A year packed full of news, saw Vladimir Putin’s Russia invade Ukraine, the UK live through three Prime Ministers in three months and Will Smith slap Chris Rock at the Oscars.
In sport we were treated to a Winter Olympics and Commonwealth games, the England women ‘brought it home’ at the summer Euros and Lionel Messi finally won the one trophy missing in his cabinet - the world cup - as Argentina overcame France in an epic final.
Millions protested across the globe this year, the climate crisis was a major theme, as well as focus falling on the US after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v Wade, restricting abortion access in many parts of the country. Demonstrations also erupted in Iran later in the year, after the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini while in the custody of the country’s morality police.
And, photographers were there to capture all the heartache, conflict and beauty of another tumultuous year. The Independent has put together the best photography of 2022 taken from photojournalist from around the world.
January
People dressed as Vikings from Shetland parade through the city to launch Celtic Connections in Glasgow, Scotland (Getty)Medical staff in personal protective equipment at a speed skating training session at the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics in China (Reuters)A dog looks out of a car window at the wintry conditions in Killeshin, Co. Laois, Ireland (PA)
February
Olena Kurilo, a teacher, after an airstrike damaged an apartment complex outside of Kharkiv, Ukraine (Anadolu Agency/Getty)People look at the waves created by high winds and spring tides hitting the sea wall at New Brighton promenade in Liverpool (Getty)Staff members from the Hoshinoya Tokyo hotel demonstrate the “Lantern Dining Experience”, where lanterns made by Kojima Shoten - a shop in Kyoto - are used to shroud diners for mask-free dining amid the coronavirus pandemic (AFP/Getty)
March
Will Smith slaps Chris Rock onstage during the 94th Oscars at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood, California (AFP/Getty)Prince William and Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge ride in a vintage Land Rover on the sixth day of their tour of the Caribbean in Kingston, Jamaica (Reuters)Olga hugs her boyfriend Vlodomyr as they say goodbye prior to his deployment closer to the front line at the train station in Lviv, Ukraine (Reuters)
April
French President Emmanuel Macron greets people as he arrives for his first campaign meeting on the outskirts of Paris (AFP/Getty)Johnny Depp during his defamation trial against his ex-wife Amber Heard, at the Fairfax County Circuit Courthouse in Fairfax, Virginia, US (Reuters)Attendees are seen through the 'Spectra' art installation during the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival in Indio, near Palm Springs, California, US (EPA)
May
Li Shi Feng in action during his men's singles semi-final match at the Toyota Gazoo Racing Thailand Open 2022 badminton tournament in Nonthaburi, Thailand (EPA)The moon seen through clouds behind the radio telescope RT-70 in the village of Molochnoye, Crimea (Reuters)Russian Ambassador to Poland, Sergey Andreev reacts after being covered with red paint prior to a ceremony at the Soviet soldier war mausoleum in Warsaw (AFP/Getty)
June
USA coach Andrea Fuentes, right, swims to recover Anita Alvarez, from the bottom of the pool after the athlete fainted whilst performing in the women’s solo free artistic swimming finals, at the Budapest World Aquatics Championships (AFP/Getty)Prince Louis holds his ears as he stands next to Queen Elizabeth II to watch a special flypast, from Buckingham Palace balcony, as part of the platinum jubilee celebrations (AFP/Getty)Firefighters operate at the site of a wildfire in Pumarejo de Tera near Zamora, northern Spain (AFP/Getty)
July
Chloe Kelly celebrates scoring England’s second goal during the Women’s Euro final against Germany at Wembley. The host nation won the match 2-1 (EPA)Demonstrators protest inside the President’s House, after President Gotabaya Rajapaksa fled, amid the country’s economic crisis, in Colombo, Sri Lanka (Reuters)Residents take a dip in a paddling pool to cool off outside their home in Leeds during a heatwave across the UK (Getty)
August
US Air Force Airman Michael Drah originally from Ghana, smiles with his wife and daughter before he becomes a US citizen at a naturalization ceremony at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles, California (Getty)Taliban members paddle in a boat in Band-e Amir national park, a popular week-end destination in Band-e Amir, Bamyan province of Afghanistan (Getty)Abortion supporters at Overland Park in Kansas react to the failed constitutional amendment proposal which would have withdrawn the right to abortion in Kansas (AFP/Getty)
September
Hisao Mitani walks with an African tortoise, which he named Bon-Chan, on the street in Tokyo, Japan (Getty)The Bearer Party take the coffin of Queen Elizabeth II into St George’s Chapel, inside Windsor Castle for the committal service (AFP/Getty)Nasibe Samsaei, an Iranian woman living in Turkey, cuts her ponytail off during a protest outside the Iranian consulate in Istanbul (AFP/Getty)
October
Prime Minister Liz Truss and Chancellor of the Exchequer Kwasi Kwarteng during a visit to a construction site for a medical innovation campus in Birmingham (PA)Members of the ‘Colla Xiquets de Reus’ team form their human tower during the Castells contest final in Tarragona, Catalonia, Spain (EPA)Saul wipes the tears of his father Franklin, after they were expelled from the US and sent back to Mexico under Title 42, near the Paso del Norte International border bridge, in Ciudad Juarez (Reuters)
November
A villager carries the body of his dead son following a 5.6-magnitude earthquake that killed at least 162 people, with hundreds injured and others missing in Cianjur, Indonesia (AFP/Getty)In this long camera exposure, cars drive down Saddle Road as Mauna Loa erupts in the distance near Hilo, Hawaii (AP)A steel worker of ThyssenKrupp stands amid sparks of raw iron coming from a blast furnace at a ThyssenKrupp steel factory in Duisburg, western Germany (Reuters)
December
Citizens shelter in the Metro as Russia launches another missile attack in Kyiv, Ukraine (Getty)Members of the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) on the picket line outside St Thomas’ Hospital in London as nurses in England, Wales and Northern Ireland take industrial action over pay (PA)Argentina’s Lionel Messi kisses the trophy as he celebrates winning the World Cup (Reuters)
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