Photography, if you want to be clinical about it, is a simple transaction: light hits film or a sensor, and whatever falls inside that small rectangle of a viewfinder becomes an image. But the result is rarely clinical. A good photograph can knock the air out of you.
One Reddit thread happened to be an unlikely place to see that in action: a user asked people to share the “hardest” photos from their countries, and the replies came through with exactly that. Take a look below and see which ones live up to the prompt.
#1 Canada

Wurm42: For anyone not familiar, this is Canadian athlete Terry Fox. After having his right leg amputated due to cancer, he started the "Marathon of Hope," trying to raise money for cancer research by running across Canada.
Terry started in St. Johns, Newfoundland, running the equivalent of a full marathon (26.2 miles) every day. He ran more than 2,400 miles (4,000 km) and reached Thunder Bay, Ontario before he had to stop.
Terry stopped because it turned out he'd been doing all the running after his cancer came back, and it had reached his lungs. He died nine months later.
He is an inspirational figure for Canadians and disabled people all over the world.
Terry started in St. Johns, Newfoundland, running the equivalent of a full marathon (26.2 miles) every day. He ran more than 2,400 miles (4,000 km) and reached Thunder Bay, Ontario before he had to stop.
Terry stopped because it turned out he'd been doing all the running after his cancer came back, and it had reached his lungs. He died nine months later.
He is an inspirational figure for Canadians and disabled people all over the world.
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86points
#2 Kosovo

This one from the war showing a young mother marching to safety while breastfeeding her daughter. The picture is now a mosaic and the mother and daughter are alright :)
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82points
#3 Germany

An east German (GDR) soldier fleeing to Westberlin during the construction of the Berlin Wall in August 1961.
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68points
#4 United Kingdom

Live Aid, 1985. Wembley stadium jam packed and roughly one in every three people worldwide watched it. One of the last great humanitarian projects almost every country contributed to and one of the last great events hosted in the UK.
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68points
#5 South Africa

27 April 1994 - our first democratic election where everyone has the right to vote. This is a line at the ballot box.
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68points
#9 Belgium

Belgium, 1927.
Einstein. Curie. Bohr. Planck. Heisenberg. Schrödinger. Dirac.
The greatest scientific gathering ever photographed.
Einstein. Curie. Bohr. Planck. Heisenberg. Schrödinger. Dirac.
The greatest scientific gathering ever photographed.
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63points
#10 The United States Of America

Ruby Bridges, New Orleans, 1960.
Cacafuego: Pride is all Americans should feel, looking at this photo. Pride in tough-as-nails little Ruby and all of our fellow countrymen who stood up and claimed the freedom and equality we are promised. Forget about everything else for the moment. That's an American right there.
CrazeMase. In case anyone wants to know how recent this was, she is 71 now. She's still alive, she currently does political activism.
Cacafuego: Pride is all Americans should feel, looking at this photo. Pride in tough-as-nails little Ruby and all of our fellow countrymen who stood up and claimed the freedom and equality we are promised. Forget about everything else for the moment. That's an American right there.
CrazeMase. In case anyone wants to know how recent this was, she is 71 now. She's still alive, she currently does political activism.
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62points
#11 Germany

Survivors of the concentration camp Buchenwald showing how they "lived" in the barracks.
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61points
#16 Lithuania

Baltic Way, 1989 - peaceful protest of Baltic people against the USSR regime by creating a live human chain across the 3 Baltic countries. This exact picture should be taken in Lithuania.
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54points
#17 Hungary

I have many (including some from the 1956 revolution), but this is the one that still sticks with me.
Not Photoshop, it was the aftermath of the "red mud" disaster that happened in 2010. A faulty wall broke down, and a 2-meter-high wave of liquid bauxite residue (causing chemical burns) flooded the nearby village, [fatal to]10 people. There are many iconic photos from this incident as well, but this is probably my favorite.
Not Photoshop, it was the aftermath of the "red mud" disaster that happened in 2010. A faulty wall broke down, and a 2-meter-high wave of liquid bauxite residue (causing chemical burns) flooded the nearby village, [fatal to]10 people. There are many iconic photos from this incident as well, but this is probably my favorite.
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51points
#18 The United States Of America

It's the eruption of Mt. St. Helens. The photographer is Richard Lasher (I think!). It's a pretty famous photo in my state.
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49points
#19 Canada

Canuck the downtown Eastside crow. Stealing a knife from a crime scene.
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48points










