Photos illustrating coronavirus pandemic symbolic of 2020
The 2020 Photo Issue of the Washington Post presents the works of nine photographers that capture the COVID-19 pandemic, the BLM movement, and the deep rift in US society during the presidential election campaign. According to the Washington Post, it is these photos that will enable future generations to understand what the year 2020 was like.
The recently published Photo Issue of the Washington Post features snapshots taken by nine photojournalists, including Peter Turnley, Barbara Davidson, Dee Dwyer, John McDonnell, May-Ying Lam, Michael Robinson Chávez, Jelani Rice, Mark Peterson/Redux Pictures, and Jonathan Frydman.
The stories depicted in their photos revolve around three main topics: the coronavirus pandemic, the massive wave of protests stirred by the Black Lives Matter movement and the division of American society into two conflicting parties connected with the 2020 US presidential election.
The Photo Issue points out the parallels between the events that are being observed in 2020 and the ones that took place in 1968, a year that was characterized by social instability and upheaval as well.
The outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic turned out to become the greatest challenge of the 21st century spreading around the globe with such rapid ferocity that has been seen never before. Therefore, it is no wonder that the majority of snapshots included in the 2020 Photo Issue of the Washington Post are in one way or another related to the coronavirus pandemic.
COVID-19 has affected the lives of people so much that a medical mask, which can be easily named as the most typical item of the ongoing pandemic, is present even on the images not necessarily related to the topic. For example, people wearing masks are extensively pictured in the photoshoots from the protests.
Given the fact that the coronavirus pandemic has become and continues to be a top issue widely covered by photojournalists on daily basis, many media outlets came up with the idea of conducting photo contests aimed at celebrating the significance of the work of photojournalists in these unusual circumstances. The News Photo Awards. Overcoming COVID contest put together by TASS is one of them. The competition is on and the winners will be announced on March 11, 2021, the one-year anniversary of the WHO’s announcement of the pandemic.