Photos of the Year
The best images of 2014, handpicked by Mashable editors
EARTH
A Coast Guard helicopter flies along the Hudson River, which is full of ice floes, during a cold spell caused by a polar vortex on Jan. 9, 2014.
Credit: Andrew Burton/Getty Images
Students play in their school yard as Mount Sinabung erupts in Sukandebi, North Sumatra, Indonesia on Jan. 16, 2014.
Credit: AP Photo/Binsar Bakkara, File
"This is the most serious drought we've faced in modern times." - Felicia Marcus, chairwoman of California's Water Resources Control Board
A dead lawn is seen next to an artificial lawn on July 15, 2014 in San Francisco, California.
Credit: Justin Sullivan/Getty Images
A longtime exposure shows the smoldering remains of overnight fires on the hillsides of San Marcos, California on May 16, 2014.
Credit: EPA/STUART PALLEY
A view of a sinkhole, which stretches 20 meters by 30 meters, at the Solikamsk-2 mine in Russia’s Perm region.
Credit: Tass/ZUMA Wire
"For now, though, the eruption is relatively benign and absolutely beautiful." - Mashable senior climate reporter Andrew Freedman
Aerial view of the lava fountains and massive plumes, Holuhraun Fissure, near the Bardarbunga Volcano in Iceland on Sept. 3, 2014.
Credit: Arctic-Images/Corbis
One of the two Red Panda cubs (right) born at the National Zoo and Aquarium gets a kiss from its mother in Canberra, Australia on May 18, 2014.
Credit: EPA/ALAN PORRITT
Tide spectators react to a high wave hitting the bank of Qiantang River in Hangzhou, Zhejiang province, China on Aug. 13, 2014.
Credit: EPA/XU KANGPING CHINA OUT
"There's no such thing as too much light pollution to see the moon." - NASA researcher Shawn Domagal-Goldman
The supermoon as seen from the Canary Islands in Spain on Aug. 10, 2014.
Credit: EPA/DANIEL LOPEZ/IAC
An F-15C silhouetted against the pyrocumlus clouds formed by the Oregon Gulch wildfire.
Credit: ORANG/Jim “Hazy” Haseltine/HIGH-G Productions
CONFLICT
Protesters clash with police in central Kiev on Jan. 22, 2014.
Credit: Evgeny Feldman/AP Photo
"It is awful out here. I watched one man drop dead next to me. Yes, police are using live ammo and snipers." - Mashable reporter Christopher Miller in Kiev on Feb. 20
Ukrainian riot police in Independence Square during protests in downtown Kiev, Ukraine on Feb. 19, 2014.
Credit: EPA/SERGEY DOLZHENKO
Anti-government protesters clash with police in Independence Square despite a truce between the Ukrainian president and opposition leaders in Kiev on Feb. 20, 2014.
Credit: Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images
Anti-government demonstrators take cover from a police water cannon in Caracas, Venezuela on Feb. 28, 2014 during protests that eventually spread nationwide.
Credit: AP PHOTO/RODRIGO ABD
A young girl is pictured on March 12, 2014 after she was wounded during clashes between riot-police and protesters in Istanbul.
Credit: BULENT KILIC/AFP/GETTY IMAGES
Farmer Agustin Gomez Perez, 21, was lit on fire as a form of protest outside the Chiapas state legislature in Tuxtla Gutierrez, Mexico on Dec. 5, 2014.
Credit: AP Photo/Cuartoscuro, Jacob Garcia
"We did warn you — do not fly in our sky." - Igor Girkin, defense minister of the Donetsk People’s Republic, in a VKontakte post after MH17 crashed
Debris from Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 smolders in a field in Grabovo, Ukraine near the Russian border on July 17, 2014.
Credit: Pierre Crom/Getty Images
A covered dead body lies in the street near the Mariupol police station in Ukraine on May 9, 2014.
Credit: EPA/ALEXEY FURMAN
In this besieged strip of land, close to 2 million people live so densely packed that any strike will kill someone more than the intended target. And that someone too often is a child. - Jon Snow, reporting in Gaza
A young Palestinian girl, who was injured during an Israeli strike that hit a UN school, lies on a hospital bed in Beit Lahiya, Gaza Strip on July 24, 2014.
Credit: EPA/OLIVER WEIKEN
A Palestinian boy looks out on the debris of destroyed buildings during a ceasefire in Gaza City, Gaza on Aug. 31, 2014.
Credit: Ashraf Amra/Anadolu Agency/ Getty Images
From a hill overlooking the Gaza Strip, Israelis watch for rocket fire from Gaza and wait for Israeli airstrikes on July 14, 2014 in Sderot, Israel.
Credit: Andrew Burton/Getty Images
“I was forced to leave my country and my house ... Now what will my future be?” - Dawd Sulyman, a Yazidi who escaped ISIS
After escaping Islamic State militants, Adlan Sharoshebo, who is part of a religious minority group called the Yazidis, now sleeps on a bare mattress in Silopi refugee camp in Turkey.
Credit: Emily Feldman, Mashable
A Turkish gendarme arrests a Kurdish protester during a demonstration near the Turkey-Syria border on Sept. 23 2014.
Credit: EPA/ULAS YUNUS TOSUN
Search and rescue teams remove a body from the rubble after the Syrian regime shelled an opposition-controlled area of Aleppo on Aug. 14, 2014.
Credit: AHMED MUHAMMED ALI/ANADOLU AGENCY/GETTY IMAGES
An explosion rocks the border city of Kobani, Syria, during a reported attack by ISIS militants on a People's Protection Unit (YPG) position in the city center.
Credit: Gokhan Sahin/Getty Images
"For decades the Middle East has known the tragic consequences of a protracted conflict, which has inflicted many wounds so difficult to heal." - Pope Francis on the Israel-Gaza conflict in May
Pope Francis prays in front of the Western Wall, Judaism's holiest site, in Jerusalem's Old City on May 26, 2014.
Credit: AP Photo/Oded Balilty, File
“We are challenging this deeply entrenched system of white privilege. Democracy is fucking uncomfortable.” - Elizabeth Vega, Ferguson protester
A demonstrator in Ferguson, Missouri throws back a tear gas container on Aug. 13, 2014 after police worked to break up a group of bystanders who were protesting the death of 18-year-old Michael Brown.
Credit: Robert Cohen/MCT/ZUMA Wire
Police wearing riot gear walk toward a man with his hands raised on Aug. 11, 2014, in Ferguson.
Credit: AP Photo/Jeff Roberson
Protesters burn an American flag on Nov. 25, 2014 as they march through downtown Washington, D.C., following a Missouri grand jury's decision not to indict Officer Darren Wilson in the shooting death of Michael Brown.
Credit: Lawler Duggan/For The Washington Post
Protesters rallying against a grand jury's decision not to indict the police officer involved in the chokehold death of Eric Garner carry mock coffins, which bear the names of victims of fatal police encounters, as they cross the Brooklyn Bridge on Dec. 4, 2014.
Credit: AP Photo/
Jason DeCrow
"We are all worried. The police are not here today but we fear the will come, if not today then another day." - Hong Kong protester, as told to a Mashable reporter
Protesters open their umbrellas for 87 seconds on Oct. 28, 2014, marking the 87 rounds of tear gas that Hong Kong police fired at unarmed student protesters in the same location one month before.
Credit: EPA/ALEX HOFFORD
"In Liberia today, it's the things you can't see that are most lethal. One twist of an infected door knob or an accidental brush past a stranger can be your death sentence." - Photographer Kieran Kesner on assignment covering Ebola in Liberia
A hospital worker stands over an Ebola victim in Monrovia, Liberia in August 2014.
Credit: Kieran Kesner
Chairs are piled in the corner of a classroom in Guerrero, Mexico, Nov. 16, 2014, after 43 students went missing.
Credit: Brett Gundlock/Boreal Collective/Mashable
LIFE
People carry portraits of their ancestors as they celebrate Victory Day in St. Petersburg, Russia on May 9, 2014.
Credit: AP Photo/Dmitry Lovetsky
Members of the Castellers Joves Xiquets de Valls try to complete their human tower in Tarragona, Spain, Oct. 5, 2014.
Credit: AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti, File
Ultra-Orthodox Jews dance as they gather for a mass prayer in protest to the government's army conscription laws in Jerusalem on March 2, 2014.
Credit: EPA/ABIR SULTAN
Indonesian Muslims perform Eid Al-Adha prayer at Al-Akbar Mosque in Surabaya, Indonesia on Oct. 5, 2014.
Credit: Robertus Pudyanto/Getty Images
Members of the Samaritan community walk in procession atop Mount Gerizim, above the West Bank city of Nablus, at sunrise on April 20 2014.
Credit: EPA/ALAA BADARNEH
"Malaysia Airlines deeply regrets that we have to assume beyond any reasonable doubt that MH370 has been lost and that none of those on board survived." - Malaysia Airlines in a text message sent to families of flight 370 passengers
A search team hunts for the missing Malaysia Airlines Flight 370, in the Indian Ocean, near the tip of Sumatra Island, Indonesia on March 15, 2014.
Credit: EPA/HOTLI SIMANJUNTAK!
A man stands in front of a large ship grounded by Typhoon Haiyan on April 18, 2014 in the Philippines.
Credit: Chris McGrath/Getty Images
The wreckage of the luxury cruise ship Costa Concordia seen in the final stages of the refloating phase before it was towed to the Italian port of Genoa on July 21, 2014.
Credit: AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia, File
"Roses are red, violets are blue... I think today is a good day to tell you that I love you." - Message in a card Oscar Pistorius gave to his girlfriend hours before shooting her.
South African Paralympics running star Oscar Pistorius sits in the dock at the high court in Pretoria, South Africa on March 4, 2014.
Credit: EPA/KIM LUDBROOK /
POOL
A golfer in Spain hits a tee shot as African migrants sit atop a border fence during an attempt to cross into Spanish territories between Morocco and Spain's north African enclave of Melilla on Oct. 22, 2014.
Credit: REUTERS/Jose Palazon
Nasser Al-Attiyah from Qatar in action during the Dakar Rally between the Chilean localities of El Salvador and La Serena on Jan. 17, 2014.
Credit: EPA/FELIPE TRUEBA
"The opening ceremony gives countries a chance to add their own particular flair. And what did Putin opt for? Disney-inspired ballerinas, a mechanical horse and dancing jellyfish." - Mashable viral reporter Neha Prekash
Dancers perform during the opening ceremony of the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympics at Fisht Olympic Stadium on Feb. 7, 2014.
Credit: Pascal Le Segretain/Getty Images
Susan Dunklee of the United States competes during the Women's 4 x 6 km Relay during day 14 of the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympics on Feb. 21, 2014.
Credit: Adam Pretty/Getty Images
Seattle Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson dumps Gatorade on head coach Pete Carroll during the second half of Super Bowl XLVIII on Feb. 2, 2014.
Credit: EPA/ERIK S. LESSER
New York Yankee Derek Jeter tips his cap after the final hit of his career on Sept. 28, 2014.
Credit: EPA/CJ GUNTHER
Visitors fish at a frozen river during the Hwacheon Sancheoneo Ice Festival in South Korea on Jan. 5, 2014.
Credit: EPA/JEON HEON-KYUN
"I hit my face against the player, leaving a small bruise on my cheek and a strong pain in my teeth." - Luis Suarez after biting another player during the World Cup
Uruguay's Luis Suarez holds his teeth after biting Italy's Giorgio Chiellini's shoulder during a World Cup soccer match in Natal, Brazil on June 24, 2014.
Credit: AP Photo/Ricardo Mazalan, File
Employees manufacture toys at a workshop in Lianyungang, Jiangsu province of China, on Oct. 30, 2014.
Credit: ChinaFotoPress/ChinaFotoPress via Getty Images
Queen Elizabeth visits the throne room on the set of Game of Thrones in Belfast, Northern Ireland, on June 24, 2014.
Credit: AP Photo/Peter Morrison
A voter behind Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) at Bellarmine University in Louisville on Nov. 4, 2014.
Credit: Aaron P. Bernstein/Getty Images
Australia's Prime Minister Tony Abbott and United States' President Barack Obama meet Jimbelung the koala before the first G20 meeting on Nov. 15, 2014 in Brisbane.
Credit: Andrew Taylor/G20 Australia via Getty Images
A veterinary staff member of the Sumatran Orangutan Conservation Programme center conducts medical examinations on April 16, 2014 on a 14-year-old male orangutan found with air gun metal pellets embedded in his body.
Credit: SUTANTA ADITYA/AFP/Getty
Images
Nearly 2,000 torch-bearing participants receive the sacred fire at the Otou Fire Festival on Kamikura Mt. in Shingu town, Wakayama province, Japan, on Feb. 6, 2014.
Credit: EPA/EVERETT KENNEDY BROWN
A participant dances during the Gay Pride Parade in Stockholm on Aug. 2, 2014.
Credit:
British World War II veteran Frederick Glover poses for a photograph during a D-Day commemoration in Ranville, France on June 5, 2014.
Credit: AP Photo/Thomas Bregardis, pool
Swimmers watch fireworks during a New Year's celebration on Copacabana Beach in Rio de Janeiro on Jan. 1, 2014.
Credit: YASUYOSHI CHIBA/AFP/Getty Images