An American flag is mounted on a fence at a farm on U.S. Highway 20 during a blizzard near Galva, Iowa, on Jan. 13, 2024. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)
In 2024, AP photojournalists across nearly 100 countries and in all 50 states documented the world’s most urgent stories.
From pivotal moments including the attempted assassination of President-elect Donald Trump to the ongoing wars in Ukraine and the Middle East, AP photographers were on the front lines, capturing history as it unfolded.
Beyond breaking news, AP’s visual teams also chronicled moments of joy, wonder and excitement.
“AP’s photographers are among the world’s most talented visual journalists, capturing not just the headlines, but the emotions, stories, and people behind them,” said AP Director of Photography Lucy Nicholson. “It is important to remember that the visual often is the story. Photographers are often asked for images ‘to go with a story,’ and I’d like us to lead the process in reimagining the visual as the story. At the heart of our work is the belief that every photograph holds the potential to shape how we understand the world.”
A selection of AP’s top year end photos are featured in the slideshow below:
People help Liudmila, 85, board a bus after their evacuation from Vovchansk, Ukraine, on May 12, 2024. Her husband was killed in their house during a Russian airstrike on the city. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka)A reveller lies in a pool of squashed tomatoes during the annual “Tomatina” tomato fight fiesta, in the village of Bunol near Valencia, Spain, Aug. 28, 2024. (AP Photo/Alberto Saiz)A girl plays a jump rope game at a school housing residents displaced by gang violence in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, May 15, 2024. (AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa)People walk through a part of the Amazon River that shows signs of drought in Santa Sofia, on the outskirts of Leticia, Colombia, on Oct. 20, 2024. (AP Photo/Ivan Valencia)Passengers in the back of a taxi film themselves as they leave the Eiffel Tower, decorated with the Olympic rings ahead of the 2024 Summer Olympics, in Paris, on July 17, 2024. (AP Photo/David Goldman)Members of the Al-Rabaya family break their fast during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan outside their home, which was destroyed by an Israeli airstrike, in Rafah, Gaza Strip, on March 18, 2024. (AP Photo/Fatima Shbair)A cat searches for food in a house burnt by rockets fired by Hezbollah in the town of Kiryat Shmona, northern Israel, near the border with Lebanon, on Feb. 29, 2024. (AP Photo/Ariel Schalit)A Syrian opposition fighter tears a painting depicting Syria’s overthrown President Bashar Assad and his late father, Hazef Assad, at Aleppo International Airport in Aleppo, Syria, Dec. 2, 2024. (AP Photo/Ghaith Alsayed)An American flag is mounted on a fence at a farm on U.S. Highway 20 during a blizzard near Galva, Iowa, on Jan. 13, 2024. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump is surrounded by U.S. Secret Service agents after an assassination attempt at a campaign rally in Butler, Pa., July 13, 2024. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
