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 Iceland. This Is Fine
Quarkonium2925: Just another Tuesday in Iceland.
Image source: iso-joe
#2 Poland
Polish Women’s Strike 2020.
Image source: ProbablyNaKu
#3 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.
Image source: davisixo
#4 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.
Image source: ApprehensiveAd6603
#5 Chile
This photo after the 8.8 magnitude earthquake that happened in 2010 always stayed with me.
Image source: milenoopy
#6 Nepal
This is Singha Durbar (Lion’s palace) that had most administrative centers of Nepal Government. It was burnt during GenZ protest last September.
Image source: zlightyear
#7 Russia
This one is pretty cool.
Image source: mumei14
#8 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 :)
Image source: Barbak86
#9 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.
Image source: OldGuyInFlorida
#10 Germany
An east German (GDR) soldier fleeing to Westberlin during the construction of the Berlin Wall in August 1961.
Image source: lululululululululuu
#11 The United States Of America
Image source: Swimming_Bid_1429
#12 Germany
Survivors of the concentration camp Buchenwald showing how they “lived” in the barracks.
Image source: Unable-Nectarine1941
#13 Canada
Canuck the downtown Eastside crow. Stealing a knife from a crime scene.
Image source: lounging_marmot
#14 Poland
Photo after First heart transplant in Poland.
Image source: GloriousResolution
#15 Nigeria
Image source: Mika_LL
#16 Ukraine
Kharkiv. 2014. Leninopad “Leninfalls.”
Image source: mnem_
#17 United States Of America
Moon Landing.
jjtnd1: Winner winner. Maybe the hardest pic humanity has taken to date
Image source: kruschev246
#18 The United States Of America
Tornado of Beaver City, Nebraska (1989) by Merrilee Thomas, depicting their daughter Audra and a tornado.
Image source: puresimplesaint
#19 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.
Image source: TheITFixitman
#20 France
Sinking of the oil tanker Amoco Cadiz in 1978 off the coast of Brittany.
Image source: Bill_Troamill
#21 Estonia
Image source: North_Screen975
#22 Australia
Image source: Such_Investigator_67
#23 Ireland
Image source: Electronic_Chart213
#24 Iceland
Image source: iso-joe
#25 Poland
Professor Simona Kossak, Polish zoologist and ecologist, with her pet wild boar in her hut in the Białowieża Primeval Forest.
Image source: mtysler
#26 Morocco
The last photo taken of a wild Barbary Lion. Taken in 1924.
Image source: darkdemon991
#27 Pakistan
K-2, Chogori casts its shadow over China.
Image source: wiseman9095
#28 Australia
blondzie: That’s the most Australia thing I’ve seen.
Image source: BobbyThrowaway6969
#29 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.
Image source: BenyoBoy
#30 South Korea
During the June Democratic Struggle in 1987.
Image source: Kaggles_N533PA
#31 India
Image source: lithiumxflower, Siddharth Kaneria
#32 United States Of America
Image source: PicklesAndCoorslight
#33 India
Image source: WazirOfFunkmenistan
#34 Spain
Some of the thousands of volunteers that cleaned the Galician coast after the “Prestige” oil spill.
Image source: Salchichote33
#35 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.
Image source: Sovonna
#36 Belgium
Belgium, 1927.
Einstein. Curie. Bohr. Planck. Heisenberg. Schrödinger. Dirac.
The greatest scientific gathering ever photographed.
Image source: Stuvio
#37 Australia
Australian volunteer firefighter, Daniel Knox, during a controlled burn.
Image source: Aetra
#38 New Zealand
Image source: theobashau
#39 Spain
Image source: Hariainm
#40 United Kingdom
The Blitz.
Image source: yadasellsavonmate
#41 Scotland
Statue of kelpies, a Scottish mythical creature.
Image source: CheesyBoyBen
#42 Finland
The president of Finland in the 1970s.
Image source: juksbox
#43 Saudi Arabia
Fajr prayer in a shelter in eastern Saudi Arabia during the Gulf war.
Image source: xxx111111111111111
#44 Venezuela
A heroic young man destroying a statue of the exdictator Hugo Chavez during the 2024 protests.
Image source: Rare_Oil_1700
#45 Turkey
Image source: Kyouma369
#46 India
An Indian Air Force Sukhoi 30MK-1 with the Umaid Bhawan Palace as the backdrop.
Image source: _mrshreyas_
#47 India
This was the start of India’s space program — the first sounding rocket being transported on a bicycle in 1963. And in 2023, we became the fourth country to get to the Moon.
Image source: moreddit2169
#48 South Africa
27 April 1994 – our first democratic election where everyone has the right to vote. This is a line at the ballot box.
Image source: Fow45
#49 Canada
Sidney Crosby just after scoring the golden goal in 2010. Canada has so many war and forest fire photos that I feel like a positive photo is way harder.
Image source: Takanakafan1
#50 Argentina
Image source: Agreeable_Height_868
#51 Northern Ireland
Image source: PRAY___FOR___MOJO
#52 Turkey
Destruction of earthquake photos.. City of Kahramanmaraş/Turkey.
Image source: buran_bb
#53 The United States Of America
I will look for ANY EXCUSE to show this image of Nixon bowling.
Image source: LittleCrimsonWyvern
#54 During The 2021 Protests. Colombia
During the 2021 protests.
Image source: Unhappy-Cobbler-9912
#55 The Netherlands
October 2025: Storm Benjamin hits the coast at Vlissingen, the Netherlands.
Image source: LaoBa
#56 Hong Kong In 1954 By Fan Ho
Image source: vestadynasty
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