds to take their picture before their security staff stood in front of them. – Benoit Tessier

: Actress Angelina Jolie cries at the Srebrenica Genocide Memorial in Potocari in this March 28, 2014 file photo. I was covering Angelina Jolie’s visit to the Srebrenica Genocide Memorial and Cemetery, commemorating the brutal murder of 8,000 people in 1995, when she started to cry. Afterwards, she was due to visit rape victims’ homes in the town of Zenica, so many photographers fled to the entrance to capture her departure. But I stayed on the floor, shooting, and was one of the lucky few to see her tears. Capturing this image was a challenge as there was a lot of travelling involved for very few photographs. The weather was hot, there was a lack of organisation and I was often bothered by colleagues. But this image had a great impact when the whole world wrote about her visit to Bosnia, this photograph was especially powerful because of her tears. Angelina’s tears and the photos I took meant a lot to me. I was happy because the whole world will hear about what happened in Srebrenica. But I was also sad, because of the reason for her arrival and because Srebrenica was mentioned solely in the context of war. – Dado Ruvic

: Indians who are considered uncontacted by anthropologists react to a plane flying over their community in the Amazon basin near the Xinane river in Brazil’s Acre State, near the border with Peru, in this March 25, 2014 file photo. I was flying over the Amazon alongside an Ashaninka chief who was searching for illegal logging on their lands. It was a bad flight. Grey skies and heavy winds, over a sea of unbroken forest – no sign of humanity all the way to the horizon. Suddenly, down below us, we saw a spot of clearing and this group of isolated Indians. The way they raised their spears and bows against us, it felt like I was witnessing the last line of human resistance against the world the rest of us have made. Three months after this photo was published, the same group of Indians made their first formal contact with the Ashaninka people and Brazil’s national Indian agency (Funai). They said encroaching non-Indians had burned their villages – which lie in a border region with known drug trafficking and illegal logging activity. Immediately after meeting the outsiders, several of the Indians fell ill. Funai says the situation is under control: It provided flu shots and has reopened a local base that it abandoned three years earlier, following an attack by cartel gunmen. – Lunae Parracho

: Men rest after salvaging metal on the 30th floor of the “Tower of David” skyscraper in Caracas in this February 3, 2014 file photo. The building was intended to be a shining new financial center but was abandoned around 1994 after the death of its developer and the collapse of the financial sector. Squatters invaded the huge concrete skeleton in 2007 and now about 3,000 people call the tower their home. The first time I tried to get access to the tower wasn’t really a success. I was told, not in the friendliest of terms, that I should leave while I still could. The residents of the tower, and particularly those in charge of managing it, were (and still are) very sensitive to media. Publications frequently feature headlines such as: ‘Tower of terror,’ ‘The shanty skyscraper,’ it has even been featured in an episode of the TV series ‘Homeland’ as a kidnappers’ den. My intention wasn’t to follow on from these headlines. I wanted above all to create a portrait of the lives of the thousands of people who call this place home, and who face struggles and risks every day. I wanted to document without judging. That is what I told the squatters’ board of administrators, who made me explain my intentions in producing this story. I felt the strong sense of community here from the first time I ascended the tower. – Jorge Silva

: Eric Parker from central Idaho aims his weapon from a bridge as protesters gather by the Bureau of Land Management’s (BLM) base camp, where cattle that were seized from rancher Cliven Bundy are being held, near Bunkerville, Nevada in this April 12, 2014 file photo. We were on a bridge in southern Nevada in the midst of a tense standoff between the BLM and a group of angry ranchers, militia members and gun-rights activists. It seemed as if we were a hair’s breadth away from Americans killing Americans right in front of me. This showdown had come after the BLM started rounding up cattle belonging to rancher Cliven Bundy, who had been letting his animals graze illegally on federal land for over 20 years. I found myself in the photographer’s typical position when covering standoffs – behind law enforcement. But just as I started feeling comfortable with my surroundings, a woman yelled out that there was an incident taking place below the bridge a couple hundred meters to the east, and I began sprinting that way with other members of the media. The weight of my camera gear slowed me down but I told myself I needed to keep running. I had to be at the scene as fast as possible. It was already a surreal moment, here on a random stretch of highway in the Nevada desert, where men with weapons had taken up tactical positions on government officers something not seen in this country in decades as traffic whizzed by unaware. Sometimes cars would stop and people would step out to take pictures of the scene with their phones, as if it were just another roadside attraction. After a while it became apparent that the BLM was going to release the cattle to the protesters. The animals were freed, and no shots were fired. But the reality of how close to gunfire the situation had come sent a chill through me which I will never forget. – Jim Urquhart

: Bystanders react as victims of a bomb blast arrive at the Asokoro General Hospital in Abuja in this April 14, 2014 file photo. A morning rush-hour bomb killed at least 71 people at a Nigerian bus station near the capital. I had just shot the wedding of the president’s daughter in Abuja and was looking forward to a quiet week. On my way home I was listening to the radio and then came the announcement of an explosion in the busy Nyanya suburb. My heart flashed with panic and anxiety, and I decided to go to the nearest hospital. Gaining access to the premises was a challenge but after a lot of pleading I managed to persuade security to let me in. The sight was unbearable, and the smell of burnt skin filled the air. The crowd gathered at the hospital was overtaken with emotion and pandemonium ensued. As I was shooting away, there came another siren from the gate. I turned and noticed these women standing by the wall, close to the morgue, breaking down in tears and calling on God to help put an end to senseless killings. I turned my camera towards the women and tried to compose the shot carefully, but from my position the vehicle behind which the women were standing was intruding into the frame. There was no way to quickly relocate and recompose the shot, as I did not want to interfere with what was going on. – Afolabi Sotunde

: A resident gestures during a protest against the death of a man in Pavao-Pavaozinho slum, in Rio de Janeiro in this April 22, 2014 file photo. Residents accused Police Peacekeeping Unit (UPP) officers of causing the death of a dancer, Douglas Rafael da Silva Pereira, 25, who was found dead inside a school at the community. When the shooting began I was at home. The favela is just round the corner, so I saw the police cars in the streets, fire in the slum and the street gradually emptying. When I arrived at the slum the residents were in one corner and the police in another. Both screaming and very tense. The residents had set fire to the entrance of the slum, to stop the police getting in. But the police had guns pointed at them all the time. That’s why the man in the picture is opening his arms, to show the police that he is ‘clean’. After that, the residents left the body, covered in blood, in the middle of the street and the police went in to get the dead man. I was the only one that took these pictures, because I was the first photographer to get there. – Lucas Landau

: Four runners carry Adam Hurst down Boylston Street after his legs locked up during the 118th running of the Boston Marathon in Boston, Massachusetts in this April 21, 2014 file photo. I was positioned near the Forum restaurant in case anything significant happened at the time and place of last yearís second bomb attack. I heard the crowd starting to make noise and noticed a man struggling but still standing, legs locked after just having passed 26 miles. The cheers from the sidelines were louder than anything I had heard all day, urging him on, but his body wouldnít cooperate. Thatís when a man, I think David Meyer, stopped his run and offered help. Four runners decided to each take one of Hurst’s limbs and haul him closer to the line. The moment Hurst’s feet came off the ground the spectators erupted in a cheer and they set off faster than I was able to keep up with them on the sidewalk. Both as a journalist and a runner it mattered to me whether he finished on his own legs or theirs, but most importantly I knew it mattered to Hurst. The last thing I wanted was for him to see my picture published saying he didn’t carry himself over that line. Some folks have pointed out that this sort of moment is almost commonplace in marathons, and that’s partly true. But just because what happened that day on Boylston Street isn’t unprecedented doesn’t mean it isn’t special. The moment I was fortunate to witness sums up so much of what I love about this city, this sport, and this event in particular. – Dominick Reuter

: A U.S. flag sticks out the window of a damaged hot rod car in a suburban area after a tornado near Vilonia, Arkansas in this April 28, 2014 file photo. I was covering the tornados that swept though Arkansas and other states killing 35 people and I decided to drive out to Vilona, an area that had suffered some of the worst damage, having seen it from a plane. Gaining access into the area was difficult and I arrived quite late in the day so most of the rescue efforts had ceased, but I felt it was an important story to tell. I was walking around when I noticed the vintage hot-rod on a pile of rubble that had been a house, and I thought it was a good image to demonstrate American resilience and courage in the face of such a disaster. I had to crawl over the debris so I could get a photo of the front of the car with the flag out the window and some of the other houses in the background that had been destroyed. I was affected by the image’s story when I found out that the owner of the car and house, Dan Wasson, died in the tornado as he huddled over his wife and daughters in their home. – Carlo Allegri

: Pro-Russian protesters attack a pro-Ukranian protester during a pro-Ukrainian rally in the eastern city of Donetsk in this April 28, 2014 file photo. Around 500 people were waving Ukrainian flags and shouting anti-Russian slogans. After 30 minutes they started a protest march, but soon afterwards pro-Russian protesters turned up with baseball bats and sticks and clashes broke out. I followed pro-Ukrainians who ran away to small alley, but as there was no way out they got trapped. After some 30 seconds, pro-Russians came and started beating them. For me the image was important because it shows how easily people who were living together for years can turn violent overnight because of politics. Moments before I took this picture I remember I was hiding behind a tree because stones from both sides were flying around. I remember one stone hit Baz Ratner, our photographer who was covering the event with me. The biggest challenge while shooting this image was to not get beaten, because people were extremely violent and they didn’t care if you were a journalist. – Marko Djurica

: A young member of the choir of “Sinfonia por el Peru” vomits before performing with Peruvian tenor Juan Diego Florez at Lima’s National Theatre, in this May 13, 2014 file photo. I was covering a concert at Lima’s National Theatre, awaiting the appearance of Peruvian tenor Juan Diego Florez, who was singing with the young members of the orchestra he was sponsoring, ‘Sinfonia por el Peru’. Moments before he showed up, a choir girl in the middle started vomiting. The children were performing for a very refined audience that came to see Florez, and perhaps she couldn’t handle it. When she threw up for a second time, her vomit splashed onto the kids around her. They were all very professional and continued performing until eventually she was told to step off the stage. – Enrique Castro-Mendivil

: Smoke rises from a house days after part of the ground it was resting on collapsed into Lake Whitney, Texas in this June 13, 2014 file photo. I was covering the controlled burn of a house slowly falling into Lake Whitney due to the decaying cliff underneath. Asked to take photos from an aerial perspective, an instructor and I took off from Grand Prairie Municipal Airport around 9am. The burn, scheduled to start an hour later, was delayed. I love flying, but patience proved challenging as circling for nearly three hours gets boring fast. Once the fire started we only had 15 minutes to take photos because the plane was booked at 1pm. The owners invested their retirement savings in the house and were even advised by geologists that the ground was stable. To watch your investment literally go up in flames must take its toll emotionally. The owners said they don’t expect their insurance to cover the loss. – Brandon Wade

: A masked pro-Russian protester sits on a chair as he poses for a picture inside a regional government building in Donetsk, eastern Ukraine in this April 25, 2014 file photo. On March 3, a couple hundred pro-Russian demonstrators stormed the Donetsk regional government building after clashing with police who were guarding the main entrance. They successfully entered through a side door, and in the end made it to the second floor where the parliament sits. Unrest continued to spiral in Ukraine and the following month separatists declared a “People’s Republic of Donetsk”. Two months after these initial attacks, protestors were still inside the regional government buildings and masked men guarded the barricades. I asked to take a series of portraits of these men. I saw a massive chair underneath a neon light and I picked my lens, adjusted the light, and people began to pose in shifts. Each subject was relaxed, and struck whatever pose suited him. Later, they asked with interest how people in Europe see the situation in Ukraine and wanted to know if anyone supports them, and what will happen in the end. They seemed a bit scared. I didn’t have a good answer to their last question. – Marko Djurica

: A large TVS (tornadic vortex signature) thunderstorm supercell passes over storm chaser Brad Mack in Graham, Texas late in this April 23, 2014 file picture. I was covering the Tornado and Dixie Alleys, areas of the central and southern United States which are vulnerable to strong tornados, due to the severe weather forecast for that week. We had been chasing the storm for almost 18 hours when I saw this tornadic cell coming at us at about 45-50 miles per hour. With very little time, I had to quickly switch to a wider lens to capture the storm coming over us. The image shows just how big these cells are and how close we had to get to create the image. I had one chance to get the shot and I’m just happy I was able to switch lenses in time. – Gene Blevins

: An explosion is seen during a car bomb attack at a rally by militant group, Asaib Ahl Haq (League of the Righteous), to introduce its candidates for elections at a soccer stadium in Baghdad, in this April 25, 2014 file photo. After I was done taking pictures and trying to reach our driver’s vehicle to return to the office a powerful blast hit an exit gate. We tried to find a place to hide because we were expecting a secondary explosion and at the same time we were keen to keep documenting the incident. Screams of the wounded, black smoke and bodies surrounded us, while security forces and militia members were shooting in the air to disperse the crowd. I tried to take cover behind anything close by. Along with Reuters cameraman Mahdi Talaat we could only hit the ground and film the event that was taking place in front of us. Then a minibus that was advancing towards the site caught our attention. The car was only a few meters away from our position and heading towards a gate when it blew up. The blazing fire, smoke and the blast’s shockwave along with shrapnel raining down on us and the wailing of the wounded made us believe that we were witnessing judgment day. This incident has had a great impact on myself and resulted in raising my awareness and developing a great internal fear of street gatherings, protests and celebrations. Images of the incident are still fresh in my mind and they keep replaying in my head every time I see a large gathering of people and it even haunts me in my sleep at times. – Thaier al-Sudani

: Qin Zhengyu, 78, shows moles and tumours on her back in her home at Heshan village, in Shimen county, central China’s Hunan Province, in this June 4, 2014 file photo. Heshan is in an area rich in realgar, or arsenic disulphide, and is sometimes given the grim label “cancer village”. Factories and mines sprang up to process this precious resource but they were shut down in 2011 because of the pollution they caused. Heshan residents said that many had died from cancer caused by arsenic poisoning. I am no stranger to death and during my coverage of the 2008 Sichuan earthquake, I was witness to huge-scale tragedy. But this was the first time I saw people who lived as though they had a sword hanging over their heads all the time. The desperation and hopelessness were unimaginable. – Jason Lee

: Italy’s Giorgio Chiellini shows teeth marks on his shoulder where he was bitten by Uruguay’s Luis Suarez, during their 2014 World Cup match at the Dunas arena in Natal in this June 24, 2014 file photo. I was covering the match between Italy and Uruguay and it felt almost just like any other match. But in the second half, there was some strange contact between Italy’s Giorgio Chiellini and Uruguay’s Luis Suarez. I was following the action elsewhere on the pitch, but I saw them both fall down. They both looked like they were in pain, and I started to take pictures until Chiellini reacted angrily right in front of me, pulling down his shirt to reveal his shoulder. I shot some photos and, for me, the story was finished. But I only did part of the work. The second, very important part of the job was done by our great editors who spotted the teeth marks on Chiellini’s shoulder, and a cropped version of my picture was sent out to our clients so they could see too. – Tony Gentile

: Tariq Khdeir is greeted by his mother after being released from jail in Jerusalem July 6, 2014. The picture was taken outside the courthouse following the release of Khdeir, a 15-year-old American of Palestinian descent, whose beating by Israeli police during a violent protest in East Jerusalem drew U.S. concern. Tariq Khdeir from Tampa, Florida, is a cousin of 16-year-old Palestinian Mohammed Abu Khudair, who was abducted and killed in July 2014 in a suspected revenge attack for the killing of three Israeli youths by Palestinian militants in the occupied West Bank. Three Israelis have been arrested and charged on suspicion of killing Abu Khudair. The abduction and killing of three Israeli youths by Palestinian militants in June 2014 caused alarm throughout Israel and set off a cycle of violence, including the killing of Mohammed Abu Khudair in a suspected revenge attack. Khudair’s killing ñ three Israelis have been charged with his murder – led to clashes between Palestinian youths and Israeli police in East Jerusalem. – Ronen Zvulun

: Mahindra Moto3 rider Bryan Schouten of the Netherlands fights with compatriot Kalex KTM Moto3 rider Scott Deroue (R) after they crashed during the German Grand Prix at the Sachsenring circuit in Hohenstein-Ernstthal in this July 13, 2014 file photo. During lap 26, towards the end of the race, I was standing behind the tire barrier in the first bend waiting for the pack of riders. I decided to make this lap the last one before changing position to shoot the winner crossing the finishing line further up the track. When the pack approached, two riders came skidding out of the pack, losing contact with their bikes and coming to a halt in the gravel traps a mere two metres away from each other. It was impossible to make what had actually happened as the incident that led to the crash was obscured by the other riders. But Schouten seemed to be sure who was to blame. He jumped to his feet and started to lay into his compatriot, Scott Deroue, kicking and punching his helmet. After initially blocking the attack somewhat coyly, Deroue became equally furious and responded in kind. The two had to be separated by several medics and race attendants who struggled to bring the brawl to an end. – Thomas Peter

: An Afghan resident points his weapon at the dead body of an unidentified militant, as a way of showing his hatred for insurgents, after an attack on Kabul airport in this July 17, 2014 file photo. Militants armed with rocket-propelled grenades attacked Kabul International Airport from the roof of a building just to its north. Such attacks are not uncommon in Kabul and I have photographed quite a number of these incidents. After four or five hours of fighting between Taliban and Afghan security forces, all insurgents were killed and curious locals and media were allowed to enter the site. A group of unidentified men armed with guns were looking around the bodies of the dead Taliban, some of them were kicking the bodies, some cursing. One of them pointed his gun at the body of the Taliban fighter who was lying at the scene. I shot the frames quickly and moved back thinking he might fire and the impact could get to me. He did not fire. – Omar Sobhani

: Debris flies after the Soyuz TMA-14M spacecraft blasted off from the launch pad at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in this September 26, 2014 file photo. How on earth could I take a close-up shot of a Soyuz rocket as it blasted off amid orange flames? Especially when to comply with safety requirements, I was in a photography position over a kilometre away from the rocket. The answer was to leave a remote camera at the launch pad. This led to the second question, due to technical issues photographers can’t control the remote cameras they leave at the launch pad. So how would I trigger my camera? The launch of a Soyuz into orbit is meticulously calculated to the last second. This precision provided the answer to my dilemma – a simple photo-timer the size of a mobile phone. What remained to be done was as simple as ABC – to calculate the hours, minutes and seconds before the takeoff and set the timer on countdown. I prepared the rest of my kit; as well as my camera, this included a bag for gravel to keep the tripod steady, sandwich wrapping, and scotch tape. I had a soft, sealed ball perched on a tripod – with a lens curiously sticking out. As Soyuz lifted off in clouds of dust, the wind changed a blast of eastern wind curled and the sand lifted by the roaring Soyuz blew back to the launch pad, straight towards our remote cameras. Only my sandwichù ball was still standing firmly upright. A bullet-like hole proudly gaping in the filter, and the plastic wrapping melted on top. I was thinking with horror about my broken lens, because my next assignment was just a day away. Luckily, sandwiches appear to be well protected these days! A broken filter was my only loss, and I had my shot. – Shamil Zhumatov REUTERS/Shamil Zhumatov

: A radio-controlled flying witch makes a test flight past a moon setting into clouds along the pacific ocean in Carlsbad, California in this October 8, 2014 file photo. The witch is actually a radio controlled airplane powered by an electric motor. The inventor Otto Dieffenbach III invited me to shoot a test flight as he was keen to fly his invention through a full moon. I have no idea how he makes it fly but it’s amazing just to watch, freaky actually. Shooting was a bit of a challenge, as the moon was setting into the ocean fog and there needed to be a slight bit of dawn light for some separation in order to focus on the witch and not the moon. It was only near the end of the 15 minute battery powered flight that it all came together with the flight path, light, focus and timing. – Mike Blake

: An Israeli woman (C) and a Palestinian woman gesture at one another during a protest by Palestinian women against Jewish visitors to the compound known to Muslims as Noble Sanctuary and to Jews as Temple Mount in Jerusalem’s Old City in this October 14, 2014 file photo. The Palestinian women were singing and chanting in Arabic while heavily armed Israeli border police looked on and occasionally pushed them back to make way for Jewish worshipers going to the Western Wall. The Palestinian women shouted and harassed Jewish passersby while Orthodox Jews living in apartments above the street threw bottles and water down at the Palestinian women. About half a dozen Orthodox Jewish worshipers wanted to pass along the narrow street toward the Western Wall and the Israeli border police created a passageway through the crowd of Palestinian women. As the Israelis walked between the shouting protesters I focused on the woman in the center of the scene. When she was right in front of me, she turned and gestured to the Palestinian woman. It wasn’t something done for the camera — I don’t think she even realized I was there. It was only when I looked at the picture afterward that I realized that the Palestinian woman had returned the gesture, which in this part of the world is the equivalent to giving someone the middle finger. – Finbarr O’Reilly

: The son (L) of one of the members of Tayseer Al-Batsh’s family, who hospital officials said were killed in an Israeli air strike, mourns during their funeral in Gaza City in this July 13, 2014 file photo. The strike on the family home of Al-Batsh, Gaza’s police chief, killed 18 people. While I was shooting this picture loud explosions from air strikes could be heard and battles from the ground offensive were ongoing. Moments before taking this pix, mourners brought out the bodies of the family members and their relatives started to cry and shout. Suddenly, this boy fell on the ground and burst into tears shouting: “My dad, my dad.” The situation was risky and I had to take the pictures quickly and leave the area as fast as possible. This picture has affected me the most from the war. As a father, I was totally shocked and sad to hear this boy crying out for his dead father. – Mohammed Salem

: Ifeoma Nwoye of Nigeria is carried away by her coach after she lost her women’s freestyle 55kg wrestling semi-final at the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, Scotland, in this July 31, 2014 file picture. The picture was shot during the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow. In the image, the wrestler’s coach is carrying her away after she lost her bout. It was not immediately clear to me whether she had been injured in the contest or whether she was simply upset at having lost. The Nigerian woman lost and was knocked out of the competition by the eventual gold medallist who easily overpowered her. There was a moment of serendipity as I followed the coach and wrestler out as the games logo formed a halo around her head which helps the viewer focus on the expression on her face. The whole moment was over in a second, and the tournament carried on. If anything I suppose the picture shows that sometimes in sport a moment of crushing disappointment can be just as engaging as a moment of victory. – Andrew Winning

: Three men found guilty by a Somali military court of killing civilians and masterminding a recent attack on the Presidential Palace stand tied to poles shortly before they were executed by a firing squad in capital Mogadishu in this August 3, 2014 file photo. I was covering the execution of three Somali men who were accused of being members of Islamist militant group al Shabaab. I took the photo while the men were still alive and tied to poles. Once they were shot, I could see blood gushing from their head, chest and stomach. They died within seconds, but we were not allowed to take pictures of their dead bodies. It was shocking to see men just waiting to be killed and unable to escape because they were tied tight to strong poles. The story really affected me and I panicked because I was watching human beings being executed. It was terrible to see their blood as they writhed, and to hear them scream. – Feisal Omar REUTERS/Feisal Omar

: Palestinians rescue Mahmoud al-Ghol from under the rubble of a house in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip in this August 3, 2014 file photo. I was at a house with my colleagues monitoring the situation in Rafah, when I heard two huge explosions. The shout went up: “A hit by Israeli F16!” Once I realised that the house had an asbestos roof, I knew there would be serious casualties. First they removed the body of an old man and then people started to shout: “Children under the rubble!” I rushed to the closest position to photograph these kids. The boy in this picture was later identified as Mahmoud al-Ghol. He is 10 years old. Nine of Mahmoud’s relatives, including his uncle’s family, were killed in the strike and another seven were wounded. Seeing him beneath the debris was the worst experience of my life. Tears were running from my eyes while I was taking the pictures. Looking at the boy was like looking at my own son. A colleague of mine knows Mahmoud’s relatives and after the strike he helped me to trace him to where he was being treated in hospital. – Ibraheem Abu Mustafa

: A Palestinian fighter from the Izz el-Deen al-Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of the Hamas movement, gestures inside an underground tunnel in Gaza in this August 18, 2014 file photo. A rare tour that Hamas granted to a Reuters reporter, photographer and cameraman appeared to be an attempt to dispute Israel’s claim that it had demolished all of the Islamist group’s border infiltration tunnels in the Gaza war. I was part of a Reuters team who were given exclusive access to take pictures of the tunnels used by Hamas’ armed wing to fight against Israel. We were blindfolded by Hamas militants and guided to an undisclosed location. Suddenly I found myself inside a dark and scary tunnel. I could barely breathe inside the place it was so deep and cold. The dim light and narrowness of the tunnel made it very difficult to take pictures. It was a very special story as the Reuters team were the first people to be allowed into the tunnels. The pictures were published in many papers and magazines around the world. – Mohammed Salem

: A girl from the minority Yazidi sect rests after fleeing violence in Sinjar, in this August 13, 2014 file photo. I remember the scene well. It was the day that I arrived at the Iraqi-Syrian border crossing of Fishkhabour. With shocked, sunburnt faces, men, women and children in dirt-caked clothes were struggling in temperatures of over 45 degrees Celsius (113 Fahrenheit). At first, I focused my camera on a group of women sitting on the ground, but when I turned away I saw this little girl. I took one shot of her there and as she saw me, she gave me a smile. I captured another frame of her with her mother. I was drawn to her wild beauty in this terrible situation. There is a kind of intensity, distress and sadness in her eyes. It was really sad not only to see this girl, but also to see the hundred others who were dirty, exhausted, and sitting amongst garbage in the heat. I would be very curious to see the blonde girl who I photographed again. I wonder what will become of her. I wonder what will become of all the others. – Youssef Boudlal

: A man is doused with milk and sprayed with mist after being hit by an eye irritant from security forces in Ferguson, Missouri in this August 20, 2014 file photo. As the evening rolled past midnight, I saw one man among the crowd who looked particularly agitated. He seemed to be a local resident, very upset with the police, and people were holding him back as he yelled towards the officers. As he kept shouting, the police targeted him with some kind of eye irritant it looked like pepper spray. He wasn’t very close, but they got him right in the eye and his friends immediately pulled him to a parking lot nearby, where they poured milk on his face to flush away the effects of the spray. As they started to pour the milk, I began photographing and noticed a bright spotlight in the background. I believe it was from the police. At that point the people taking care of the man started spraying mist or water to further clear his eyes and I positioned my camera and used the light source to create a rim light around his head and bring attention to the droplets. – Adrees Latif

: Indonesian police use tear gas and water cannon to disperse supporters of presidential candidate Prabowo Subianto in Jakarta in this August 21, 2014 file photo. After Prabowo supporters had been taunting the police who were holding the barricade, the police launched a very quick and violent strike to disperse them. I had a helmet on so I was able to stand my ground for a few seconds while sticks, rocks and teargas flew through the air – added to that I had attack dogs right behind me. The clash was fast and decisive. The supporters were not expecting such a violent reaction and dispersed. It was all over in a few minutes. – Darren Whiteside

: Armed pro-Russian separatists (R) escort a column of Ukrainian prisoners of war as they walk across central Donetsk in this August 24, 2014 file photo. It was an awful sight: A column of jaded and haphazardly dressed people walking along the street surrounded by armed rebels. Citizens were shouting curses and throwing eggs at them. The column was followed by street sweepers washing the road after the prisoners. The scene looked like a farce or copy of the parade of German prisoners in World War Two in Moscow in 1945. I think this image perfectly shows the negative emotions of conflict: weakness, devastation, shame, fear on one side and spite, aggression, rage and desire for revenge on the other. It reminded of a quote ‘History repeats itself, first as a tragedy, second as a farce’. – Maxim Shemetov

: Palestinian children hold guns as they celebrate with others what they said was a victory over Israel, following a ceasefire in Gaza City in this August 26, 2014 file photo. I was covering the celebrations by Palestinians moments after the declaration of a ceasefire that ended a 51-day fighting between Israel and Hamas. Throwing sweets and chanting slogans, people took to the streets, riding vehicles and motorcycles, to celebrate what they said was victory over Israel. Moments before taking this picture, the battles between Israel and Gaza’s militants were taking place and explosions could be heard till the truce was announced. The scene was special as children were smiling, holding a pistol and weapon, and showing no sign of fear. It was quite difficult to take the picture since there was not enough light, and the car was driving quickly. My movement was also restricted due to the traffic jams and flows of people in the streets. – Suhaib Salem

: Michael Lucarelli runs from the media as he leaves the federal court building after posting bail in the Manhattan borough of New York in this August 26, 2014 file picture. Outside the courthouse I was waiting for Lucarelli when a photographer friend from a local paper stopped by to chat and ask me what was going on, I told him it was a minor fraud case that we were covering. His paper wasn’t interested in the case at all. A network TV crew was there covering another story. Lucarelli looked out the door and saw the two photographers and a TV crew and thought they were all for him. He ducked back inside for a moment, then came back through the revolving door and took off at a full sprint. He ran away so fast that his sandals flew off his feet, which is what made the photo and caused the other media to run to the story. If he had just walked out, TV and the other photographer would have never sent their images. – Carlo Allegri

Reuters pictures of the year 2014: The stories behind the images

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