20 ภาพยอดเยี่ยมแห่งปี จาก TIMEs

Inauguration Day
U.S. President-elect Barack Obama waits backstage, moments before taking the oath of office.

Briefing

The President reads a document in the Oval Office in mid-March

The Hunt

A U.S. soldier patrols in Afghanistan's Tangi Valley

Surveillance

Long Range Acquisition Sight, a thermal-imaging device, is used to watch for Taliban activity in Wardak province, Afghanistan

Flare

A soldier from Germany's 3rd Mechanical Infantry Battalion marks the spot where his platoon is to set up camp for the night in Kunduz province, Afghanistan

Armed and Dangerous

Drug dealers settle a score in Bissau, Guinea-Bissau. In the past few years, the small West African nation has become a key transit point for South American drug cartels

Ghosts in the Machine

A thermal scanner shows the heat signatures of passengers arriving at Seoul's Incheon Airport. Such devices were deployed in the spring to help prevent the spread of swine flu.

Miraculous

Passengers wait on the wings of US Airways Flight 1549, an Airbus 320 that was safely ditched in the Hudson River after a flock of birds knocked out both its engines. This photograph was taken by artist Steven Day. He recalls, "I have a freelance job on 47th street, on the 8th floor. I was working on my computer when someone passed by me and said, 'what is that?' So I instinctually grabbed my camera —I'm working on a series that involves recording the world around me — and went to the window and started shooting. My initial reaction was 'this must be an exercise.' It didn't occur to me that it was a plane until I zoomed in, because they were just moving down the river like a boat. I mean, you just don't see people standing on the wings of an airplane in the middle of the Hudson River. Alive...The river was moving so fast it was only a matter of seconds before the plane floated past us. The photo here is one of the first frames I took, there's actually a water taxi approaching that ended up being cropped out. Very quickly there were 4 or 5 ferries responding, and passengers were being taken on board. It was strangely calming. This was an incredible situation, and everyone was there and they knew what their job was and what their limitations were and they were just waiting to be rescued."

Jetsam

A piece of Air France Flight 447 floats in the Atlantic Ocean after the aircraft crashed in the middle of a flight from Rio de Janeiro to Paris.

Ice Station

The submarine U.S.S. Annapolis breaks through the ice during a training session in the Arctic

Not of this World

A dust storm blankets the Sydney Opera House in Australia in late September.

In Motion

Young people rally in support of Iranian reformist candidate Mir-Hossein Mousavi a few days before the national election on June 12. Photographer Paolo Woods says, "I had covered the election of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in 2005, and my early impression was that he would be easily re-elected. But I quickly realized there was a very different atmosphere this year, with all of these unauthorized political rallies that were getting bigger each day...I was on the main road of Tehran, which was where many of these demonstrations would begin or arrive. There were thousands of people— men, women, young, old. It had more of a party atmosphere than the feeling of a political rally. People were blaring horns, riding their cars and motorbikes like maniacs up the road, dressing up in green, which was the color of the opposition candidate, Mir-Hossein Mousavi. Not far from this group was a pro-Ahmadinejad rally, so people were shouting in that direction. I just waded into the middle of the crowd and shot this picture. I was able to get only one frame of these two guys on a motorbike, because the way Iranians ride their bikes, you don't get that many shots.

Bloodied

A Mousavi supporter wipes blood from his face during a riot in Tehran the day after the presidential election. Widespread suspicion that the vote had been rigged led to several weeks of protests in Iran.

On Fire

Demonstrators run through the streets of Tehran in the days after the disputed Iranian presidential election

Wounded

An American soldier injured by an improvised explosive device awaits medical attention in Afghanistan's Tangi Valley.

Bedded Down

U.S. Marines sleep in their fighting holes inside a compound in Helmand province, Afghanistan. Photographer David Guttenfelder explains, "We'd stopped in this farmer's field for the night. It took me an hour to dig my own firing position in the dark, and it feels like you're sleeping in a shallow grave. But you do feel safer— and sleep better — protected by those few inches of dirt. I got up at dawn and was able to get the guys enjoying the first full night's sleep they'd had after marching for six days in temperatures up to 135 degrees, carrying 120-lb. packs."

Audience

Cadets at the military academy at West Point listen to President Obama's speech announcing troop increases in the war in Afghanistan

Tent City

Homeless people sleep in an encampment on Capitol Hill in Seattle. "I had been wanting to take pictures of homelessness," says photographer Aaron Huey. "I see alot of it in Seattle and I'm always torn. I went to this tent city for the homeless, which is near St. Mark's Cathedral, on a quick assignment — I had only two days. But on the first day I shot very few photos. I used the time to get to know people there so they would be comfortable with me coming in with a camera. The second evening is when I made most of my pictures, including this one. I wanted a shot with the Seattle skyline in the background to give context to this homeless encampment juxtaposed against the larger, more affluent city. But I wasn't sure if I'd be able to see that from the tent city. Then I found a janitor who allowed me to go up to the top of the cathedral. I made it up to the roof, and by crawling through some windows, I was able to get that shot."

Detroit Interior

A carpet covered with moss lines the floor of an office at a Ford plant in Highland Park, Mich. Photographer Andrew Moore explains, "This room is in a small office building on the grounds of the vast Highland Park Ford plant, which was built in 1910. In 1927 (Henry) Ford moved his auto production to his Dearborn plant, but Highland Park continued to be used as a storage facility. I took this picture in May as part of a project I began about two years ago. I decided to make a record of the decay of Detroit and the ways in which the city in some places is being "re-ruralized" —the works of man are being recycled by the forces of nature...The office you see here is a corner suite on the top floor. My assumption is that it had a wool carpet and that in the years after the last time anybody used that office— probably in the 1940s — the wool decayed and became a fecund ground for this moss. So the picture is really about the vitality of undisturbed nature."

Farewell

Two of the granddaughters of Senator Edward Kennedy, Grace Allen and Kiley Kennedy, seek solace in a hug near his coffin towards the end of his funeral at Arlington National Cemetery on Aug. 29. "It was getting dark by the time the ceremony began," explains photographer Doug Mills. "A light was brought in by the Secret Service so that people could see where they were walking. But they didn't turn it on until the end, and when they did, people immediately started going toward the casket and one another." Read more: