Every day, Bloomberg photographers capture hundreds of images to illustrate the world’s top business and financial news stories. And every year, we ask our team of editors and photographers to weed through hundreds of thousands of images to select the strongest photos — the ones that illustrated the unillustratable, told a story in a single frame and helped Bloomberg and other news outlets around the world to tell the most important stories of 2014.
And then we asked the team to do the impossible — pick a favorite.
Here are the Americas team’s picks for the Best of the Best Photos of 2014:
This photograph of Mary Barra, GM’s incoming CEO, was taken at the 2014 North American International Auto Show just a couple of days before she was to take the reins as the first woman CEO of a major automaker. There seems to be a great deal of calm in her face…almost resignation. Like someone walking voluntarily into a lion’s cage. In a few weeks she would be testifying in front of Congress and the families of people who died from alleged ignition-switch defects in GM-built vehicles, beginning the battle that has taken up her entire tenure so far. This is a photograph of someone who understands clearly that they are about to begin a very difficult journey.
— Graham Morrison, Head of Americas Photo Team
Lam Yik Fei made this image in Hong Kong, just as the democracy protests really began heating up. Here, Fei caught a fortuitous moment as thousands of protesters stand in the street near Hong Kong’s government offices just as lighting strikes overhead. As many of the protests occurred during the night, the pictures from his assignments began to occupy this other worldy space – always shrouded in cool, alien blue light in direct contrast to the tensions they pictured. For me, the image is the perfect allegory for the protests that continue to this day.
— Scott Eells, Chief Photographer, Americas
My favorite image from 2014 would have to be this aerial shot of the Athabasca Oil Sands near Fort McMurray, Alberta, by Ben Nelms. The painterly qualities of the photograph are what I love most about it. The scale of the shot turns something so heavily rooted in the industrial world into an ethereal and delicate piece of art.
— Farah Shulman, Photo Editor, Americas
I picked this photo of religious pilgrims stopping to water their horses at Jaguari Reservoir in Brazil taken by Paulo Fridman on Nov. 13. I like the composition of the frame with the burnt-out car in the upper left, the men at the water’s edge with the horses in a straight line and the semicricles of parched earth in the foreground where the water has receded. The photo nicely illustrates the urgency of the drought and also speaks to an older way of life that has disappeared from much of the world.
— Christian Loeffler, Photo Editor, Americas
An extremely hard decision but this is the image I’m most drawn to from our year’s best. Not only due to the sheer beauty and simplicity of the frame, but also the mystery about the worker and the infinite questions it presents. A seemingly infinite field of wheat standing ready for a seemingly endless life of work. I’m very much drawn to graphic photography and this image greatly represents what we showcase best as a team.
— Kenneth Hughes, Photo Editor, Americas
The smoky atmosphere of this frame by Luke Sharrett first draws you into the picture. As you look closer, you begin to realize it’s steam rising from a horse’s body. I love that it’s the steam above the wet mane that’s creating the light. Luke saw this and decided to hone in on it — not walk away. The image portrays the energy that was just expended during a rigorous morning workout at the Kentucky Derby. I never get sick of looking at it.
— Shahrzad Elghanayan, Photo Editor, Americas
See the full collection of photos from the 2014 Best of the Year collection.
