Year in Pictures: NatGeo highlights some of the powerful images that captured 2021

How will we remember 2021?

Originally welcomed as a foil to its harrowing predecessor, this year ultimately carried 2020's torch. Its perils, alongside its flickers of optimism, were captured in the more than 1.9 million images that National Geographic added to its archives in 2021.

The magazine's second Year in Pictures issue highlights only 50, a memorable few that embody this year's turbulence, anguish, resolve and hope.

Whitney Johnson, Director of Visuals and Immersive Experiences for National Geographic, sat down with KABC anchor Marc Brown to discuss how these pictures were selected and what she hopes they evoke.

She said her team not only pulls out powerful single images but compiles a collection that tells a cohesive narrative.

"We all ended 2020 with a lot of optimism and hope for 2021, and I think we've come through 2021 feeling like it was quite a rollercoaster with a lot of ups and then some downs. In our issue, we try to capture all of that and reproduce that feeling of the highs and lows we all felt," she said.

She also shared a selection of photographs and explained how they fit into four major year-defining themes: COVID-19, climate, conflict and conservation.

COVID-19

D.C.'s COVID-19 memorial (Stephen Wilkes)