Through smoke and fire

“My son and I spotted smoke, and given California’s extreme drought I knew it was not good. We jumped in the car but had only gone a mile when burning ash rained down like falling snow. The rangers and police were ordering a mandatory evacuation and we had to go home to prepare. Then we returned to the Falls area of Bass Lake and I resumed shooting. The picture combines a beautiful forest reflected in the calm waters, and then slams home the fact that it is being consumed by the fire. It conveys the sense of awe, horror and feeling of loss I felt while standing there watching the forest burn.”

Photograph by Darvin Atkeson/AP

19th Century Style Camera and Contemporary Portraits

A 2013 Pulitzer Prize with four other Associated Press photographers for breaking-news coverage of Syria’s civil war, Rodrigo Abd captured these portraits in Guatemala with a 19th-century-style wooden box camera bought on the streets of Kabul.

His subjects couldn’t move for 60 seconds in order for the photo paper to be properly exposed: “It’s amazing — the result of people looking into the lens for, like, one minute,” Abd said. “You can’t act in front of that camera. It shows nothing but yourself.” Via CNN Photos.

Heidi Sofia Chitop Grave, Mayan pageant queen

Juan Garcia, homeless

Urbano Daniel Mazariegos, sugar cane cutter

Juanito, clown

Jose Antonio Roca, peasant

Karla Perez, transgender activist, stylist

Juan Matei, market loader

“El Criminal,” a gang member of the Mara 18

Unspecified

RIP Nelson Mandela

Voting for Nelson Mandela

Photo by Tom Stoddart, Getty Images

Visiting his cell on the 4th anniversary of his release

Photo by Louise Gubb, SABA/CORBIS

Released!

Photo via AP

Cell 5 in B-section in the political prisoners area) on Robben Island, off Cape Town

Photo by Matt Shonfeld, Redux

Photograph by Kim Ludbrook, European Pressphoto Agency

Candid photography

Beautiful shoots in the candid photography style at the New Year Eve celebrations:

Singapore

AP

Paris

Etienne Laurent, EPA

Beijing

Ed Jones, AFP, Getty Images

Edinburgh

James Glossop, Times

Edinburgh

James Glossop, Times

Paris

Benoit Tessier, Reuters

Edinburgh

David Moir, Reuters

Beijing

Ed Jones, AFP, Getty Images

Fred Dufour, AFP, Getty Images

Proposal in Times Square

Sonja Babic and John Cebak:

Photo by John Minchillo, AP

Fireworks photos from around the world

Athens:

Aris Messinis, AFP

Beijing:

Ed Jones, AFP, Getty Images

Berlin:

Tobias Schwarz, Reuters

Copacabana:

Felipe Dana, AP

Dakar:

Mamadou Toure Behan, AFP, Getty Images

Dressden:

Robert Michael, AFP

Dubai:

AFP

Edinburgh:

Danny Lawson, PA

Jakarta:

Dita Alangkara, AP

Jerusalem:

Ahmad Gharabli, AFP, Getty Images

Hong Kong:

Anthony Dickson, AFP

King Cheung, AP

Anthony Dickson, AFP

Kuala Lumpur:

EPA

Las Vegas:

Brian Jones, AP Photo, Las Vegas News Bureau

London:

Oli Scarff, Getty Images

Peter Macdiarmid, Getty Images

Dominic Lipinski, PA

Adrian Dennis, AFP, Getty Images

Adrian Dennis, AFP, Getty Images

Peter Macdiarmid, Getty Images

Adrian Dennis, AFP, Getty Images

Madeira Islands:

Gregorio Cunha, AFP

Moscow:

Mikhail Voskresensky, Reuters

Natalia Kolesnikova, AFP, Getty Images

New York:

Monika Graff, Getty Images

Mary Altaffer, AP

Mary Altaffer, AP

Gary Hershorn, Reuters

Paris:

Miguel Medina, AFP, Getty Images

Pyongyang:

AFP (KCNA via KNS)

Rome:

Vincenzo Pinto, AFP

Rio de Janeiro:

Ari Versiani, AFP

Shanghai:

Stringer, Reuters

Singapore:

Roslan Rahman, AFP, Getty Images

Roslan Rahman, AFP

St Petersburg:

Alexander Demianchuk, Reuters

Stuttgart:

Marijan Murat, EPA

Taipei:

Pichi Chuang, Reuters

Tegucigalpa:

Orlando Sierra, Getty Images

Tokyo:

Kazuhiro Nogi, AFP

Vina del Mar:

Marcos Brindicci, Reuters

Yangon:

Ye Aung Thu, AFP, Getty Images