The best press photos of 2025 continue to reveal a world in motion — defined by political tension, cultural celebration, natural disaster, and quiet human resilience. This eighth instalment brings together nineteen powerful images taken between January 11 and January 20, 2025, by photojournalists working across four continents for Reuters, AFP, AP, EPA, and other major agencies.
Politics and Protest: Voices on the Street
The month opened with political theatre in Germany, where a demonstrator made headlines at a campaign stop by German Chancellor Olaf Scholz. The SPD leader was visiting a former locomotive shed in Bielefeld on January 13, 2025, meeting local citizens as part of his party’s election campaign tour, when a protester shouted “Free Palestine” directly in his direction.
Halfway around the world in La Paz, Bolivia, frustration over food shortages and the rising cost of basic goods erupted on January 14, 2025. Riot police dispersed crowds of demonstrators who had taken to the streets, with some protesters running to avoid confrontation.
In Tel Aviv, Israel, on January 15, 2025, supporters of hostages taken during the October 7, 2023 Hamas attack gathered to demand a ceasefire deal that would secure every captive’s release. Their emotional reactions to the latest developments in the Gaza negotiations were captured in vivid detail.
Royals in the Spotlight
Two of Europe’s most closely watched royal figures made significant public appearances in January. On January 11, 2025, Spain’s Crown Princess Leonor saluted smartly as she boarded the training ship Juan Sebastian de Elcano in Cadiz to begin more than five months of naval training, with planned port calls across the Americas.
In London, Catherine, Princess of Wales, stepped out for an official engagement on January 14, 2025, visiting The Royal Marsden Hospital in Chelsea. She and the Prince of Wales were announced as Joint Patrons of The Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust — a particularly meaningful role given that the Princess herself received cancer treatment at the same institution. The hospital, founded in 1851, was the world’s first dedicated to cancer diagnosis, treatment, research and education.
Best Press Photos of 2025: Festivals and Cultural Celebrations
January’s cultural calendar was remarkably rich. In Seville, Spain, the We Love Flamenco fashion show drew designers and photographers on consecutive days. Santana Diseños presented its seasonal collection on January 11, while the 13th edition of the show on January 13 featured a striking design by Spanish designers Juan Foronda and Rafa Diaz, modelled on the runway.
London offered a lighter spectacle on January 12, when participants in the annual No Trousers Tube Ride boarded the Underground in deliberately trouser-free attire, as they do every year for this tongue-in-cheek urban tradition.
In Yokohama, south of Tokyo, kimono-clad young women gathered on January 13, 2025, for Coming of Age Day ceremonies — a deeply cherished milestone in Japanese culture marking the transition to adulthood.
The village of Vevcani in North Macedonia joined in its own revelry on January 13, as residents participated in the town’s distinctive carnival, a tradition rooted in centuries-old local custom.
In Bangalore, India, the Hindu festival of Makara Sankranthi — also celebrated as Pongal — saw communities honouring cattle on January 14, 2025, adorning cows and bulls with vivid colours and guiding them over bonfires in a traditional act of thanksgiving following the harvest season.
The grandest gathering of all took place at Prayagraj, where the Maha Kumbh Mela festival officially opened on January 13, 2025. On January 14, Hindu holy men known as Sadhus performed the Shahi Snan — the royal bath — at the Sangam, the sacred confluence of the Ganges, Yamuna and mythical Saraswati rivers. Organisers anticipated that up to 400 million pilgrims would attend across six weeks, making it the largest human gathering on Earth.
In Indonesia, preparations for the Chinese Lunar New Year — the Year of the Wood Snake — were already under way on January 19, 2025. A temple worker carefully cleaned a reclining Buddha statue at the Buddha Dharma and 8 Po Sat temple in Bogor, West Java province.
For more remarkable imagery from this period, explore our Best World Press Photos: Early January 2025 collection, which documents the first days of the year with equal impact.
Nature, Disaster and Sport
Paris provided a more nostalgic kind of spectacle on January 12, when a parade of vintage vehicles rolled through the city streets. One memorable frame showed a man smoking beside a classic Chevrolet — a scene of unhurried old-world elegance.
That same day in Brazil, the mood was far grimmer. Torrential rains triggered devastating landslides in southeast Brazil, with the Bethania neighbourhood of Ipatinga in Minas Gerais state among the worst affected. By January 12, at least seven people had been killed and four more remained missing, according to local rescue services.
In Argentina’s Patagonian region, a wildfire tore through Epuyen in the province of Chubut on January 16, 2025, sending towering flames and dense smoke into the sky above the landscape.
The eleventh stage of the 2025 Dakar Rally, held in Shubaytah, Saudi Arabia on January 16, saw competitors delayed at the start line as thick fog settled over the course. Riders waited in anticipation before conditions finally allowed the stage to proceed.
At Qatar’s Sabkhat Marmi on January 18, 2025, the Qatar International Falconry and Hunting Festival hosted a greyhound racing championship — a spectacle of speed and tradition against the backdrop of the desert south of Doha.
Human Stories Across Borders
One of the most emotionally resonant images in this set was captured on January 20, 2025, at the Paso del Norte bridge linking Ciudad Juarez, Mexico to El Paso, Texas. Venezuelan migrants Daniela Medina and Oldris Rodriguez embraced joyfully after successfully crossing into the United States — a moment of relief and hope set against the backdrop of ongoing debates around immigration policy.
If you enjoyed this set, the Best Press Photos of 2025: Set 6 offers another powerful selection of images from the same extraordinary year.
Conclusion
From royal ceremonies and ancient religious festivals to wildfires and border crossings, these nineteen photographs encapsulate the breadth of human experience during a single January fortnight in 2025. Each frame is a testament to the power of photojournalism to connect audiences with events unfolding far from home.
