The 20 photographs of the year

Europe’s refugee crisis, the Paris attacks, pollution in China, the continuing violence in Israel and Syria – the world’s leading photojournalists describe how they captured 20 defining images in 2015

  • 30 September: A Syrian couple arrive on the Greek island of Lesbos.‘That morning thousands of refugees were crossing the Aegean from Turkey under terrible sea conditions. Dinghies were arriving everywhere and people were wet, freezing and scared. Some colleagues and I tried to help people avoid rocks and get out of the water. On my way back to the road I saw this couple and as they started walking to leave the beach, I had the chance to shoot this image. I hope it helps to tell the story of those who are forced to risk their lives after being forced to leave their lives back home.’
    A Syrian couple hug after arriving on the Greek island of Lesbos.

  • 13 November: A victim of a terrorist attack lies dead outside the Bataclan theatre in Paris.‘The last thing I wanted was to get in the way of people doing their jobs, but I had to do my job and find out what was happening. I spotted this one body lying on the pavement, and I just snapped three frames without thinking much. I was absolutely stunned by the response. I’ve photographed dead people my entire professional life. I don’t know who this person is, and maybe in this case it’s better that way. The picture represents all the victims.’ Taken from an interview with Leah Harper
    13 November: A victim of a terrorist attack lies dead outside the Bataclan theatre in Paris.

  • 8 September: A Palestinian boy sleeps on a mattress inside the remains of his family’s house.‘A sand storm approached the Gaza Strip, and the first thing that came to my mind was the people living in the remains of the houses that were destroyed by Israeli shelling during the 50-day war in 2014. The densely-populated Shejaiya neighbourhood was almost empty, like a ghost town. I knew capturing the boy sleeping in such conditions was a poignant moment that would be sufficient to illustrate the life of those people.’
    A Palestinian boy sleeps on a mattress

  • 21 August: Children cry as migrants and refugees clash with Macedonian border police as they attempt to enter the country from Greece.‘The situation was so horrible that for the first time in my life I saw my colleagues cry, shaken by what was going on in front of their eyes. Migrants were coming from Greece trying to get to Europe, but the Macedonian border was closed. Some of the migrants took other people’s children in their hands to be allowed to pass the police cordon. Then the men started to push from behind. The children were then left stranded, searching for their parents.’
    Children cry at the Macedonian border

  • 6 July: Revellers enjoy the opening day of the San Fermin fiesta in Pamplona, Spain.‘I was covering the start of the festival, from a second floor balcony just in front of the city hall. About two minutes before the fireworks went off, I realised that the crowd were swaying and some of them were struggling to stand up. I then saw Nazarena Arguello trying to breathe and took four pictures of her. Nazarena contacted me after the festival and told me that she later fainted and was carried out of the square where she recovered enough to enjoy the remainder of the San Fermines.’
    The San Fermin fiesta

  • 30 November: Tiananmen Square is covered in smog on a day of heavy pollution in Beijing, China.‘Appalling pollution in Beijing is nothing new, but to have such high levels of toxic pollutants in the heart of China’s capital at the opening of the Paris climate conference made the scene quite striking. It was a stark reminder that even though it is China’s pollution, it’s the world’s problem.’
    Tiananmen Square is covered in smog on

  • 23 July: People watch Chris Froome from the terrace of a restaurant during the Tour de France.‘After shooting 15 Tour de France races my challenge was to find fresh angles. During the stage between Gap and Saint Jean de Maurienne I decided to stop at this terrace because it was typically French with tourists eating and waiting for the peloton. The awning was framing the picture on the top and the painting on the left gave a surrealist touch. When the pack arrived, Chris Froome, the eventual winner of the race, passed in the gap and I was happy.’
    People watch Chris Froome

  • 8 April: David Cameron reads to six-year-old Lucy Howarth at the Sacred Heart RC primary school in Westhoughton.‘The election campaign was the most controlled I’d ever covered. There were very few if any engagements with the public so when Lucy Howarth seemingly head-butted the desk in desperation at David Cameron’s attempts to get her to read, I knew we had something that he or his advisers couldn’t control. She was actually just shy and giggling at that moment but I think it summed up the way everyone was feeling about what seemed like a never-ending campaign.’
    David Cameron reads to six-year-old Lucy Howarth

  • 30 August: Syrians walk amid the rubble of destroyed buildings following reported airstrikes by regime forces in the rebel-held area of Douma.‘I was heading home when I heard a massive explosion. A fighter jet had just dropped six bombs killing many people. I was afraid when I took this photograph. I was afraid of the angry people who lost their kids, relatives and loved ones. One of them threatened me with a gun to stop me taking pictures. I am still haunted by his face shouting at me. It is one of the worst things about being a photographer in the time of war.’
    Syrians walk amid the rubble of destroyed buildings

  • 3 August: A firefighter is silhouetted by his headlamp as he monitors a back fire while battling the Rocky Fire near Clearlake, California.‘At the end of a long day where flames from the Rocky Fire jumped a road and threatened a community of homes, firefighters lit back fires to slow the fire’s progress. I was watching this firefighter walking along with his headlamp on and was able to capture his silhouette as he stopped and turned.’
    A firefighter is silhouetted by his headlamp a

  • 7 May: Jean Claude Niyonzima pleads with soldiers to protect him from a mob of demonstrators in Bujumbura, Burundi.‘In a scene reminiscent of the lynchings I’d witnessed in the Central African Republic a year before, this young man was chased and beaten by a mob just for being suspected of belonging to Burundi’s ruling party’s Imbonerakure youth militia. He managed to escape death by hiding in a sewer, and was saved by the army. He survived then, but many have died since, as the spectre of civil war and massacres looms over this small African nation.’
    A suspected member of the ruling party’s Imbonerakure youth militia pleads with soldiers to protect him

  • 4 April: In this frame from video, Walter Lamer Scott runs away from police officer Michael Thomas Slager before being shot dead in North Charleston.‘You could hear birds flying, the swing of their wings. You could hear everything; the sounds of the officer, the gunshots. Everything. I believed my presence would prevent something but it didn’t happen that way. Everything happened too fast. I never imagined he’d pull his gun out. There was no way out. He [Scott] was running slow.’ Taken from an interview with Oliver Laughland and Jon Swaine
    Walter Lamer Scott runs away from city patrolman Michael Thomas Slager

  • 2 September: A Turkish police officer carries Alan Kurdi, who drowned in a failed attempt to sail from Turkey to the Greek island of Kos.‘I wished there was no problem in their country [Syria], that they hadn’t left it and hadn’t tried to leave Turkey and that I hadn’t taken this photograph. There was nothing left to do for him ... all I could do was take these pictures to be their voice.’
    A Turkish police officer carries Alan Kurdi

  • 26 January: Ebola survivor Benetha Coleman comforts an infant girl in Paynesville, Liberia.‘I was photographing in the same Doctors Without Borders treatment centre where I’d seen so many terminally-ill patients just a few months before. This time though, there were far fewer of them. With my own son to be born less than two months later back in the US, it was emotional for me to see that baby in the high-risk area. When I later learned she was Ebola-free and survived, I was so relieved. To cover Liberia coming out of the epidemic gave me great joy after so much sadness on my previous trips.’
    Ebola survivor and nurse’s aid Benetha Coleman comforts an infant girl with Ebola

  • 27 April: A Nepalese girl injured in the earthquake holds the hand of her mother inside an Indian air force helicopter.‘I know almost nothing about the girl. I was covering rescue operations by the Indian air force and she was picked up in one of the rescue sorties. No one who was wounded was in a condition to talk. She was clutching the hands of her mother during the whole flight and it was very touching. It probably gave her comfort, love and reassurance.’
    A Nepalese girl injured in the earthquake

  • 10 October: Participants wave flowers at leader Kim Jong-Un during a mass military parade in Pyongyang.‘It was the finale of a parade marking the 70th anniversary of the Workers’ Party; a deafening cacophony of sight and sound. After the soldiers and military hardware had passed, hundreds, possibly thousands, of participants waved plastic flowers and shouted slogans for Kim Jong-Un. To stand before them is intimidating and disorientating. It’s a struggle to find moments that will allow a single photograph to tell a story – but for me they say more than any tank or missile launcher.’
    Participants wave flowers at North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un

  • 19 July: Ten-year-old Zubaida Faisal, a Syrian refugee, skips at an informal settlement on the outskirts of Mafraq, Jordan‘If you go through any camp or any story there are two sides – there is the side where you show the dirt, you show the poverty, and there is the side that shows how life goes on. So I point my camera and I try to show how life doesn’t stop, even in the middle of these difficult circumstances.’ Taken from an interview with Eleni Stefanou
    Ten-year-old Zubaida Faisal, a Syrian refugee, skips at an informal settlement

  • 25 March: In this handout image taken by Fabrice Balsamo from the French Interior Ministry, search and rescue teams attend to the crash site of the Germanwings Airbus near Seyne, France.A total of 150 people died when the aircraft, on a flight from Barcelona to Dusseldorf, crashed into a mountain. First officer Andreas Lubitz pushed the plane into the ‘fatal descent’ that preceded the crash, a French prosecutor said, adding that Lubitz had locked the captain out of the cockpit. ‘It was a voluntary action,’ said the prosecutor, Brice Robin. The intention was ‘to destroy the aircraft.’
    Ssearch and rescue teams attend to the crash site of the Germanwings Airbus near Seyne, France

  • 24 July: Images captured by the New Horizons probe are combined and enhanced to show differences in the composition of Pluto’s surface.‘It was not until the morning after the probe swept over Pluto and on into deep space that we realised what a wonderful world we had uncovered. It was then that we got the first images back and they were spectacular. It is clear it has been geologically alive throughout its 4.5bn-year history. It should have cooled off by now, but hasn’t. It is a puzzle of gargantuan proportions for planetary geophysics.’Alan Stern, principal investigator for New Horizons
    Images captured by the New Horizons spacecraft are combined and enhanced to show differences in the composition and texture of Pluto’s surface

  • 6 September: A newly married couple pose at home with their family in Kobane, Syria.‘I sneaked into Kobane where hundreds of civilians had been killed with the infiltration of Isis in June 2015. The fighting was far still from over but, one way or other, people wanted to remain living in their homelands. I ran into this wedding convoy. The weddings in Kobane start with a tour around the town in a motorcade and ends at the bride’s house where a humble celebration takes place. As I thought of a way to express it in the purest form, I just took this one simple photo and left.’
    A newly married couple pose at home with their family in Kobane, Syria
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