This young girl, surrounded by gang violence in her own Haitian neighborhood, jumps, closes her eyes, and smiles. She is experiencing an enthusiasm from the jump rope game that is unabated by the circumstances surrounding her.
People all throughout the world, in a variety of situations, could benefit from this kind of happiness. However, those kinds of emotions can be difficult to locate and identify in a world that provided so much misery and apocalypse in 2024.
In Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine, on September 1, 2024, first-graders attend the customary opening ceremony. (Photo by Eugeniy Maloletka for AP)
On January 23, 2024, Palestinians who have been displaced by Israel’s ground invasion of the Gaza Strip play at the temporary tent camp in Rafah. (Photo by Fatima Shbair for AP)
On July 13, 2024, a woman swings on a swing at Venao Beach in Pedasi, Panama. (Matias Delacroix/AP Photo)
On November 24, 2024, in Kampala, Uganda, a woman arrives at a park with a gift basket to attend a friend’s birthday celebration. (Photo by David Goldman for AP)
Life passes quickly and leaves its imprint. It appears that sometimes it’s necessary to capture and highlight moments of amazement and excitement before they pass. That’s exactly what this compilation of AP photojournalists’ photos accomplishes.
Perhaps there is a moment of astonishment or happiness for every upsetting news event in the world. However, because news is by definition about unusual things, ordinary moments can occasionally be forgotten in the flurry of activity.
Collectively, these images make a deliberate decision to seize that happiness and awe, distill it, and capture it in a focused moment to remind us that even on the worst of days, it still exists.
In Klungkung, Bali, Indonesia, on March 19, 2024, residents take a dip in a dam of the Unda River in honor of World Water Day. (Photo by Firdia Lisnawati for AP)
Some, such as the picture of the displaced Palestinian teenagers playing and the little Haitian girl, show that individuals may find relaxation even while they are traversing difficult paths. Some, like the photo of a coca vendor at a legal market in Bolivia, demonstrate that smiles can burst forth at any part of the day.
On April 18, 2024, a coca vendor works in a legitimate coca leaf market in La Paz, Bolivia. (Photo by Juan Karita/AP)
March 21, 2024: Icelandic horses play at a stud farm in Wehrheim, close to Frankfurt, Germany. (Photo courtesy of Michael Probst)AP
On the first day of Eid al-Adha in Istanbul, Turkey, on June 16, 2024, a youngster plays at the Hagia Sophia mosque, which dates back to the Byzantine era. (Photo by Francisco Seco for AP)
Some, like the young people performing a street dance in a Rio de Janeiro favela, or slum, show that exuberance knows no boundaries and will inevitably poke through. And some show the literal joyful footprints of humanity as with the footprints on a snow-covered rugby field in Chile that took pains to walk in the shape of a heart.
Footprints create the shape of a heart in a snow-covered rugby field in Santiago, Chile, May 8, 2024. (AP Photo/Matias Basualdo)AP
A view of The Rink at Rockefeller Center is pictured from several stories up inside Rockefeller Center, Nov. 2, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)AP
Friends and family fuss over a quincea era in preparation for her photo session at Colon Square in the Zona Colonial neighborhood of Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, May 15, 2024. (Matias Delacroix/AP Photo)
Patterns, blown kisses, celebrations of equality, ice skaters, the unself-conscious playing of children, a motorcycle riding against a dramatic sunrise, even a partier reveling in being immersed in a pool of squashed tomatoes these images, gathered from all around the world, offer an antidote for much of the rest of 2024.
A member of the Ukrainian Jewish community shows off his dancing moves during Purim celebrations and a festive meal at the Great Choral Synagogue in Kyiv, Ukraine, March 24, 2024. (AP Photo/Vadim Ghirda)AP
A man rides his bike over a hill as the sun rises in Frankfurt, Germany, Aug. 9, 2024. (Photo courtesy of Michael Probst)AP
Beverly “Cookie” Grant reacts to the Fanflashtic experience, an operational replica of one constructed at the Woodstock Music and Art Fair, at the Museum At Bethel Woods, June 14, 2024, in Bethel, N.Y. (AP Photo/Julia Nikhinson)AP
They tell us that happiness and exuberance are possible in multiple conditions, even some of the worst ones. And in doing so, they also hint that, at any moment, those good feelings might be possible for us, too.
Maijuna youth Arely Riategui smiles while sitting in a hammock inside her home in Sucusari, Peru, May 29, 2024. (AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd)AP
Annika and Moritz embrace as people walk by in Vienna, Austria, Sept. 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Andreea Alexandru)AP
A woman dances as she participates in a procession to mark Falgun Mahotsav ahead of Holi, the Hindu festival of colors, in Hyderabad, India, March 20, 2024. (AP Photo/Mahesh Kumar A.)AP
Youth perform a street dance style known as passinho for their social media accounts, in the Rocinha favela of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, April 17, 2024. (AP Photo/Silvia Izquierdo)AP
Isaac Young, 5, rests his cheek on the family horse Rusty’s forehead during farm chores before homeschooling, Nov. 12, 2024, in Sunbury, Ohio. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)AP
A Murui farmer laughs while heading to harvest bananas on her farm located along the proposed route of a federal highway to be built from Iquitos to El Estrecho district, Centro Arenal, Peru, May 28, 2024. (AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd)AP
Leonila Arucan, a teacher, dressed in dried banana leaves, participates in the mud festival outside the church of Saint John the Baptist at Bibiclat, Nueva Ecija province, northern Philippines, June 24, 2024. (AP Photo/Aaron Favila)AP
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Ted Anthony, director of new storytelling and newsroom innovation at The Associated Press, writes frequently about photography. Follow him at http//x.com/anthonyted
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