The best of Big Picture 2021

The National's daily Big Picture choices provided current affairs and a more off-beat look at the year

A fire rages in the Gaza Strip following an Israeli airstrike on May 12. AFP

Supporters of Donald Trump gather in front of the US Capitol Building in Washington on January 6. Reuters

Al Suyoh residential housing complex in Sharjah, which is part of President Sheikh Khalifa's UAE Housing Initiative, on January 24. Ministry of Presidential Affairs

Ultra-Orthodox Jews take part in the funeral of a religious leader amid Covid-19 restrictions in Jerusalem on January 31. Reuters

Omysha the elephant dives under water at Zoo Zurich, Switzerland, on February 3. EPA

Cardboard spectators 'watch' Finnish ski jumper Jarkko Maatta at the FIS Nordic World Ski Championships in Oberstdorf, Germany, on February 24. Reuters

Political consultant Roger Stone dances with rapper Forgiato Blow outside the Conservative Political Action Conference in Orlando, Florida on February 27. Reuters

Protesters take cover as they clash with riot police during a protest against the military coup in Yangon, Myanmar on February 28. Reuters

An aerial view taken on March 27 shows stranded ships waiting to cross the Suez Canal. The waterway was blocked by the 'MV Ever Given', forcing companies to re-route services from the vital shipping lane. AFP

A worker in the Saudi city of Taif is photographed on April 11 sitting among freshly picked Damascena roses, which are used to produce rose water and oil. Every spring, roses bloom in Taif, transforming pockets of the kingdom's vast desert landscape into fragrant pink patches. AFP

US police officers pictured during a clash with protesters after an officer shot and killed a black man in Minneapolis, Minnesota on April 11. AFP

The Grand Mosque complex in Makkah, pictured during the first day of Ramadan, which fell on April 13 this year. AFP

The burning pyres of people who lost their lives to Covid-19 at a cremation ground in New Delhi on April 26. AFP

Israeli police detain a Palestinian protester on May 5 amid tensions about a land-ownership dispute in the Sheikh Jarrah neighbourhood of East Jerusalem. Reuters

Afghan men carry the coffin of a bombing victim in Kabul on May 9. Reuters

Baby Arabian carpet sharks inside their eggs, pictured at Atlantis, The Palm's aquarium in Dubai on May 23. Antonie Robertson / The National

A young Palestinian girl in what was once her family home in Beit Hanun, northern Gaza, on May 24. Getty

A gibbon walks amid models of vehicles at a zoo in Crimea on May 24. Reuters

A US Marine holds the door as Gianna Floyd, the daughter of George Floyd, walks into the White House on May 25. Floyd was murdered by Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin the year before. AP

Egyptians swim in the Suez Canal as a container ship moves through it, in Ismaila, on May 27. EPA

A migrating herd of elephants rest in south-western China's Yunnan province on June 7. AP

A ranger climbs the slopes of the Nyiragongo volcano in the Democratic Republic of the Congo on June 11, three weeks after it erupted. AFP

Drivers queue at a petrol station in northern Lebanon on July 1 amid severe fuel shortages. AFP

Britain's 'HMS Queen Elizabeth' aircraft carrier sails through Egypt's Suez Canal on July 6. AFP

The Dixie Fire consumes a home in the Indian Falls community of Plumas County, California, on July 24. AP

Lionel Messi salutes supporters outside the Parc des Princes stadium after his first official press conference as Paris Saint-Germain player on August 11. AFP

View from the cabin of Ain Dubai on August 24. Pawan Singh / The National

Medics treat patients infected with Covid-19 at a chapel converted into an intensive care unit on August 25 in Manila, the Philippines. Getty

An image taken from the International Space Station shows Hurricane Ida in the Gulf of Mexico on August 29. EPA

Migrants take shelter along the Del Rio International Bridge at sunset on September 19 as they wait to be processed after crossing the Rio Grande into the US from Mexico. Reuters

Lava flows from a volcano near El Paso on La Palma, one of Spain’s Canary Islands, on September 21. AP

Afghan girls in Kandahar on September 26. AFP

The Expo 2020 Dubai opening ceremony, held on September 30. Photo: Expo 2020 Dubai

Afghans gather outside a passport office on October 6 after the Taliban said they would start issuing travel documents again. Reuters

Migrants sit on the deck of the 'Sea Watch-3' rescue ship in the Mediterranean on October 19. AP

An installation by Italian artist Lorenzo Quinn faces the Giza Pyramids on October 23. The artwork was part of the first international exhibition to take place at the site. AFP

A member of the Minga Indigena indigenous delegation attends the Cop26 UN climate summit on November 3 in Glasgow, Scotland. Getty

Hikers visit an ice cave formed at the end section of the Zinal glacier, above the alpine village of Zinal, Switzerland, on November 13. Over the past 60 years the overall glacier volume in Switzerland has shrunk by almost 50 percent. EPA

Migrants make their way to a checkpoint on the Belarus-Poland border on November 15. AP

A man returns to Haiti after buying chickens at a market in the border town of Dajabon, Dominican Republic, on November 19. AP

A group of girls reacts after Brazil's Corinthians defeated Colombia's Santa Fe in the Women's Copa Libertadores football final on November 21. AFP

An Iraqi youth stands on the bank of Basra's Shatt Al Arab waterway as flare stacks burn in a nearby oilfield on December 5. AFP

A drone picture shows a road running through snow-covered fields in the village of Izdebki, south-eastern Poland, on December 8. EPA

Etihad Airways jets perform a flyover before the final race of the Etihad Airways Abu Dhabi Grand Prix on December 12. Victor Besa / The National

Throughout the week, and throughout the year, The National’s editors select the day’s “Big Picture”.

The photos can be newsworthy or a stunning moment of nature caught by a photographer, a sporting highlight or simply a beautiful picture. Some are taken by our staff photographers in the UAE, others sourced from around the world. Above all, they must be striking and memorable.

The gallery above includes some of the best images featured in Big Picture series over the last year.

More: The National's best staff photographs of 2021

2021 in pictures: striking images from around the world