Guardian US’s best photos of 2024 – in pictures | Photography

The devastating toll of gun violence across the nation, the struggle for bodily autonomy and the efforts to slow the climate crisis were among the many affecting themes photographers documented for the Guardian US this year. The images below show stories of pain, joy and resilience, offering a poignant reflection of the diverse realities of the United States in 2024.

K Monica Kelly traveled to Florida with her husband for an abortion after her fetus was diagnosed with trisomy 13. She is now part of a group suing their home state of Tennessee for being denied medically necessary abortions.

Volunteers unload a fresh produce delivery at the Nāpili Park emergency resource center in Lahaina, Hawaii. Some survivors of the 2023 fires in Maui experience persistent food insecurity, and community-led efforts attempt to mitigate the issue.

Kaylin Hayman, a child actor seen here in Ventura, California, helped to pass an AI-regulation law in California after she learned that a predator had used AI to create child-sex-abuse materials using images of her from her Instagram page.

Community members dance at a commemoration event held in January at Lai Lai ballroom in Alhambra, California. Last year, a gunman opened fire at a nearby studio, killing 11 people before going to Lai Lai ballroom, where co-owner Brandon Tsay disarmed him. After tragedy, the dance studio remains a refuge for Asian elders.

Journalist Salah Al-Ejaili, seen near his home in Sweden, Suhail Najim Abdullah Al Shimari and As’ad Al-Zuba’e, all Iraqi civilians, were detained at the notorious Abu Ghraib prison before being released without charge in 2004. The three men are suing CACI Premier Technology, a private company contracted by the US government to provide interrogators to the prison. The case brings forth the first trial to contend with post-9/11 abuse of detainees in the US.

Anna Holcomb prepares for a “Trump train” convoy at her home in Zapata, Texas, in the Rio Grande valley in June. Holcomb, who has been politically active since she was 18, previously canvassed for Democratic candidates. Tejano voters in the Rio Grande valley have traditionally leaned Democratic, but traditional loyalties are now shifting to the right.

Dion Green, seen here at home in Dayton, Ohio, survived a mass shooting in Dayton in 2019 in which nine people, including Green’s father, Derrick Fudge, were killed. Green is part of a lawsuit against a Nevada-based gunmaker and retailer the shooter used. In the absence of political change, a growing number of victims and families are coming together to launch lawsuits against gunmakers, gun dealers, tech companies and the federal government for the failure to shift their practices and protect people.

On 28 April 2019, Brandon Fisher, seen here at home in Maryland, was shot 13 times while at a carwash in East Baltimore. Doctors at Johns Hopkins gave him a 0.3% chance of survival. Fisher, now 42, credits Dr Joseph Sakran, himself a gun-violence survivor, with saving his life.

Shally Ung, 58 (left), and her husband, Francois Ung, 52, stand outside their donut shop in Arcadia, California. Shally Ung was at the Star Ballroom Dance Studio when a gunman killed 11 people and injured nine others in 2023. For many Asians, therapy is taboo – but a year after Los Angeles’s worst mass shooting, some elders in the community are embracing it.

Attendees of all ages participate in a swimming lesson organized to promote water safety by Black People Will Swim (BPWS) at York College in Jamaica, Queens, in New York. Paulana Lamonier started the program in 2019 and has since provided free and low-cost lessons to more than 2,500 Black and brown people.

Nilda Palacios, seen here at her home in March, fought to prove a California prison guard had assaulted and stalked her. By the time her claims had been “sustained”, he’d quietly resigned. She says she feels more “free” after sharing her story.

Ezra Michel, seen here at home in Los Angeles, got top surgery in 2017 and later had to petition Medi-Cal to get a revision covered after five appeals.

Rose Wilright, a community organizer, outside her home in St Rose, a predominantly Black community in Louisiana’s “Cancer Alley”. Wilright canvasses with other residents in the area to warn of the environmental threats of a toxic chemical facility that its operators say is a clean-energy innovator.

Kareem Rahma at 7th Avenue Donuts & Diner in Brooklyn, New York. Rahma has hosted guests including Tim Walz and Charli xcx on his viral web series Subway Takes.

Wendell Stephens with his cat inside his RV in Los Angeles. Death reports obtained by the Guardian show older adults are regularly dying on the streets of LA.

Elissa De Souza in the Navy Yard neighborhood of Washington DC, which has recently seen violent incidents that attracted national attention. Describing herself as an “anti-crime community advocate”, De Souza, who works in law enforcement, began tweeting about crime in her neighborhood at the start of this year. Critics say crime-reporting social media accounts in Washington promote accountability from leaders but ignore context and veer into fearmongering.

Melrose Leadership Academy students Augie Balquist, Yuji Hong and Jayden Tern are part of a student group that petitioned the Oakland Unified School District board to de-commission their school’s gas broiler and replace it with a heat pump that can shrink their school’s carbon footprint.

A woman and child reflected in a storefront window in the historic downtown of Brownsville, Texas, in the Rio Grande valley, which has strong religious and socially conservative traditions.

Jenifer Adkins at her home in Idaho. Though Adkins’ health was in jeopardy, her doctors did not believe her cause was enough of an emergency to end her pregnancy legally. She is among a group of women who have come forward saying they were denied medically necessary abortions in the years since Roe v Wade was overturned.

Christian Whelan, 22, poses at Bossa Nova Civic Club in Brooklyn, New York, in the early morning hours. The Bushwick neighborhood in Brooklyn broke through in politics, fashion and internet culture this year.

Kimberly Su and Brett Feldman of the University of Southern California street medicine team check on Betty Bautista, 47 (center), in the area where she’s been living for years. A Guardian analysis of autopsy records reveals record-high overdoses in Los Angeles in 2023. Harm-reduction advocates are fighting to save lives on the streets.

Vivien Sansour, the founder of the Palestinian Heirloom Seed Library, works to conserve and promote Palestinian heritage by saving heirloom seed varieties and sharing stories about their history. Here, she holds a yakteen, a Palestinian gourd, at the Hudson Valley Seed Co farm in Accord, New York.

Dr Athena Zimon (right), verifies whether an abortion procedure was successful. Zimon works at Camelback Family Planning, one of the few abortion clinics in Arizona.

Emory Shaw Campbell at home on Hilton Head Island, South Carolina. Shaw Campbell is the former director of the Penn Center, founded in 1862, one of the first schools in the US for formerly enslaved students. This year, the center joined Unesco’s Network of Places of History and Memory linked to the transatlantic slave trade.