Shutterstock launched its much-anticipated 2020 Year in Review, a collection of photographs documenting the historic moments that shaped our lives this past year. As the world prepares to ring in the new year, the curated collection looks back at the people and events that have left a mark in 2020. From a glamorous red carpet season to a global pandemic and social unrest, this year began with hope and has transpired into one that will be remembered mostly for loss but also for a newfound appreciation for humanity.
Shutterstock has been capturing this year’s most compelling moments making them available to the world’s media and brands every day to empower their storytelling. The Year in Review remembers some of the events and stories that have shaped media coverage in 2020 and will remain in history books forever. From the millions of photographs published by Shutterstock Editorial in 2020, this collection has been curated to commemorate the Top 10, Top 50, and Top 200, that tell the story of this unprecedented year.
The 2020 Year in Review aims to remind everyone of the importance of photography in capturing and recording the moments that have influenced our lives and history, including:
- Coronavirus: The pandemic is undoubtedly what this year will be most known for, and the visuals that accompany it have been some of the most striking in history.
- Black Lives Matter: While the BLM movement precedes 2020, this is the year it grew to global prominence and touched millions of lives worldwide.
- The US Election: Starting with a field of candidates and narrowing to a nail-biting finale between Trump and Biden that stretched on longer than anyone had expected, the review captures the evolution of the campaigns from start to finish.
- The Awards Season: In what seems like a lifetime ago, 2020 delivered a landmark Oscars, with Bong Joon-Ho’s ‘Parasite’ winning Best Picture, and in doing so, becoming the first non-English-language film to take Hollywood’s top prize. Other big Awards Season winners included Renee Zellweger, Brad Pitt, Joaquin Phoenix and Billie Eilish.
- Sports: The crowds grew silent being substituted with cardboard cutouts and fabricated fan noise in empty stadiums, leaving players around the world in quite a surreal predicament as they played on for the love of the game.
Candice Murray, VP of Shutterstock Editorial, said, “It’s incredible to look back at the moments that characterized this unbelievable year and know that Shutterstock was at the center at capturing these moving stories. Our photographers stood among the crowds of protesters during the Black Lives Matter marches; sat at the sidelines of football games when fans couldn’t; and wore masks walking streets around the globe, capturing the ‘new normal.’ We’re proud to have authentically captured 2020, which is sure to be a year we’ll never forget!”
Tiffinni Field, Director of International Sales at epa, adds, “As 2020 draws to a close and we look back at an unprecedented year dominated by the Coronavirus pandemic, it makes me proud that our epa photographers have risen to the challenge and managed to maintain such a high level of powerful coverage of the historic events that shaped the year. There have been some notable news stories such as The Black Lives Matter movement, the US Election, the protests in Hong Kong or the death of Maradona, all having the power to capture the imagination and dominate the headlines. It is of vital importance to document these memorable stories and we’re grateful to have the partnership with Shutterstock to enable us to share the epa content with as wide an audience as possible.”
With global social distancing measures set in place since March, the ability to attend events and capture key moments for the world’s media has been a challenge for Editorial photographers. However, the power of photography has shone through. With people unable to travel and events taking place without crowds, it has been the photographers and the media who continue to tell the story.
Stephen Lovekin, Staff Photographer at Shutterstock, who created a socially distanced photo project ‘Words At The Window’ during lockdown, adds, “I have been a professional ‘entertainment’ photographer for over 20 years traveling the globe covering the biggest and most glamorous events in the world. But when the Coronavirus arrived all of that came to a screeching halt. The question was, “Ok. What do we do now?”. As things started to get worse, I could sense the fear and uncertainty that those in my immediate circle were experiencing. This is essentially what gave me the idea for my ‘Words at The Window’ project. And then George Floyd was killed. Things became even more surreal. And from that point on the Black Lives Matter protests seemed to be happening daily. I suddenly became a news photographer. So, combine the worst pandemic in a hundred years, racial tensions at an all-time high, and probably the most important Presidential election in US history, and you have a year like none other. It has forced me to challenge myself creatively. And for this I am forever grateful. Call it the ‘silver lining’ to a year most of us would rather forget.”
