A look at the biggest stories of 2024 through the images of photojournalists

Transcript

Notice: Transcripts are machine and human generated and lightly edited for accuracy. They may contain errors.

Lisa Desjardins: As 2024 comes to a close, we take a look back now at some of the year’s biggest stories through the images of photojournalists.

We spoke with four photographers who documented the presidential campaign, the protests over the war in Gaza, the Paris Olympics, and much more.

Brandon Bell, Staff Photographer, Getty Images: This year, when I think about my coverage, I think about the resilience of the human spirit to keep moving in the midst of trial and tribulation.

My name is Brandon Bell. And I’m a staff photographer for Getty Images based in Austin, Texas.

Martin Bureau, Photo Editor in Chief, Agence France-Presse: My name is Martin Bureau. I’m the photo editor in chief for Agence France-Presse for France.

Evan Vucci, Chief Photographer, Associated Press: My name is Evan Vucci. I am the chief photographer for the Associated Press in Washington.

Gabriella Gregor Splaver, Freelance Photojournalist: My name is Gabriella Gregor Splaver, and I am a freelance photojournalist.

I graduated from Columbia, where I was a student photojournalist for The Columbia Daily Spectator.

Shortly after October 7, there were immediately protests on our campus. Literally, it was wake up, go cover the encampment as long as I can, go back home, go to sleep, and do it again. We were able to, like, navigate certain parts of the encampment and cover things in ways that I think a lot of the outside press were there couldn’t.

And that moment, I was like, OK, what can I bring to the table that all of these other experienced photojournalists around me maybe can’t? So, for me, it was, I know this community, and I know the difference between what is happening right now and all these other students that are walking to class or what it was like two weeks ago.

You know, on the one hand, as a photojournalist, you’re supposed to be covering these things unbiasedly and what’s actually occurring. But at the same time, as a student of Columbia, I know the person who’s sitting in that tent. I know the person who’s in that building. And I’m surrounded by a lot of my peers.

I really wanted to capture kind of almost a student’s perspective of what was unfolding.

Evan Vucci: I had a sense when I was having conversations with other journalists and things like, that I was like, man, I think that he might win this.

Donald Trump, Former President of the United States (R) and Current U.S. President-Elect: Look what happened.

Evan Vucci: When the shots rang out, I knew immediately it was going to be one of the biggest things I will ever cover. And, in that moment, it was my job as a photojournalist to show you the world through my eyes.

People ask me all the time, do you think that image changed anything? And I push back on it. I say, people have very real issues that they’re voting about. And people are out there and they’re struggling, man. People are hurt in this country. And for people to say that one image changed how a particular person would vote, I feel is just way, way too shortsighted and not accurate at all.

I went straight from the assassination attempt in Butler directly to the Republican National Convention. And then I traveled to the first joint event between Vance and Trump. From there, I get on the plane and I’m heading back to D.C. And I get a text message that says, hey, President Biden just announced that he’s dropping out of the race, and you’re the pool photographer in the Oval Office tomorrow.

I will always look at that weeklong stretch of my career as probably being the most difficult and the most challenging thing I have ever been through in this business.

Brandon Bell: This is the first election cycle that I have done. I’m more curious about people in the crowd. How are they responding to this certain candidate? How are they feeling? Someone once told me, don’t show me what people are doing. I want you to show me how they’re feeling.

A lot of my mentality and focus has been, what does it mean for me as a journalist to put aside my own biases and thoughts at times and just focus on what’s before me? I can humbly look back now and say that my assessment of the outcome was completely wrong.

When I was at Harris events, I mean, they were electric. At the concession speech, it almost seemed like people had come together to accept the fate, to be together. Even as a journalist, it was hard being around the weight of emotion and feeling of so many people just in unity kind of have, like, their dreams almost kind of just snuffed right beneath them.

Martin Bureau: I was part of the organizing team of this Olympic Games in Paris 2024.

Those ones were the 10th edition for me. We had been working harder for more than a year before, especially for the Opening Ceremony. Usually, we cover a ceremony with a dozen photographers. For this one, we have 48.

The pressure was high. We are playing at home, so we couldn’t fail. This whole city was brought in our pictures. Beach volley, when you have the Eiffel Tower in the background, it’s completely different. To have the equestrian in Versailles with the castle in the backdrop, it’s fantastic.

To have the BMX looks like riding on the Obelisk, it’s fantastic. To have the road cycling coming up in Montmartre in front of the Moulin Rouge, it’s fantastic. To have the swimming in the Seine was a real challenge. I was very happy to see this moment, and it was quite a difficult moment for me, but a nice souvenir.

It was such a nice event to cover with fantastic images that will stay longer.

Brandon Bell: In covering the border. It can be very easy, I think, for me and for others to be tempted with trying to photograph in a way that meets the current story.

My job is to show people the reality from all sides of what’s happening on the ground and allow them for themselves to look at the emotions, the feelings, look at the truth and decide what’s true for them and versus not.

Gabriella Gregor Splaver: I, like, always kind of assumed that things that were happening in the world were always completely covered, and because there’s so many, not only photographers, but also people with cell phones, that nothing gets missed or lost in between the lines.

But covering this, I think, kind of showed me that that’s not always the case.

Evan Vucci: Things are so incredibly busy that we haven’t had a chance to really exhale and think about the coverage of the last year, because, as photographers, we’re still out there doing the job. We’re still out there working every day and planning and getting ready for what is sure to be a really busy year.