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.
© Photo: iso-joe
#2 Poland
Polish Women’s Strike 2020.
© Photo: 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.
© Photo: 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.
© Photo: ApprehensiveAd6603
#5 Chile
This photo after the 8.8 magnitude earthquake that happened in 2010 always stayed with me.
© Photo: 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.
© Photo: zlightyear
#7 Russia
This one is pretty cool.
© Photo: 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 🙂
© Photo: 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.
© Photo: OldGuyInFlorida
#10 Germany
An east German (GDR) soldier fleeing to Westberlin during the construction of the Berlin Wall in August 1961.
© Photo: lululululululululuu
#11 The United States Of America
© Photo: Swimming_Bid_1429
#12 Germany
Survivors of the concentration camp Buchenwald showing how they “lived” in the barracks.
© Photo: Unable-Nectarine1941
#13 Canada
Canuck the downtown Eastside crow. Stealing a knife from a crime scene.
© Photo: lounging_marmot
#14 Poland
Photo after First heart transplant in Poland.
© Photo: GloriousResolution
#15 Nigeria
© Photo: Mika_LL
#16 Ukraine
Kharkiv. 2014. Leninopad “Leninfalls.”
© Photo: mnem_
#17 United States Of America
Moon Landing.
jjtnd1: Winner winner. Maybe the hardest pic humanity has taken to date
© Photo: kruschev246
#18 The United States Of America
Tornado of Beaver City, Nebraska (1989) by Merrilee Thomas, depicting their daughter Audra and a tornado.
© Photo: 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.
© Photo: TheITFixitman
#20 France
Sinking of the oil tanker Amoco Cadiz in 1978 off the coast of Brittany.
© Photo: Bill_Troamill
#21 Estonia
© Photo: North_Screen975
#22 Australia
© Photo: Such_Investigator_67
#23 Ireland
© Photo: Electronic_Chart213
#24 Iceland
© Photo: iso-joe
#25 Poland
Professor Simona Kossak, Polish zoologist and ecologist, with her pet wild boar in her hut in the Białowieża Primeval Forest.
© Photo: mtysler
#26 Morocco
The last photo taken of a wild Barbary Lion. Taken in 1924.
© Photo: darkdemon991
#27 Pakistan
K-2, Chogori casts its shadow over China.
© Photo: wiseman9095
#28 Australia
blondzie: That’s the most Australia thing I’ve seen.
© Photo: 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.
© Photo: BenyoBoy
#30 South Korea
During the June Democratic Struggle in 1987.
© Photo: Kaggles_N533PA
#31 India
© Photo: lithiumxflower
#32 United States Of America
© Photo: PicklesAndCoorslight
#33 India
© Photo: WazirOfFunkmenistan
#34 Spain
Some of the thousands of volunteers that cleaned the Galician coast after the “Prestige” oil spill.
© Photo: 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.
© Photo: Sovonna
#36 Belgium
Belgium, 1927.
Einstein. Curie. Bohr. Planck. Heisenberg. Schrödinger. Dirac.
The greatest scientific gathering ever photographed.
© Photo: Stuvio
#37 Australia
Australian volunteer firefighter, Daniel Knox, during a controlled burn.
© Photo: Aetra
#38 New Zealand
© Photo: theobashau
#39 Spain
© Photo: Hariainm
#40 United Kingdom
The Blitz.
© Photo: yadasellsavonmate
#41 Scotland
Statue of kelpies, a Scottish mythical creature.
© Photo: CheesyBoyBen
#42 Finland
The president of Finland in the 1970s.
© Photo: juksbox
#43 Saudi Arabia
Fajr prayer in a shelter in eastern Saudi Arabia during the Gulf war.
© Photo: xxx111111111111111
#44 Venezuela
A heroic young man destroying a statue of the exdictator Hugo Chavez during the 2024 protests.
© Photo: Rare_Oil_1700
#45 Turkey
© Photo: Kyouma369
#46 India
An Indian Air Force Sukhoi 30MK-1 with the Umaid Bhawan Palace as the backdrop.
© Photo: _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.
© Photo: 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.
© Photo: 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.
© Photo: Takanakafan1
#50 Argentina
© Photo: Agreeable_Height_868
#51 Northern Ireland
© Photo: PRAY___FOR___MOJO
#52 Turkey
Destruction of earthquake photos.. City of Kahramanmaraş/Turkey.
© Photo: buran_bb
#53 The United States Of America
I will look for ANY EXCUSE to show this image of Nixon bowling.
© Photo: LittleCrimsonWyvern
#54 During The 2021 Protests. Colombia
During the 2021 protests.
© Photo: Unhappy-Cobbler-9912
#55 The Netherlands
October 2025: Storm Benjamin hits the coast at Vlissingen, the Netherlands.
© Photo: LaoBa
#56 Hong Kong In 1954 By Fan Ho
© Photo: vestadynasty
Source:Boredpanda