Most people would agree, 2020 has been a year not to be repeated. The Covid-19 pandemic has taken family, friends, frontline workers, the elderly, the infirm, the poorest and the richest in societies across the globe.
Yet it hasn't been an even experience. In New Zealand, we have suffered the loss of 25 from our team of 5 million and there will be some who carry the scars of this insidious disease for the rest of their lives. We have escaped relatively lightly and have got back to a near normal in our everyday lives, even if it is cut-off
from the rest of the world.
But 2020 has not just been about this life-threatening illness. There has been terrible disaster in the form of bushfires that ravaged Australia last summer and California in the northern summer, earthquakes that have ruined the lives of many people, plane crashes, devastating explosions, famine and war.
There has also been the drama of elections, the struggle for freedom and from oppression, the shenanigans, deal making and breaking of politics.
And 2020 has also brought us joy and laughter, art, culture, sport and more.
Through it all, the New Zealand Herald visuals team and associates have been there on the spot bringing the message through the power of images. We have curated some of the best photographs from 2020: not nearly enough to cover everything – there's not enough room – but a snapshot of the year in focus.
A year the like of which we may never see again.
