The Year in Pictures 2025

A wildfire ravaged populated neighborhoods of Los Angeles. A fragile ceasefire took hold in the Gaza war, and a conflict in Sudan wore on. Over the course of a turbulent year, photographers captured those and other events with intrepidness and determination — even as they so often put themselves at risk. Doggedly, they trailed a young mayoral candidate as he electrified his base in New York. In cities across the United States, they were on the front lines of an increasingly aggressive immigration crackdown. In their bold photographs, they show their own neighbors eking out life amid the rubble of their destroyed homelands. Their diligence allows us to peek inside a quiet vigil for a coyote returning to its pups, and to observe a tender hug between a boy and a man with 100 years between them. Looking back on the year through those fleeting moments gives us a chance to reflect on the world, and endeavor to understand it better. This 36-page special section of the Year in Pictures was published on Sunday, Dec. 21, 2025.