Afghan policemen try to rescue four-year-old Ali Ahmad at the site of a suicide attack followed by a clash between Afghan forces and insurgents after an attack on a Shi'ite Muslim mosque in Kabul, Afghanistan, August 25, 2017. REUTERS/Omar Sobhani/File photo
(Reuters) - Reuters photographers witnessed the biggest stories of 2017 -- from Donald Trump's first year as U.S. president to the flight of Rohingya refugees from Myanmar, from Venezuela's crisis to the fall of Islamic State and a tower block inferno in London.
This feature presents some of their strongest images.
It also gives the photographers a chance to tell the stories behind their pictures and explain in their own words how the images were taken.
A man cries as he carries his daughter while walking from an Islamic State-controlled part of Mosul towards Iraqi special forces soldiers during a battle in Mosul, Iraq, March 4, 2017. REUTERS/Goran Tomasevic/File Photo
They talk about trekking through the night in South Sudan and flying over the Pacific Ocean to photograph a total eclipse.
They talk about watching drowning migrants being rescued in the Mediterranean and finding the best vantage point to capture Air Force One as it takes off from Las Vegas in the wake of the worst gun massacre in recent U.S. history.
Through it all, the photographers raise a question that shows how close they were to the action: in moments of crisis, should they take pictures or try to help?
A woman assists an injured person after an incident on Westminster Bridge in London, Britain, March 22, 2017. REUTERS/Toby Melville/File photo
"It is always hard to come to the realization that I am most helpful when I am taking pictures," said photographer Jonathan Bachman on his image of residents wading through flood waters from Tropical Storm Harvey in Houston.
"As an observer of suffering you have to believe that your images can make a difference."
Not all of the images are serious, of course. Some are quirky and fun and the boy who was enjoying mowing the White House lawn so much that he ignored Trump is just one example.
Plane debris is seen at the crash site of a Turkish cargo jet near Kyrgyzstan's Manas airport outside Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, January 16, 2017. REUTERS/Vladimir Pirogov/File Photo
(Writing by Marika Kochiashvili; Editing by Matthew Mpoke Bigg and Catherine Evans)
Air Force One departs Las Vegas past the broken windows on the Mandalay Bay hotel, where shooter Stephen Paddock conducted his mass shooting along the Las Vegas Strip in Las Vegas, Nevada, U.S., October 4, 2017. REUTERS/Mike Blake/File photo Photographers help a Rohingya refugee to come out of Nad River as they cross the Myanmar-Bangladesh border in Palong Khali, near Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh, November 1, 2017. REUTERS/Hannah McKay/File photo A man takes a ride on a police wrecker following the G20 summit, in the Schanze district of Hamburg, Germany, July 8, 2017. REUTERS/Kai Pfaffenbach/File photo A man kneels with a folded U.S. flag as the motorcade of U.S. President Donald Trump passes him after an event at the state fairgrounds in Indianapolis, Indiana, U.S., September 27, 2017. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst/File photo Residents wade through flood waters from Tropical Storm Harvey in Beaumont Place, Houston, Texas, U.S., August 28, 2017. Jonathan Bachman: "It was my first day covering Hurricane Harvey. REUTERS/Jonathan Bachman/File photo J Class boats compete in a regatta between race days of the America's Cup finals in Hamilton, Bermuda, June 19, 2017. REUTERS/Mike Segar/File photo Flames and smoke billow as firefighters deal with a fire in the Grenfell Tower apartment block in West London, Britain, June 14, 2017. REUTERS/Toby Melville/File photo Wildcat gold miner, or garimpeiro, works at a wildcat mine, also known as garimpo, at a deforested area of Amazon rainforest near Crepurizao, in the municipality of Itaituba, Para State, Brazil, August 6, 2017. REUTERS/Nacho Doce/File photo Qi Guangpu of China performs an aerial as he trains during the Snowboarding and Freestyle Skiing World Championships in Sierra Nevada, Spain, March 9, 2017. REUTERS/Paul Hanna/File photo Rescue workers and Mexican soldiers take part in a rescue operation at a collapsed building after an earthquake at the Obrera neighbourhood in Mexico City, Mexico, September 20, 2017. REUTERS/Carlos Jasso/File photo Migrants try to stay afloat after falling off their rubber dinghy during a rescue operation by the Malta-based NGO Migrant Offshore Aid Station (MOAS) ship in the central Mediterranean in international waters some 15 nautical miles off the coast of Zawiya in Libya, April 14, 2017. REUTERS/Darrin Zammit Lupi/File photo Iraqi rapid response members fire a missile against Islamic State militants during a battle with the militants in Mosul, Iraq, March 11, 2017. REUTERS/Thaier Al-Sudani/File Photo Attendees partake in the inauguration ceremonies to swear in Donald Trump as the 45th president of the United States at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, U.S., January 20, 2017. REUTERS/Lucas Jackson/File photo Displaced Iraqi women who just fled their home, rest in the desert as they wait to be transported while Iraqi forces battle with Islamic State militants in western Mosul, Iraq, February 27, 2017. REUTERS/Zohra Bensemra/File Photo Law enforcement officers detain an opposition supporter during a rally in Moscow, Russia, March 26, 2017. REUTERS/Maxim Shemetov/File photo A man walks with a bloody lip as demonstrators yell at him outside the location where Richard Spencer, an avowed white nationalist and spokesperson for the so-called alt-right movement, is delivering a speech on the campus of the University of Florida in Gainesville, Florida, U.S., October 19, 2017. REUTERS/Shannon Stapleton/File photo Kandy Freeman takes part in a Black Lives Matter protest in front of Trump Tower in New York City, U.S. January 14, 2017. REUTERS/Stephanie Keith/File photo U.S. President Donald Trump welcomes 11-year-old Frank Giaccio as he cuts the Rose Garden grass at the White House in Washington, U.S., September 15, 2017. REUTERS/Carlos Barria/File photo Palestinians react following tear gas that was shot by Israeli forces after Friday prayer on a street outside Jerusalem's Old city, July 21, 2017. Ammar Awad: "One Friday, Muslim elders called for a Palestinian "Day of Rage" to protest Israeli security measures at Jerusalem's holiest site. REUTERS/Ammar Awad/File photo The sun is obscured by the moon during a solar eclipse as seen from an Alaska Airlines commercial jet at 40,000 feet above the Pacific Ocean off the coast of Depoe Bay, Oregon, U.S., August 21, 2017. REUTERS/Jim Urquhart/File photo Caleb Amisi Luyai an opposition politician of the National Super Alliance (NASA) coalition, reacts after a gas canister fired by policemen hits his car during a protest along a street in Nairobi, Kenya, October 13, 2017. REUTERS/Baz Ratner/File photo Former campaign manager Corey Lewandowski (C) says hello to reporters as he and White House advisors Sebastian Gorka (from L), Omarosa Manigault and Communications Director Anthony Scaramucci accompany President Trump for an event celebrating veterans at AMVETS Post 44 in Struthers, Ohio, U.S., July 25, 2017. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst/File photo
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