Best photos of the year 2011

Posted on December 06 2011 by Cooper Ross

From the uprisings across the Arab world to the devastating earthquake, tsunami and nuclear disaster in Japan, there was no lack of news in 2011. Reuters photographers covered the breaking news events as well as captured more intimate, personal stories. In this showcase, the photographers offer a behind the scenes account of the images that helped define the year.

Caption: A protester stands in front of a burning barricade during a demonstration in Cairo January 28, 2011. REUTERS/Goran Tomasevic

A woman cries while sitting on a road amid the destroyed city of Natori, Miyagi Prefecture in northern Japan March 13, 2011, after a massive earthquake and tsunami. REUTERS/Toshiyuki Tsunenari/Asahi Shimbun.

Rebels hold a young man at gunpoint, who they accuse of being a loyalist to Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, between the towns of Brega and Ras Lanuf, March 3, 2011. REUTERS/Goran Tomasevic

Lightning flashes around the ash plume above the Puyehue-Cordon Caulle volcano chain near Entrelagos June 5, 2011. REUTERS/Carlos Gutierrez

“One of the best views of Port-au-Prince is from a hilltop neighborhood called Fort National-- a steep five-minute ride from downtown. Eighty percent of the buildings in this densely packed area were leveled in the 2010 earthquake, providing an unobstructed 360-degree visual city tour from the crushed cathedral to the rockslide-scarred hills across the harbor. But residents say that because there was no central tent camp set up here, they were largely bypassed by help from the government and aid groups. Around the time I was assigned to photograph the run-up to the quake's first anniversary, billboards were popping up with architectural renderings of the "new Fort National" to be built. Palm trees, pedestrian paths; Miami style. Locals were told to abandon their efforts to rebuild their homes-- they would get new, government subsidized ones. I immediately knew I would start the day shooting there."

Caption: A plane flies through the "Tribute in Lights" in lower Manhattan in New York September 10, 2011. REUTERS/Eric Thayer. 

“I saw the plane, which didn’t seem out of the ordinary, since planes had been in the sky all night, but for some reason this plane looked like it was heading towards the tribute in lights. It crossed over, and I was able to make about four frames of the plane actually passing through the lights. Of those, only one was in focus. I had actually hoped to expose for the plane, but I didn’t have time to change the settings. But in the end, the plane in white heading into the clouds seemed a fitting tribute on the September 11 ten year anniversary, so I’m glad the image was exposed as is and that I was lucky enough to capture this frame.”

Supporters of the banned Islamic organization Jamaat-ud-Dawa embrace each other after taking part in a funeral prayer for al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden in Karachi May 3, 2011. The founder of one of Pakistan's most violent Islamist militant groups has told Muslims to be heartened by the death of Osama bin Laden, as his "martyrdom" would not be in vain, a spokesman for the group said. REUTERS/Athar Hussain

Villagers attempt to catch a chicken thrown by worshipers into a volcanic crater during the annual Kasada festival at Mount Bromo in Indonesia's East Java province August 15, 2011. Villagers and worshipers throw offerings such livestock and other crops into the volcanic crater of Mount Bromo to give thanks to the Hindu gods for ensuring their safety and prosperity. REUTERS/Dwi Oblo

Vehicles belonging to forces loyal to Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi explode after an air strike by coalition forces, along a road between Benghazi and Ajdabiyah March 20, 2011. REUTERS/Goran Tomasevic

Wingwalker Todd Green falls from John Mohr's Stearman aircraft to his death, after losing his grip while trying to perform a transfer to the helicopter during Selfridge Air Show, less than 30 miles from Detroit, August 21, 2011. REUTERS/David Angell

Rescue workers pay their final respects to a dead body retrieved from the rubble in Rikuzentakat, Iwate Prefecture, days after the area was devastated by an earthquake and tsunami March 17, 2011. REUTERS/Damir Sagolj

A schoolgirl participant, dressed as a Chinese Red Army soldier, walks through a red curtain during a revolutionary song singing competition to celebrate the upcoming 90th anniversary of the founding of the Communist Party of China (CPC), in Chongqing municipality June 30, 2011. REUTERS/Jason Lee

Eight-year-old Sumayya, whose uncle, Imran Ali, was injured in a shootout by unidentified gunmen, looks at him as he is brought to a hospital for treatment in Karachi August 23, 2011. REUTERS/Athar Hussain

An opposition supporter holds up a laptop showing images of celebrations in Cairo's Tahrir Square, after Egypt's President Hosni Mubarak resigned February 11, 2011. REUTERS/Dylan Martinez

“Blood-stained shoes worn by Linda Lopez as she evacuated from the 97th Floor of Tower 2 on September 11, 2001 are seen in this photograph before becoming a part of the National September 11 Memorial & Museum in New York August 22, 2011. Linda Lopez was at work at the Fiduciary Trust Company on the South Tower's 97th floor when the first plane crashed into North Tower, sending a fireball past their window and radiating a heat that she said felt like being sunburned. There was quickly a sense of confusion: Was it a bomb? Were the rumors that it was a plane crash true? Should people in the South Tower ignore the advice coming over the public address system to stay put and evacuate instead? Lopez felt she had to get out. She had reached only as far as the 61st when she was thrown against a wall as the second plane crashed into the floors above her. Taking off her shoes, she continued to head down the stairs, passing firefighters heading in the opposite direction. She ran barefoot out of the building, across broken glass and other debris. "Lady, your feet are bleeding," someone said to her as she paused a few blocks away in relative safety. She put her shoes back on, and began learning the details of what it was she had just escaped from. The museum, which occupies seven stories below the ground of the World Trade Center site--is still being built at the site of the fallen towers. It is due only to open in 2012, on the 11th anniversary of the attacks. REUTERS/Lucas Jackson

A man walks as crude oil spills from a pipeline in Dadabili, Niger state, April 2, 2011. REUTERS/Afolabi Sotunde

A rebel on crutches fires a rocket propelled grenade while fighting on the front line in Sirte September 24, 2011 REUTERS/Anis Mili

EDGARD GARRIDO, Honduras 

“It was three years ago that I photographed a childbirth room at Escuela hospital, the largest in Honduras. Time seems to have stood still. Now there are different doctors, mothers and children, but the poverty is the same. Rooms full of valiant women who bleed and wrap their children with old sheets adorn the poverty of this place where shame is not a valid issue. I walk freely between the birthing rooms, rest area, caesarean section and reception, but I have no permission to enter the pediatrics area until a new medical chief authorizes me. There are healthy and sick babies. One of them is this baby who got my attention because it moves non-stop. Next to him is a lamp that provides heat to stay alive. I expect that he will continue to play with his hands, making the image more aesthetic or photographic. After five minutes this happens and I shoot photos. I recognized that I have a "beautiful picture", but I do not see that the position of his fingers shows a number seven. It is a picture of a baby like so many others who were born, many of the 7 billion that live on our planet today. It hits me as it begins to emerge as poetry of life in Honduras where thousands of human beings are born, but where thousands are killed without completing their natural cycle; dramatically murdered every day.”

A man in handcuffs cries as he says farewell to his son after he was arrested by the police on suspicion of drug dealing during a pre-dawn raid in an impoverished neighborhood of Bangkok February 25, 2011. The Narcotics Suppression Bureau of Thai police said their aim in 2011 is to stop the expansion of narcotics problem in the country. REUTERS/Damir Sagol

A man sets himself on fire outside a bank branch in Thessaloniki in northern Greece September 16, 2011. The 55-year old man had entered the bank and asked for a renegotiation of his overdue loan payments on his home and business, according to police, which he could not pay, but was refused by the bank. REUTERS/Nodas Stylianidis/www.photoreportage.gr

Policemen and residents run as waves from a tidal bore surge past a barrier on the banks of Qiantang River in Haining, Zhejiang province August 31, 2011. As Typhoon Nanmadol approaches eastern China, the tides and waves in Qiantang River recorded its highest level in 10 years, local media reported. REUTERS/China Daily

President Barack Obama (2nd L) and Vice President Joe Biden (L), along with members of the national security team, receive an update on the mission against Osama bin Laden in the Situation Room of the White House, May 1, 2011. Also pictured are Secretary of State Hillary Clinton (2nd R) and Defense Secretary Robert Gates (R). Please note: A classified document seen in this photograph has been obscured at source. REUTERS/White House/Pete Souza/Handout

U.S. Army soldiers from the 2nd Platoon, B battery 2-8 field artillery, fire a howitzer artillery piece at Seprwan Ghar forward fire base in Panjwai district, Kandahar province southern Afghanistan, June 12, 2011. REUTERS/Baz Ratner

A woman rebel fighter supporter shoots an AK-47 rifle as she reacts to the news of the withdrawal of Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi's forces from Benghazi March 19, 2011. REUTERS/Goran Tomasevic

A miner climbs on excavated rocks after a giant drill machine broke through at the final section Sedrun-Faido, at the construction site of the NEAT Gotthard Base Tunnel March 23, 2011. Crossing the Alps, the world's longest train tunnel should become operational at the end of 2016. The project consists of two parallel single track tunnels, each of a length of 57 km (35 miles). REUTERS/Arnd Wiegmann

Vacansoleil-DCM rider Johnny Hoogerland of the Netherlands is pictured after crashing during the ninth stage of the Tour de France 2011 cycling race from Issoire to Saint-Flour July 10, 2011. REUTERS/Lucas Bettini

A volunteer cleans a family photo that was washed by the March 11 earthquake and tsunami as baby photos are placed to dry at a volunteer center in Ofunato, Iwate prefecture, April 12, 2011. REUTERS/Toru Hanai

A picture of North Korea's founder Kim Il-sung decorates a building in the capital Pyongyang early October 5, 2011. REUTERS/Damir Sagolj

You can read more about each photo above here. 

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