In pictures: Most iconic photos of 2023

Pictures open a window into the past, document the present, and predict the future.

Here we present to you some of the most iconic clicks of the year 2023, providing us a chance to have a glimpse into legendary moments captured by the lens of AFP photographers.

This underwater picture shows a surfer riding a wave at Teahupo’o in Tahiti, French Polynesia on August 11, 2023, during the WSL Shiseido Tahiti pro surfing event.Teahupo’o will host the surfing event of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.

This Photo was clicked by Ben Thouard / AFP.

US’ Simone Biles competes on the Balance Beam in the Women’s Team Final during the 52nd FIG Artistic Gymnastics World Championships, in Antwerp, northern Belgium, on October 4, 2023.

This photo was clicked by Lionel Bonaventure / AFP.

SpaceX’s Starship rocket launches from Starbase during its second test flight in Boca Chica, Texas, on November 18, 2023. SpaceX on November 18, 2023, carried out the second test launch of Starship, the largest rocket ever built that Elon Musk hopes will one day colonize Mars, while NASA awaits a modified version to land humans on the Moon. It comes after a first attempt to fly the spaceship in its fully-stacked configuration back in April ended in a spectacular explosion over the Gulf of Mexico.

This photo was clicked by TIMOTHY A. CLARY / AFP.

This handout image provided courtesy of Josh Lease on September 3, 2023, shows a rainbow over flooding on a desert plain on September 1, 2023, after heavy rains turned the annual Burning Man festival site in Nevada’s Black Rock desert into a mud pit. Tens of thousands of drenched festivalgoers were stranded on September 3, 2023, in deep, sticky mud in the Nevada desert after torrential rain turned the annual Burning Man gathering into a quagmire. All events at the counterculture festival, which drew some 70,000 people, were canceled after rain tore down structures for dance parties, art installations, and other eclectic entertainment.

This photo was taken by Josh Lease / UGC / AFP.

Humanoid AI robot “Ameca” looks on at the booth of Engineered Arts company during the world’s largest gathering of humanoid AI Robots as part of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) AI for Good Global Summit in Geneva, on July 5, 2023. The United Nations is convening this week a global gathering to try to map out the frontiers of artificial intelligence and to harness its potential for empowering humanity, hoping to lay out a clear blueprint on the way forward for handling AI, as development of the technology races ahead the capacity to set its boundaries.

This photo was taken by Fabrice Coffrini / AFP.

Muslims pray at the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque in Abu Dhabi on April 17, 2023, during Laylat al-Qadr, one of the holiest nights during the holy fasting month of Ramadan.

This photo was taken by Karim SAHIB / AFP.

This photo taken on December 2, 2023, shows pandas eating inside their enclosure at a zoo in China’s southwestern Chongqing municipality.

This photo is by AFP.