![\"Polar](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/.jpeg\")
<\/p>\nIn a world where video reigns supreme (hello TikTok and Instagram reels!), the still photograph still wields a special power. It freezes a moment in time and lets people take in that big picture but also gives them a chance to appreciate tiny details that might not be noticed at first.<\/p>\n
For Goats and Soda, photography is an important part of our coverage of the daily life, of the joys and strife, of the Global South. Here are our top photo-driven stories of 2025.<\/p>\n
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\n Polar bear, Dalian Forest Zoo, China. As this zoo, the polar bear is confined to space far smaller than its range in the wild, which can reach 31,000 square miles.<\/p>\n
Zed Nelson\/Institute\/INSTITUTE<\/p>\n
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Zed Nelson\/Institute\/INSTITUTE<\/p>\n
Mother Nature must be really annoyed at our fakery<\/a> \n The photo exhibit Sahy Rano, on display at the Photoville Festival in Brooklyn, New York, this summer, draws its title from a Malagasay phrase translated in a wall label as “someone who is not afraid to dive into the water, even if there is a strong current.” The photographer wants to bring attention to female genital schistosomiasis, a neglected tropical disease caused by a waterborne parasitic infection, whose symptoms can be stigmatizing because they resemble symptoms of sexually transmitted diseases. From left to right: former patients Rahama Abdallah, Sylvia Razanaparana and Suzanie Yolandrie. They were photographed in September 2024 in the district of Ambanja in Northern Madagascar.<\/p>\n Miora Rajaonary\/The End Fund<\/p>\n hide caption\n <\/p>\n toggle caption<\/p>\n Miora Rajaonary\/The End Fund<\/p>\n Why it took courage for these women to pose for the camera<\/a> \n Artisanal coal miner Emmanuel Siyabonga hauls a sack of coal to a client’s car at the abandoned Golfview coal mine in Ermelo, South Africa. The work is grueling and hazardous but is one of the few viable means of making a living in a town with widespread poverty and high rates of unemployment.<\/p>\n Tommy Trenchard for NPR<\/p>\n hide caption\n <\/p>\n toggle caption<\/p>\n Tommy Trenchard for NPR<\/p>\n The perilous lives of men who salvage coal from abandoned mines<\/a> \n Angela Farre Palacin, 87, adds thyme to boiling water for sopa de farigola, a traditional soup in Catalonia, Spain. This blend of thyme, day-old bread, eggs and olive oil is considered a remedy for all sorts of ailments. And we’ve got the recipe.<\/p>\n Matilde Gattoni for NPR<\/p>\n hide caption\n <\/p>\n toggle caption<\/p>\n Matilde Gattoni for NPR<\/p>\n Thyme for some healing soup recipes from around the world<\/a> \n On April 3, Ben de la Cruz of NPR photographed Catherine Mwaloe of Zambia for a story on the impact of U.S. aid cuts. The 16-year-old, who contracted HIV from her mother at birth, said she had only one month’s supply of the medicine that keeps the virus at bay \u2014 a result of a shutdown of the clinic, funded by U.S. aid, that had provided free medication. After NPR’s story published, the Zambian government investigated and set up a new system that enables Mwaloe and others to obtain the drugs they need. But the teenager still worries about getting enough food, previously provided through a U.S. program.<\/p>\n Ben de la Cruz\/NPR<\/p>\n hide caption\n <\/p>\n toggle caption<\/p>\n Ben de la Cruz\/NPR<\/p>\n Portraits: A 10-year-old, a house painter and a mom who are running out of HIV pills<\/a> \n Children gather inside a traditional tent, known as an ortz, in the Siberian taiga of northern Mongolia, watching a documentary about a Norwegian reindeer herder who was visiting to learn about the lifestyle of the region’s nomadic Dukha reindeer herders. Despite the community’s remote location deep in the forest \u2014 accessible only by horseback or reindeer \u2014 families stay connected with the outside world with solar panels, car batteries and the occasional wi-fi connection.<\/p>\n Claire Thomas<\/p>\n hide caption\n <\/p>\n toggle caption<\/p>\n Claire Thomas<\/p>\n Prize-winning pictures: Images from this photo contest show tech changing the world<\/a> \n Soon-ja Hong,\u00a069, is one of the female divers of Jeju Island, South Korea. The women are known as the Haenyeo \u2014 “women of the sea.” Starting in the 17th century, the island’s women took over the breadwinning task of deep-diving to the ocean floor. There they gather mollusks, conch, seaweed and other seafood, poviding food and income for their families and their communities. The custom was to start training from an early age. In today’s industrialized agricultural world, though, the number of Haenyeo has steadily declined from tens of thousands to just a few thousand, and most of those who remain are in their 60s or older.<\/p>\n \u00a9 Alain Schroeder\/\u00a9 Alain Schroeder<\/p>\n hide caption\n <\/p>\n toggle caption<\/p>\n \u00a9 Alain Schroeder\/\u00a9 Alain Schroeder<\/p>\n
A polar bear in a zoo, a hotel balcony overlooking elephants, a tree mural shrouded by haze: They’re images from the new book The Anthropocene Illusion, about the way humans are remaking Earth.<\/p>\n![\"The](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/1766852054_125_.jpeg\")
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Wearing traditional cosmetic face masks from their homeland of Madagascar, they agreed to be photographed to take a stand. They posed for photographer Miora Rajaonary for a project to raise awareness of female genital schistosomiasis (FGS), a disease transmitted by parasitic worms that, according to the World Health Organization, afflicts an estimated 56 million women and girls, mainly in Africa \u2014 and that is often mistaken for a sexually-transmitted disease.<\/p>\n![\"Artisanal](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/1766852054_725_.jpeg\")
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It’s a grueling and risky life for these miners, known as zama zamas, an isiZulu phrase translating loosely as “those who take a chance.” Says one: “Bit by bit it’s killing something inside me.”<\/p>\n![\"Spain](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/1766852055_212_.jpeg\")
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Every culture has its own special soup. The belief is that a bowl will make you feel better if you’re feeling under the weather, hung over or just in need of a pick-me-up.<\/p>\n![\"tk\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/1766852055_907_.jpeg\")
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HIV medications were supposed to be exempt from U.S. aid cuts. In Zambia, for example, those on the ground say otherwise.<\/p>\n![\"Children](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/1766852055_442_.jpeg\")
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The website Rest of World got entries from 45 countries for a photo contest focusing on technology. Here are their top picks \u2014 from facial scans for migrants to kids in a Mongolian tent transfixed by a film.<\/p>\n![\"Soon-ja](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/1766852056_999_.jpeg\")
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