"The camera is an instrument that teaches people how to see without a camera," says the American photographer Dorothea Lange, who captured impactful images of Depression-eraThe period of the Great Depression, a severe worldwide economic downturn that lasted from 1929 to 1939. America.

Taking pictures is not just about capturing a moment - it is about bringing an audience closer to understanding it. In 2024, photographs placed us in the thick of a number of historical turning points, from would-be presidential assassinations to the prospect of climate apocalypseA Christian name for the end of the world. Descended from a Greek word meaning uncover, it was used to describe the Biblical book of Revelation..

1. Climate carnage. In October 2024, images of cars swept away by flooding and torrential rainfall in eastern Spain spread across the world. The disaster, which killed at least 230 people, covered whole towns in mud and laid waste to roads, rail lines and bridges.¹ These were the starkest images of the impact of extreme weather so far. Scientists have said that the floods in Spain were intensified by global warming, which increases the amount of rain that clouds can carry.² At COP29The 29th Conference of the parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, which took place in Baku, Azerbaijan, from 11-22 November, 2024., pictures of the flooding were described as a "wake-up call" to lawmakers legislating on climate change.

2. Soup coup. If you saw images from September of tomato soup splattered all over Van Gogh's sunflower paintings, you might have felt a touch of deja vuA sense that something you have not seen before is somehow familiar. It is a French phrase meaning "already seen" or "seen before".. That is because two young people from Just Stop OilA UK environmental activist group which uses direct action to protest against fossil fuel production. did the same thing two years ago. And this year, just two hours after they were jailed, three protesters from the same organisation walked into the National Gallery, soup in hand, defiant and determined to make a splash. Just Stop Oil, which wants the UK to stop approving new fossil fuel projects, has said it will not stop its programme of peaceful disruption. This year, it also, controversially, covered parts of Stonehenge in orange powder paint. There are currently 25 supporters of Just Stop Oil serving prison sentences for climate protests.

3. Presidential potshot. Few would argue that this is anything other than the image of the year. On 13 July in Butler, Pennsylvania, then-presidential candidate Donald Trump sensationally survived an assassination attempt while addressing a crowd of supporters. As the bullet whistled past, clipping his ear, Trump briefly fell to the ground and took cover. But with the temerityExcessive confidence or boldness. that has become his trademark, he promptly stood up, pumping his fist in the air. "Fight!" he screamed, the blood streaming down his face and ear.

4. Milkshake madness. Victoria Thomas Bowen did not set out that day to become infamous for the rest of her life. But when she ran into Reform UK leader Nigel Farage in her hometown of Clacton-on-Sea on 4 June, she says she could not resist the opportunity to show him that she disagreed with his views. Soon, startling photos went viral showing an elegant arc of yellow McDonald's milkshake spattering Farage's face. Farage has been "milkshaked" - the act of dousing public figures with a milkshake - once before, in 2019, and says he was left feeling "humiliated" by the incident. Thomas Bowen was later charged with assault.

5. Regime collapse. Nearly 14 years after Syrians peacefully protested a government that met their demands with bloody violence and civil war, opposition forces raged across the country and declared Syria liberated from the rule of President Bashar al-Assad. Syria's war had been called a "forever war." Just a week before, the regime had seemed to have an iron grip over vast swathes of its domain. It was one of the most stunning geopolitical turnarounds in recent history.³ Mass rallies broke out as thousands of Syrians took to streets across the country to celebrate what they have called "Victory Day". This image shows three women celebrating in Damascus after Islamist rebel forces took the capital.

Are images more powerful than words?

Yes: The brain processes visual information 60,000 times faster than text. It is a universal language which transcends language barriers and impacts us all equally, as humans, without the need for interpretation.

No: Words can provide depth and specificity that images often lack. They can also move us, capturing complex ideas, nuance, and abstract concepts that you might not find in a photograph.

Or... It depends on the medium. In journalism, there is space for both photography and written pieces depending on the story being told. They can both move and inform us equally, but we need to be careful about where and how we use them.