Photos of moments of joy brought to life by AP photojournalists in 2025
Associated Press | Daily Inter-Lake | UPDATED 2 days, 13 hours AGO
Henry Rice, a 98 year-old Normandy veteran, gets a kiss from Katie Ashby, founder and lead vocalist of D-Day Darlings, as SSAFA, the nation's oldest armed forces charity, kicks off the 80-day countdown to VE Day 80 at The Royal Albert Hall in London, Feb. 17, 2025. (AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth, File)
AP
A boy throws ice into the sea in Nuuk, Greenland, March 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka, File)
EVGENIY MALOLETKA
Revelers cool off with water thrown from balconies at the start of nine days of uninterrupted partying during the famed running of the bulls festival in Pamplona, Spain, July 6, 2025. (AP Photo/Miguel Oses, File)
Graduates of the U.S. Naval Academy toss their caps during the academy's graduation and commissioning ceremony, at the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Md., May 23, 2025. (AP Photo/Stephanie Scarbrough, File)
Stephanie Scarbrough
Thai Buddhist monks pray as they gather at Wat Dhammakaya temple to participate in Makha Bucha Day ceremonies in Pathum Thani, Thailand, Feb. 12, 2025. (AP Photo/Sakchai Lalit, File)
Sakchai Lalit
A woman recites prayers as people mark Prophet Muhammad's birthday, known as Mawlid, in Dakar, Senegal, Sept. 5, 2025. (AP Photo/Misper Apawu, File)
Misper Apawu
Schoolgirls and cadets dance as they attend a rehearsal of a ceremony on the first day at school at a cadet lyceum in Kyiv, Sept. 1, 2025. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky, File)
Efrem Lukatsky
People dance during a headphones party inside an underground parking lot used as a shelter against potential missile strikes from Iran, in Tel Aviv, Israel, June 23, 2025. (AP Photo/Oded Balilty, File)
Kids play surrounded by rubble on an area of houses that were completely destroyed during the civil war at the Al-Asali neighbourhood in Damascus, Syria, Jan. 6, 2025. (AP Photo/Leo Correa, File)
Leo Correa
A boy dives headfirst into a drainage ditch a day after Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro was inaugurated for a third term, in Caracas, Venezuela, Jan. 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix, File)
Matias Delacroix
The joy of being there, of prayer and play, a dance in a bomb shelter, a kiss in a flood and a hug in the mud, kids rolling tires and scooting among the ruins of Gaza are among the defining images of 2025 as people found happiness despite adversity and enjoyed the simple things of life.
Images of joy, of rainbows appearing after rain in Utah, of a newly married couple kissing in a flooded church after a deadly typhoon in the Philippines, a couple hugging in the mud at a Brazilin festival, another kissing in a puddle of tomatoes during a festival in Spain. A couple dancing with joy in their wedding clothes in Istanbul, Turkey, and another practicing their ballroom dancing in a Hanoi, Vietnam Square.
Whether marking religious holidays in Senegal, VE Day in London, the election of Pope Leo XIV at the Vatican, water festivals and Buddhist ceremonies in Thailand, Eid al-Fitr in the Philippines, children cooling themselves off in drainage ditches in Venezuela or being soaked with water during the running of the bulls in Pamplona, Spain, people found joy in the profound and mundane in 2025.
A boy throws ice into the sea in Nuuk, Greenland, March 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka, File)EVGENIY MALOLETKA
Revelers cool off with water thrown from balconies at the start of nine days of uninterrupted partying during the famed running of the bulls festival in Pamplona, Spain, July 6, 2025. (AP Photo/Miguel Oses, File)
Graduates of the U.S. Naval Academy toss their caps during the academy's graduation and commissioning ceremony, at the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Md., May 23, 2025. (AP Photo/Stephanie Scarbrough, File)Stephanie Scarbrough
Thai Buddhist monks pray as they gather at Wat Dhammakaya temple to participate in Makha Bucha Day ceremonies in Pathum Thani, Thailand, Feb. 12, 2025. (AP Photo/Sakchai Lalit, File)Sakchai Lalit
A woman recites prayers as people mark Prophet Muhammad's birthday, known as Mawlid, in Dakar, Senegal, Sept. 5, 2025. (AP Photo/Misper Apawu, File)Misper Apawu
Schoolgirls and cadets dance as they attend a rehearsal of a ceremony on the first day at school at a cadet lyceum in Kyiv, Sept. 1, 2025. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky, File)Efrem Lukatsky
People dance during a headphones party inside an underground parking lot used as a shelter against potential missile strikes from Iran, in Tel Aviv, Israel, June 23, 2025. (AP Photo/Oded Balilty, File)
Kids play surrounded by rubble on an area of houses that were completely destroyed during the civil war at the Al-Asali neighbourhood in Damascus, Syria, Jan. 6, 2025. (AP Photo/Leo Correa, File)Leo Correa
A boy dives headfirst into a drainage ditch a day after Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro was inaugurated for a third term, in Caracas, Venezuela, Jan. 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix, File)Matias Delacroix