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TIME’s Top 100 Photos of 2023

The McDougall Creek wildfire burns on the mountainside above houses in West Kelowna, B.C., on Aug. 18.
Darryl Dyck—The Canadian Press/AP Flames encircle a mountainside above nearby homes as the McDougall Creek wildfire roared in West Kelowna, British Columbia, on Aug. 18. Extreme weather conditions fueled CanadaÕs worst wildfire season on record, with thousands of fires devastating millions of acres and darkening skies thousands of miles away.

These are the photographs that capture the year

Did you see this photo??
*link*
Wow.
Omg!!

Follow this exchange with a dynamic discussion, hit repeat, and you have a pretty accurate snapshot of the TIME photo department’s typical Slack conversations. Even though we collectively scroll through thousands of photographs each day, there are still those that stop us in our tracks on a regular basis.

As we draw close to the end of another year punctuated by grief and conflict, but also records broken and breathtaking moments of human achievement, photographers continue to astound us by offering new ways of seeing the world. How incredible it is to think you’ve seen every photo of a president, a protest, a sporting event, only to see it anew through the lens of a storyteller who showed up with the intent to inform and to illuminate the connectedness of humankind.

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What has become clear in 2023—a year dominated by the rapid rise of AI imagery—is that photojournalism has become more important than ever. The storytellers who are dedicated to bearing witness to events across the globe in real time are critical in providing lucidity to an otherwise muddled world. As such, the weight of responsibility on them to act ethically, and with the highest level of journalistic integrity, is greater now than perhaps ever in history.

Below is the 2023 Greatest Hits version of “Did you see this photo??”: an unranked collection of 100 of the images that moved us the most. We hope that you’ll take some time to reflect on the year that was, with thoughtfulness, clarity, and wonder.

— Katherine Pomerantz, Director of Photography

Warning: Some of the following images are graphic in nature and might be disturbing to some viewers.

Rescuers carry out a girl from a collapsed building following an earthquake in Diyarbakir, Turkey on Feb. 6. A man waits for clients while selling mangos in his street stall in the late afternoon in Kandahar City, Afghanistan, on June 12. A police officer sprays an irritant smoke at demonstrators during a protest to mark International Women's Day in front of Mexico's National Palace in Mexico City, Mexico, on March 8. Asylum-seeking migrants mostly from Venezuela cross the Rio Grande river into the U.S., in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, on March 29, 2023. The Avenue of the Giants in Humboldt county is closed due to flooding, in Redcrest, Calif. on Friday, Jan. 13, 2023. (Alexandra Hootnick/The New York Times) Israelis donate blood at Magen David Adom emergency service in Jerusalem, following an unprecedented attack by Hamas militants on Israel, on Oct. 7. In this aerial photo, responders are seen near wreckage in the aftermath of a multi-vehicle pileup caused by "superfog" on I-55 in Manchac, La., Oct. 23. Shepherd Józef Klimowski, left, and others lead a flock of sheep in Nowy Targ, Poland, in the country's southern highlands, Oct. 8, 2023. (Maciek Nabrdalik/The New York Times)
A woman holding a girl reacts after Israeli airstrikes hit Ridwan neighborhood of Gaza City, on Oct. 23. PTI supporters clash with police to avoid arrest of former PM Khan, Lahore, Pakistan - 14 Mar 2023 Ukrainian military medics treat their wounded comrade at the field hospital near Bakhmut, Ukraine, on Feb. 26. Police officers at the Porokhovskoye cemetery, where the press service owned by Yevgeny Prigozhin said he was buried Tuesday, in St. Petersburg, Russia, Aug. 29, 2023 Tyre Nichols' mother RowVaughn Wells looks on after the funeral service for her son at Mississippi Boulevard Christian Church in Memphis, Tenn., on Feb. 1 Hatay, Turkey, a city known for its citrus industry, in the aftermath of the 7.8- and 7.5-magnitude earthquakes that claimed 55,000 lives in southern Turkey and northern Syria in February. Palestinian woman Inas Abu Maamar, 36, embraces the body of her 5-year-old niece Saly, who was killed in an Israeli strike, at Nasser hospital in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip, on Oct. 17. Aftermath of a deadly earthquake in Morocco Villarrica volcano as seen from Villarrica, some 800 kilometres south of Santiago, Chile, on Sept. 27. Villarrica is among the most active volcanoes in South America. Britain's Prince William, Prince of Wales, Princess Charlotte, Prince Louis, and Britain's Catherine, Princess of Wales, attend the Coronation of King Charles III and Queen Camilla at Westminster Abbey in London on May 6. Charles acceded to the throne on Sept. 8, 2022, upon the death of his mother, Elizabeth II. Rep. Gloria Johnson, Rep. Justin Jones, Rep. Justin Pearson leave the Tennessee State Capitol after a vote at the Tennessee House of Representatives to expel two Democratic members for their roles in a gun control demonstration at the statehouse last week, in Nashville, Tenn., on April 6. The body of a Russian soldier outside Makarivka, in the Zaporizhzhia region of southern Ukraine, on July 26, 2023. (Tyler Hicks/The New York Times) Anti-war protesters raise "bloody" hands behind Blinken at hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington An aerial view of Bakhmut, the site of the heaviest battles with Russian troops in the Donetsk region, Ukraine, on June 22. Spain's Ona Batlle and teammates celebrate after winning the FIFA Women's World Cup in Sydney, on Aug. 20. Taken with a long exposure, girls dance during the afternoon rituals of the second day of the Wyra'whaw coming-of-age festival in the Ramada ritual center, in Tenetehar Wa Tembe village, located in the Alto Rio Guama Indigenous territory in Para state, Brazil, on June 10. Police officers check documents of a man in central Moscow, Russia, on June 25. Former President Donald Trump stands next to a pallet of water before delivering remarks at the East Palestine Fire Department station in East Palestine, Ohio on Feb. 22. On Feb. 3 a Norfolk Southern Railways train carrying toxic chemicals derailed causing an environmental disaster. Coco Gauff holds the winner trophy after defeating Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus in their Women's Singles Final match on Day Thirteen of the 2023 US Open in Queens, NY on Sept. 9. Ma’kayla Jackson uses a laptop in grandmother’s dining room in Jackson, Miss. on Jan. 5. Devastation in Kibbutz Be'eri after the Israeli army regained control, on Oct. 11. Pictures of the Week-Global-Photo-Gallery Accumulation of rubbish in the streets of Paris on the ninth day of the garbage collectors strike against the pension reform on March 14. Eviction of Lützerath A program for adolescent mothers run by the Center for Girls Education in Zaria, Nigeria, which is expected by 2050 to overtake the United States as the world's third most populous country, on April 27. Educating girls has an unusually large impact on family size in Africa, because it delays the age of marriage and helps young women to space out their children, researchers have found. Aretha Franklin's granddaughter Grace Franklin, 17, smiles while embracing her family members after the jury decided in favor of a 2014 document during a trial over her grandmother's wills at Oakland County Probate Court in Pontiac, Mich., on July 11. A woman enters the sea from a beach where wildfires destroyed the woods, at Glystra near the village of Gennadi in the southern part of the Greek island of Rhodes, on July 27. Young patients of Okhmatdyt Children's Hospital, their faces painted, gather in the hospital's shelter, in Kyiv, Ukraine, on June 1. A vehicles carries refugees from Nagorno-Karabakhb as they arrive in Kornidzor, Armenia, on Sept. 25. Curtains blowing in the wind after an earthquake demolished the building in the center of Antakya, Turkey, on April 11. A young girl stuck under her house rubble after it was bombed by Israeli airstrikes, Al Nusairat refugee camp, Oct. 31. A group of girls embrace in front of a makeshift memorial for victims by the Covenant School building at the Covenant Presbyterian Church following a shooting, in Nashville, Tenn., on March 28.
Protesters block traffic along the Arkansas-Memphis bridge in Memphis, Tenn. on Jan. 27, after the city of Memphis released video that shows several police officers beating Tyre Nichols, a 29-year-old Black man who later died. Visitors to Mount Carmel near Waco, Texas, the site of the former compound of the Branch Davidian sect, on March 24. Sarah Salmonese sits where her apartment once stood in Lahaina, Maui, Hawaii, two days after it was devastated by wildfire, on Friday, Aug. 11, 2023. (Go Nakamura/The New York Times) Immigrants struggle through the current of the Rio Grande while crossing from Mexico into the United States in Eagle Pass, Texas, on Sept. 27. House Hearing Examines The National Security Implications Of Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena Protesters hold train traffic at Lexington and 63rd to protest the death of Jordan Neely, a popular subway performer who was killed in an incident involving a chokehold performed by a former marine, in New York, on May 6, 2023. San Diego Padres center fielder Trent Grisham collides with the wall as the RBI triple from Seattle Mariners' Dylan Moore rolls along the top of the wall during the sixth inning of a baseball game in Seattle, on Aug. 8. Republican presidential candidates, former Vice President Mike Pence, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and Vivek Ramaswamy participate in the first debate of the GOP primary season in Milwaukee, Wis. on Aug. 23. Afghan children attend a class at an open air school on the outskirts of Fayzabad district, Badakhshan province on March 27. Giant panda mother Ai Bao and her newly born female twin pandas, the first to be born in the country, at Everland Amusement and Animal Park in Yongin, South Korea, on July 7. A child cries while on the bus leaving The Covenant School following a mass shooting at the school in Nashville, Tenn., on March 27. A wounded Ukrainian soldier on a medical stretcher smokes a last cigarette before being loaded onto a mobile hospital bus by medics from the Hospitallers, a Ukrainian volunteer medical battalion providing first aid and evacuation assistance for wounded Ukrainian soldiers, in the Donetsk region of Ukraine on Sept. 12. Israel Declares War Following Large-Scale Hamas Attacks The Star Dance Studio is pictured after a mass shooting in Monterey Park, Calif. on Jan. 23, 2023. The shooter who killed 11 people on Jan. 21 before shooting himself as police moved in on him was once a regular at the California dance club. A group of spectators watch the Pride celebrations from their stoop across the street from Washington Square Park in New York City on June 25. An excavator removes protesters' barricades as part of the clearing of L¸tzerath, Germany, on Jan. 11. For years, activists have tried to save tiny L¸tzerath from being razed to make way for the expansion of an open-pit coal mine. Drag Queen Brigitte Bandit gives testimony in the Senate Chamber at the Texas State Capitol in Austin, on March 23. People across the state of Texas showed up to give testimony as proposed Senate bills SB12 and SB1601, which would regulate drag performances, were discussed before the Chamber. Mesut Hancer holds the hand of his 15-year-old daughter Irmak, who died in the earthquake in Kahramanmaras, Turkey, close to the quake's epicenter, the day after a 7.8-magnitude earthquake struck the country's southeast, on Feb. 7. Hawaii Wildfires Relatives and friends during the burial of Marcos Abdón Tziquin Cuc, 21, in the village of Paquilá, Guatemala, on April 13, 2023. Protestors shout slogans as they cross the Brooklyn Bridge in New York during a Pro-Palestine demonstration demanding a ceasefire, on Oct. 28. Security guard Michael Bock performs CPR on a man who overdosed, and regained conscious soon after, downtown Portland, Ore., Aug. 2, 2023. (Erin Schaff/The New York Times) A family runs from an explosion after a Russian rocket attack on a residential neighborhood in Pervomaiskyi, Kharkiv region, Ukraine, on July 4. People carry injured and dead Palestinians from the rubbles of buildings as civil defense teams and civilians conduct search and rescue operations after Israeli attacks on Al-Shati refugee camp in Gaza City, on Oct. 27. An Independent National Electoral Commission official speaks on the phone at the INEC offices in Awka, Nigeria, on Feb. 26 following the Nigeria presidential and general election. Supporters of former US President Donald Trump cheer as his plane flies over the 2024 election campaign rally in Waco, Texas, on March 25. Taylor Swift Rep. George Santos Bucha relatives gather to mourn Oleksiy Zavadskyi, a Ukrainian serviceman who died in combat on Jan. 15 in Bakhmut, during his funeral in Bucha, Ukraine, on Jan. 19. An Afghan boy mourns next to the grave of his little brother who died due to an earthquake, in Zenda Jan district in Herat province, western of Afghanistan, on Oct. 9. Pastors and community members pray ahead of a vigil the day after a shooting during a teenager's birthday party at Mahogany Masterpiece Dance Studio in Dadeville, Ala., on April 16. An injured Ukrainian serviceman lies inside a frontline medical stabilization point, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in Donetsk region, Ukraine on April 23. Lauren Rowley and her daughter Ursula, 2, look at the surging Otter Creek River in downtown Middlebury, Vt., on July 14, 2023. Vermont began new flood protection efforts after being battered by Tropical Storm Irene in 2011. Many appeared to be effective, but experts say more will be needed as storms become more extreme. Omar Lafi grieves as he clings to the lifeless body of his nephew, who fell victim to an Israeli airstrike in Gaza City, on Oct. 9. Rescuers work at the site of a passenger train accident in Balasore district, in the eastern Indian state of Orissa, on June 3, 2023. Two passenger trains derailed in India, killing more than 280 people. Hundreds of others were trapped inside more than a dozen mangled rail cars, in one of the country's deadliest train crashes in decades. "Costaleros", who carry on their backs the portable dais platform which supports a statue of Jesus Christ of the "Padre Jesus Nazareno" brotherhood, participate in the holy week procession in Priego de Cordoba, southern Spain, on April 7. Former President Donald Trump taking the stage at a rally in Erie, Pa. on July 29, 2023. (Maddie McGarvey/The New York Times) Students from the New International School of Thailand assist with the release of young leatherback turtles on Bang Khwan beach in the coastal Thai province of Phang Nga on Feb. 20. Caitlyne Gonzales, who lost many of her friends in the shooting, sang and danced to Taylor Swift songs at Jacklyn Cazares' grave in Uvalde, Texas, on April 19. One year after 19 children and two teachers were killed at Robb Elementary, the cemetery where most of the victims are buried has become an anchor in their families' lives. Indian wrestlers Sangeeta Phogat (L), and Vinesh Phogat (C) are detained by the police while attempting to march to India's new parliament, just as it was being inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, during a protest against Brij Bhushan Singh, the wrestling federation chief, over allegations of sexual harassment and intimidation, in New Delhi on May 28. Airstrike on Al Ahli hospital in Gaza - 17 Oct 2023 47 Hall Steet Shelter Former President Donald Trump sits in the courtroom during his civil fraud trial at New York State Supreme Court in New York City on Oct. 18. Migrants prepare to cross the Panama border in the Darién Gap in Colombia, on Aug. 3. Addie Brue, 16, and Madeline Lederman, 17, shout "do something," with other protesters as Rep. Jeremy Faison, Chairman of the House Republican Caucus, walks towards the House chamber doors at the State Capitol Building in Nashville, Tenn., on March 30. Israelis opposed to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's judicial overhaul plan set up bonfires, firecrackers and block a busy highway during a protest in Tel Aviv, moments after the Israeli leader fired his defense minister, on March 26. The aftermath of an attack by Hamas on the Israeli Kibbutz Be’eri, on Oct. 22. Police officers clash with pro-Palestinian demonstrators as they try to enter a train station in Barcelona, Spain, on Nov. 11. The protesters were part of a group of many thousands more who had earlier took part in an authorized march against Israel's response in Gaza to a deadly attack by Hamas on Oct. 7. Charlottesville's Statue Of Confederate General Robert E. Lee Melted Down The remains of a beach home months after it was destroyed by Hurricane Ian on Captiva Road in Sanibel, Fla. on Feb. 9. Richard Wilcox, left, weeps as community members gather after the tragic Lewiston mass shooting for a vigil to heal at Worumbo Riverfront Park in Lisbon Falls, Maine, on oct. 28. 18 people were killed in the assault. Relatives of the Palestinians, who lost their lives after Israeli attacks, mourn as the bodies are carried for burial outside Al Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip, on Oct. 31. Seba’s short-tailed bat inside a wind tunnel Lightning strikes as smoke billows following an Israeli airstrike in Gaza City on Oct. 9.

Photo Editing by Kaya Berne, Kim Bubello, Eli Cohen, Sangsuk Sylvia Kang, Kara Milstein, Dilys Ng, and Katherine Pomerantz

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