In a world where video reigns supreme (hello TikTok and Instagram Reels!), still photography still holds a special power. It freezes a moment in time and allows people to see the big picture, but also gives them the opportunity to appreciate the smallest details that may not be noticed at first.
For Goats and Soda, photography is an important part of highlighting the daily life, joys and strife of the Global South. Here are our top photo stories for 2025.
Polar bear, Dalian Forest Zoo, China. At this zoo, the polar bear lives in an area much smaller than its wild range, which can be as large as 31,000 square miles.
Zed Nelson/Institute
hide signature
switch signature
Zed Nelson/Institute
Mother Nature must be very annoyed with our fakery.
A polar bear at the zoo, a hotel balcony overlooking elephants, a mural on a tree shrouded in haze: these are stills from a new book The Anthropocene illusionabout how people are remaking the Earth.
Photo exhibition Brave Waterpresented this summer at the Photoville festival in Brooklyn, New York, takes its name from a Malagasy phrase translated on a wall label as “one who is not afraid to dive into the water, even if there is a strong current.” The photographer wants to raise awareness of female genital schistosomiasis, a neglected tropical disease caused by a waterborne parasitic infection whose symptoms can be stigmatizing because they resemble those of sexually transmitted diseases. From left to right: former patients Rahama Abdalla, Sylvia Razanaparana and Suzani Yolandri. They were photographed in September 2024 in the Ambanja region of northern Madagascar.
Miora Rajaonari / The End Fund
hide signature
switch signature
Miora Rajaonari / The End Fund
Why it took these women courage to pose for the camera
Wearing traditional facial masks from their homeland of Madagascar, they agreed to be photographed to take over the booth. They posed for photographer Miora Rajaonari for a project to raise awareness of female genital schistosomiasis (FGS), a disease transmitted by parasitic worms that affects about 56 million women and girls, mostly in Africa, according to the World Health Organization, and is often mistaken for a sexually transmitted disease.
Artisanal coal miner Emmanuel Siyabonga drags a sack of coal to a customer's car at the abandoned Golfview coal mine in Ermelo, South Africa. The work is grueling and dangerous, but it is one of the few viable ways to make a living in a city with widespread poverty and high unemployment.
Tommy Trenchard for NPR
hide signature
switch signature
Tommy Trenchard for NPR
Dangerous lives of people who rescue coal from abandoned mines
It is a grueling and risky life for these miners, known as zama zamas, an isiZulu phrase that loosely translates to “those who take risks.” One says: “Little by little it kills something inside me.”
Angela Farre Palacine, 87, adds thyme to boiling water. thyme souptraditional soup in Catalonia, Spain. This mixture of thyme, day-old bread, eggs and olive oil is considered a remedy for all types of ailments. And we have the recipe.
Matilda Gattoni for NPR
hide signature
switch signature
Matilda Gattoni for NPR
Thyme for some healing soup recipes from around the world
Every culture has its own special soup. The bowl is said to help you feel better if you're feeling under the weather, have a hangover, or just need a pick-me-up.
On April 3, NPR's Ben de la Cruz photographed Katherine Mvalo of Zambia for a story about the impact of U.S. aid cuts. A 16-year-old girl who contracted HIV from her mother at birth said she had only a month's supply of drugs that control the virus – the result of the closure of a US aid-funded clinic that provided free drugs. After the NPR article was published, the Zambian government investigated and created a new system that allows Mvalo and others to get the medications they need. But the teenager is still worried about getting enough food previously provided through the US program.
Ben de la Cruz/NPR
hide signature
switch signature
Ben de la Cruz/NPR
Portraits: a 10-year-old child, a painter and a mother who is running out of HIV pills.
HIV drugs were to be exempt from US aid cuts. In Zambia, for example, locals speak differently.
Children gather inside a traditional tent known as orcin the Siberian taiga of northern Mongolia, watching a documentary about a Norwegian reindeer herder who came here to learn about the way of life of the nomadic Dukha reindeer herders. Despite the remoteness of the settlement deep in the forest, accessible only by horse or reindeer, families remain connected to the outside world through solar panels, car batteries and the occasional Wi-Fi connection.
Claire Thomas
hide signature
switch signature
Claire Thomas
Prize-Winning Photos: Images from this photo competition show how technology is changing the world.
Website Rest of the world received entries from 45 countries for the technology-themed photo competition. Here are their top picks, from scanning the faces of migrants to children in a Mongolian tent mesmerized by the film.
Sun and Hong, 69 years old, one of the female divers on Jeju Island, South Korea. The women are known as Haenyeo – “women of the sea.” Beginning in the 17th century, the women of the island took on the task of diving deep to the ocean floor. There they collect shellfish, shells, seaweed and other seafood, providing food and income for their families and communities. The custom was to begin training at an early age. However, in today's industrial-agrarian world, the number of haenyeo is steadily declining from tens of thousands to several thousand, and most of those who remain are already 60 years old or older.
© Alain Schroeder/© Alain Schroeder
hide signature
switch signature
© Alain Schroeder/© Alain Schroeder
Portraits of women who “shed light”: from an “analog” astronaut to a watermelon farmer
The Muhammad Ali Center in Louisville, Kentucky, has opened a new photography exhibit in honor of International Women's Day: Iconic Women: From Everyday Life to Global Heroes.
Avinash Kulkarni, 56, became paralyzed at the age of 21 when he fell 50 feet from the wall of the Bhushi Dam in Lonavala. In this photo from his work, he shows a young man entertaining people with a rope game. Kulkarni says he fears for the safety of this young daredevil.
Avinash Kulkarni
hide signature
switch signature
Avinash Kulkarni
Here are 8 disability photography winners who are showing the world their point of view.
A little boy balancing precariously on a rope, a colorful bird perched in a tree, and fishermen at dusk have one thing in common: they have caught the attention of a disabled photographer.
