Soft focus on 2020: Finding humanity in a year of isolation

For photojournalists, interaction with new people and places is crucial to our work. That’s because our medium is experiential. We must be present in place and time to capture an image. As impartial observers, we strive to keep ourselves out of the story. But it’s also impossible to remain unchanged by what we witness. What we see often becomes a small part of us. I like to think that each year we become more complex individuals, thanks to the array of experiences we absorb. 

The year started like any other. January 2020 held the usual promise of travel and adventure. The Monitor’s photographers kicked off the year with trips to Brazil and Estonia. The year, it seemed, was off to an eventful start. Little did we know how it would turn out.

When we’re reporting, we can sometimes tell when a story is history in the making. This year was full of such moments. In this special video, the Monitor photojournalism team invites you to see what we saw this past year – people working to better understand and find new ways to connect with each other.