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PHOTOGRAPH BY ALEJANDRO CHASKIELBERG
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By Whitney Johnson, Director of Visual and Immersive Experiences
“Many people have called 2020 their most challenging year ever,” wrote National Geographic’s editor in chief, Susan Goldberg. “Yet well into 2021, problems of all kinds persisted; the political rancor and climate crisis did not abate. On the other hand, vaccines and other medical advances, along with behavioral shifts, began to rein in the virus and raise spirits.”
And Nat Geo photographers were there for much of it, making just shy of 2 million images this year—1,944,644 to be exact. We narrowed this staggering documentation down to fewer than 50 for our annual Year in Pictures issue.
The images are more than a collection of breaking news moments or even the so-called best pictures of the year. Together, these pictures tell the story of 2021–and help people make sense of the year–with a focus on the biggest stories: COVID, conflict, climate, and conservation.
The photographs captured big and small moments, such as wildfires that extended worldwide (in Patagonia, pictured at top) to how the pandemic challenged a high school mariachi band in Texas (pictured below) or how a changing climate prompted a hunt for new alpaca grazing grounds in Peru.
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