10 Heartbreaking Photos That will Make you Cry

Uganda (1980)

Mike Wells’s April 1980 photograph shows a child in the Karamoja region of Uganda holding hands with a missionary.

The contrast between the two hands reminds us of the chasm separating developed and underdeveloped countries. The photograph remained unpublished for years. Photographer: Mike Wells.

Chris Hemsworth (Australia)

Carol Guzy, the first woman to receive a Pulitzer Prize for spot news photography, received her most recent Pulitzer in 2000 for her touching photographs of Kosovo refugees.

The above picture portrays Agim Shala, a two-year-old boy, passing through a fence made of barbed wire to his family. Thousands of Kosovo refugees were reunited and camped in Kukes, Albania. Photographer: Carol Guzy.

After the Tsunami (2004)

After the Tsunami” illustrates an Indian woman lying on the sand with her arms outstretched, mourning a dead family member.

Her relative was killed by one of the deadliest natural disasters that we have ever seen: the Indian Ocean tsunami. Photographer: Arko Datta.

A firefighter gives water to a koala

A firefighter gives water to a koala during the devastating Black Saturday bushfires in Victoria, Australia, in 2009.

The Face of AIDS, 1990

Therese Frare’s iconic 1990 photograph, The Face of AIDS, captures a deeply emotional moment.

His father cradles his head, while his mother consoles his sister, embodying strength and love during a time when homosexuality was still criminalized.

After the Storm (2008)

Miami Herald photographer Patrick Farrell captured harrowing images of Haiti’s victims in 2008. Farrell documented the Haitian tragedy with impressive black-and-white stills.

The subject of “After the Storm” is a boy trying to save a stroller after Tropical Storm Hanna struck Haiti. Photographer: Patrick Farrell.

Migrant Mother (1936)

An icon of the Great Depression and one of the most famous photos of the United States. Florence Owens Thompson, 32, devastated by not having enough food to feed her children.

American journalists have spent decades trying to locate the mother and her seven children. In late 1970, she was found not to have prospered greatly. She lived in a trailer. Photographer: Dorothea Lange.

The Power of One (2006)

The picture shows a brave woman rebelling against authorities. Ynet Nili is the 16-year-old Jewish settler in the picture above.

According to Ynet, “a picture like this one is a mark of disgrace for the state of Israel and is nothing to be proud of. The picture looks like a work of art, but that isn’t what happened there. What happened in Amona was totally different.” Nili claims the police beat her up very harshly.

The Famine in Sudan (1993)

Photo published in March 1993 in the “New York Times” and responsible for Kevin Carter’s rise as a photographer. In 1994, Kevin won the Pulitzer Prize for Photography.

Although the picture is impressive, the vulture was not as close to the boy as the picture suggests – a fact that continues to cause controversy among journalists and photographers. The boy in the photo was called Nyong Kong and survived the vulture; he died in 2007. Kevin Carter, the photographer, was killed in 1994. Photographer: Kevin Carter.

Hiroshima (1945)

The photograph shows the first atomic bombing in history.

On August 6, 1945, the city of Hiroshima was devastated by an atomic fission bomb called Little Boy, launched by the United States, resulting in 258,000 deaths and injuries. Photographer: George William Marquardt (the airplane pilot).