Nissen, who works for Danish broadsheet Politiken and the Panos Pictures agency, had heard about two care homes about to use the hug curtain for the first time, but at the first “visually it was a mess”. However at the second, they had strung up the plastic in front of a church entrance with the sun shining through.
He said: “I just stood there with my camera, a bit overwhelmed. It is so joyful and heart-warming to witness all this love and tenderness in a country that was suffering so much during this deadly pandemic… I knew I had strong images, but still, when I looked at my camera later that day this particular image hit me completely unguarded and for a moment all was just silent.”
World Press Photo 2021: Outstanding Images Nominees For Photo Of The Year
As 2020 joined the pantheon of years pivotal in history, the nominees for the 64th annual World Press Photo Contest are a reflection of those remarkably difficult 12 months.
In rewarding professional photo journalists for the best images of visual journalism, whether entered as singles or stories, judges asses their accurate, fair, and visually compelling insights about our world.
“In an unprecedented year marked by the COVID-19 pandemic and social justice protests around the globe, the nominees share a diversity of interpretations and perspectives to these and other urgent issues such as the climate crisis, transgender people’s rights, and territorial conflicts,” explained the organization.