Slideshow: 30 years of Reuters photographs. Part three: 2005-2015

The world in pictures: The final installment of our short series on three decades of Reuters photography


Click here to see part one: Reuters 1985-1995,Opens in new window ]

In celebration of their 30th anniversary, the Reuters international news picture service has collected some of their most profound and haunting photographs of the last three decades.

The second of our three galleries covers news events from 2005 to 2015 and captures some of the defining moments from the last ten years, from the financial crisis to the Arab Spring.

Below, two of the featured photographers describe how their images came about and why they still have resonance around the world today.

Photographer Dylan Martinez on the story behind this image

An opposition supporter holds up a laptop showing images of celebrations in Cairo's Tahrir Square, after Egypt's President Hosni Mubarak in February 2011. Photographer Dylan Martinez managed to capture this iconic moment.

READ MORE

"I was lucky enough to be sent to Egypt in 2011 for what became known as the Facebook Revolution. Thousands of Egyptians had taken to the streets to demand the end of President Hosni Mubarak's 30-year rule."

"When I arrived in Egypt, customs officials at the airport confiscated almost all of my kit but after over four hours of discussions, one customs official took pity on me. He let me keep a Nikon D700 and a 50mm lens."

"There are some days that stay with you forever. The day I took this picture was one of those. After two weeks of almost no sleep, one arrest and even a beating by opponents of the revolution, I was happy to be in Tahrir Square the moment the news broke that Mubarak had stepped down."

"The problem for me was that the news broke at after dusk. As the euphoria rolled around the square, some jumped in jubilation while others shed tears of joy. The scene was incredible but I was frustrated: It was so dark that I could not capture much of the action. I was seeing history but unable to get the picture."

"Then I spotted this man holding a laptop and chanting "Facebook! Facebook!" like a football supporter. Nice moment. I was just relieved he did it in a pool of light."

Photographer Jason Lee on the story behind this image


A woman cries as she cannot find her four-year-old daughter in the ruins of a destroyed school in earthquake-hit Beichuan county, Sichuan province in May 2008. Photographer Jason Lee was deeply affected by the scenes he encountered there.

"It was the fifth day since the deadly Sichuan Earthquake shook southwestern China. People were still looking for survivors in the ruins of Beichuan county, one of the worst-hit areas."

"A landslide triggered by the earthquake had buried a kindergarten and the woman pictured, a mother of a four-year-old girl who was buried under the ruins, kept crying out her daughter's name and kept blaming herself, saying it was all her fault."

"I was shooting military troops search for surviving children in the ruins when her desperate crying caught my attention. I tried to be quiet and crouched in front of her to shoot for about one minute and after a while checked with her relatives for more details."

"On the morning of the earthquake, her daughter told her she wasn't feeling too well and didn't want to go to kindergarten. The mother was a bit upset, thinking her daughter might be lying to get away from school. The mother, whose husband was also killed in the earthquake, kept saying that she was responsible for her daughter's death, as if she might still be alive if she had allowed her to stay at home."

"The sadness in the woman's crying and the story behind it left a deep mark on me, reminding me of the cruelty and ruthlessness in disasters. Covering this story affected me deeply. I was 33 at the time, in my best shape physically, and all I thought about was my career. But after the coverage, I felt it was time to start a family and have a warm home to return to."