11 Striking Images of 2013

In our age of high-pitched news television, everyone’s-a-photographer-now smartphones and the resulting social media overload, does photojournalism still have a place? We like to think it does. Skilled photographers document, often at great risk and with much effort, what’s happening in our world, arresting our ever-distracted eyes as they skim the pages and screens that bombard us, serving up the tragedies and joys, the evil and the sublime, the beauty in the mundane. At the peak of their c

Curated By: Forbes India Photo Team

Published: Dec 30, 2013

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Flowers left by mourners surround a portrait of Nelson Mandela in Sandton district of Johannesburg. Mandela, an icon of the anti-apartheid struggle in South Africa and one of the towering political figures of the 20th century, died on December 5. He was 95. South Africa’s first black and democratically-elected president, Mandela was being treated for a lung infection at his Johannesburg home since September, after he spent three months in the hospital in a critical state

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US President Barack Obama (left) greets his Cuban counterpart Raul Castro before his speech at the memorial service of late South African President Nelson Mandela in Johannesburg on December 10, 2013. The world sat up and took note of the gesture as the two nations have been at loggerheads for more than half a century

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Berkshire Hathaway CEO Warren Buffett (left) tries his hand at table tennis along with Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates in Omaha on May 5, the day after Berkshire’s annual meeting. At the meeting, Buffett spoke extensively about the future of Berkshire after he’s gone, saying he still expects the conglomerate to be the partner of choice for distressed companies, but stopped short of naming his successor

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A protestor is hit by water sprayed from a water cannon in Taksim Square, Istanbul, in June. The city erupted in protest after a sit-in against urban development plans of a park was brutally evicted by the government, calling into question Turkey’s freedom of speech and expression and secular credentials

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Journalist and presenter Evan Davies poses with a 3D printed model of himself at an exhibition on the future of printing at the Science Museum in London on October 8. Davies’ model features his arm in a sling as he was scanned when he was recovering from a broken wrist

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Miss New York Nina Davuluri (left) reacts after being chosen the first Indian-American winner of the Miss America Pageant in Atlantic City, New Jersey. The win left a bitter aftertaste as Davuluri faced a barrage of racist tweets

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Soldiers try to repair a temporary footbridge over river Alaknanda after it was destroyed during rescue operations in Uttarakhand. The state was ravaged by monsoon rains in June as the Ganga swept away houses, killed at least 130 people and left tens of thousands stranded

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Volunteers carry out rescue operations after an eight-storied building housing garment factories collapsed in Savar, on the outskirts of Dhaka, Bangladesh in April. About 1,000 workers, handling consignments for top global brands and retailers, were killed in the cave-in, re-opening the debate on blatant violation of construction rules

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Women run for safety with their children as police hunt gunmen who went on a shooting spree at the Westgate shopping centre in Nairobi in September. The assailants killed at least 15 people in what can possibly be called the country’s worst terrorist attack. Sporadic gunshots could be heard hours after the assault started as soldiers surrounded the mall and police combed the building, hunting down the attackers shop by shop

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Team India gives Sachin Tendulkar a mobile guard of honour, from the pitch all the way to the pavilion, as the Master Blaster leaves the ground for one last time during his illustrious 24-year career. In his last Test, also his 200th, Tendulkar crafted a masterful knock of 74 to enthral a packed stadium at Mumbai’s Wankhede, his homeground, as India streamrolled West Indies to clinch the two-match series