Damon Winter’s black-and-white portfolio of ironworkers building the 104-story One World Trade Center in Lower Manhattan was all muscle and sinew. Symbolically, the images represented the rebuilding of the city in the ten years since 9/11. (The photo here featured ironworker Tim Conboy, 22, whose father was a fireman on 9/11.) The pictures also revealed a more current concern with jobs and work. With an unemployment rate of 9-plus percent and a sputtering economy, emblems of old-fashioned American industrial might became a welcome sight. Photo by Damon Winter The New York Times Magazine

Concern over growing income inequality, financial chicanery, and political corruption gave birth to the “Occupy Wall Street” movement in New York, which struck a populist chord and rapidly spread to other cities. Not everyone was pleased by the sight of the demonstrators’ encampments, of course. Here, a businessman expresses himself as he walks past the Occupy London Stock Exchange encampment nears St. Paul Cathedral on October 17. Photo by Matt Dunham/AP “Framework,” Los Angeles Times

Lt. John Pike, a member of the campus police of the University of California, Davis, became an Internet meme, and the first true icon of the “Occupy” protest movement, when he was photographed casually pepper-spraying students at a peaceful rally on November 18. Photo by Louise Macabitas International Business Times

With debt-ridden Greece perched on the edge of default, the country’s government imposed austerity measures, which didn’t go over well. Greece’s largest labor union responded with a strike and violent street demonstrations became common. This banner read, “Yes to the Society, No to the Power.” Photo by Nikolas Giakoumidis/AP “Big Picture,” Boston Globe

The debt crisis, which eventually led to the downfall of the Greek government, spread to other economies as well, including that of Italy. The government of Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi—a survivor of many a sex scandal—at last also succumbed. Here he is seen ushering his successor, Mario Monte, onto center stage at the Palazzo Chigi in Rome. Who looks happier? Photo by Gabriel Bouys/AFP/Getty Images “Lens,” New York Times

Ivory Coast President Laurent Gbagbo lost an election but refused to give up power—a perfect recipe for bloody civil war. Months of violence came to an end with Gbagbo’s capture at his residence in April. Seen here with his wife, Gbagbo’s appearance confounded expectations—we finally saw not the cruel warlord in chains, but a vulnerable old man sitting on the foot of his bed, unmasked. Photo from AFP/Getty Images “Lens,” New York Times

The sports picture of the year? Well, it was an action shot, but not the kind of action one usually sees in sports pictures. Rich Lam’s shot of lovers embracing in the midst of angry Canadian hockey fans became an instant classic the moment it went viral. After the Vancouver Canucks lost the decisive Game 7 of a thrilling Stanley Cup championship series, the team’s fans went from avid to rabid, taking to Vancouver’s streets to loot stores and set cars afire. The anonymous couple inadvertently captured by freelancer Lam didn’t remain anonymous for long: They were soon identified by relatives and within days Scott Jones and Alex Thomas were being interview of morning television news shows. Photo by Rich Lam/Getty Images Washington Post

Sports Illustrated described the magnitude of the Penn State Universtiy football scandal in no uncertain terms. The story, said the magazine, was the “most explosive…in the history of college sports.” The scandal claimed the career of legendary football coach Joe Paterno, and SI’s cover image, a file photo, aptly showed the iconic figure bowed and walking out of the frame. Not mentioned on the cover was the name of the man at the center of the story—former defensive coordinator Jerry Sandusky, who stands accursed of molesting a number of young boys. The nature of the crime that shattered the college was perhaps too unthinkable to put into words. Photo by Heinz Kluetmeirer Sports Illustrated

At an air show in Reno, Nevada, a vintage World War II fighter plane crashed during a race, killing the 74-year-old pilot and 10 spectators. This was the moment of impact.Photo by Ward Howes/AP “Framework,” Los Angeles Times

This astonishing photograph is indeed a photograph. Frans Lanting shot it at Namibia’s Namib-Naukluft National Park—the painterly effect, he said, came from the lighting conditions at dawn: “The warm light of the morning sun was illuminating a huge red sand dune dotted with white grasses while the floor of the clay pan was still in shade. It only looks blue because it reflects the color of the sky above. Photo by Frans Lanting National Geographic

In July, forest guards confronted a leopard that had wandered into a village near Silugara, India. This was the outcome. The leopard, which had mauled several villagers, suffered injuries during the attack and later died. The man being attack in the photo survived. Photo from AP “In Focus,” The Atlantic

Photographer Brian Prahl snapped the celebrity photo of the year (in my humble opinion). Kim Kardashian (are there any other celebrities beside her anymore?) was vacationing in Mexicao with her boyfriend, pro basketball player Kris Humphries, when Prahl got this shot. The images rapidly spread across the Internet, prompting In Touch magazine to report rumors that Kim’s “larger-than-ever-backside” was the result of a “super-sized butt implant.” Kardashian later debunked the claim by having here rear-end X-rayed on her television show. Photo by Brian Prahl/Splash News In Touch

As for Humphries, he ended up marrying Kardashian in the year’s second-biggest wedding. People magazine paid $1.5 million for the exclusive rights to the wedding photos. The marriage lasted 72 days. You do the math. Wedding Photos by Michael Simon; Albert Ferreira/Startracks; Nick Saglimbeni People Weekly

The biggest wedding of the year was the royal one, of course, uniting Britain’s Prince of Wales with Kate Middleton, now the Duchess of Cambridge. The best picture of the wedding was this one, in which Prince William’s three-year-old goddaughter, Grace van Cutsem, reacts to the noise of the crowd at Buckingham Palace. Photo from AP

The sexiest woman of the year would be…pop star Rihana, according to Esquire magazine. Photographer Russell James proved it by wrapping the singer in nothing but bits of seaweed. Photos by Russell James Esquire

The computer company that Steve Jobs started in a garage would one day have more cash reserves than the United States government. After Jobs’s death, Bloomberg Businessweek underscored his aura as a business guru with a cover image whose impact derives from its spare beauty. Jobs the design genius would probably approve. Photo from Getty Images Bloomberg Businessweek