Photography

Photos of the Week: Snowy Dunes, Icy Storm, Crying Horse

Protests against ICE in Minneapolis, war-damaged bridges in Syria, a landslide in Sicily, a heat wave in Australia, heavy snow in Russia, and much more

By Alan Taylor
Two people ride in a small sleigh being pulled through snow by a running horse.
Artur Widak / Anadolu / Getty
Young participants take part in a Kumoterki race, a horse-drawn-sleigh competition with a two-person team, during an annual winter festival celebrating Podhale highlander culture with traditional sleigh parades, near Bartolski Wierch in Ząb, Poland, on January 25, 2026.
People walk below a large lantern display depicting the legendary warrior Mulan standing beside a horse.
Maxim Shemetov / Reuters
People walk next to the “Legend of Mulan” light installation at the 32nd Zigong International Dinosaur Lantern Festival ahead of the Chinese Lunar New Year, which will welcome the Year of the Horse, in Zigong, Sichuan province, China, on January 23, 2026.
Four plush horse toys, with frowning faces, displayed on a shelf
Nicoco Chan / Reuters
Crying horse, or “cry-cry horse,” plush toys sit on display ahead of the Chinese Lunar New Year, at Yiwu International Trade City in Yiwu, Zhejiang province, China. The horse toy had originally been designed with a smiling face, but a manufacturing accident flipped the smile upside down, creating an unintentional sales success.
A parade participant dressed up as a demon carries a stick with fireworks.
Jaime Reina / AFP / Getty
A participant dressed up as a demon carries a stick with fireworks during the traditional Correfoc (“fire-run”) festival marking Saint Bartholomew’s Day, in Palma de Mallorca on January 25, 2026.
A bird cools down in a birdbath, splashing.
Mark Evans / Getty
A satin bowerbird cools down in a birdbath on January 27, 2026, in Kandos, Australia.
A woman cools herself down in front of a mist fan.
Hollie Adams / Reuters
A woman cools herself down in front of a mist fan during the day's play at the Australian Open in Melbourne Park, Melbourne, Australia, on January 24, 2026.
A dog's face is lit against a dark background, as it sits up, alert.
Eva Korinkova / Reuters
A dog waits to be fed during the Šediváčkův Long dog-sled race in Deštné v Orlických horách, Czech Republic, on January 23, 2026.
A close view of the face of an ice skating racer, before the start of a race.
Claudia Greco / Reuters
Arianna Fontana demonstrates her starting stance during short-track training on the ice rink in Bormio, Italy, on January 22, 2026.
People look over a partially-frozen waterfall.
Seth Wenig / AP
People look over the partially frozen Great Falls in Paterson, New Jersey, on January 28, 2026.
A person inside a tall building uses his phone to record a climber ascending the outside of the structure.
I-Hwa Cheng / AFP / Getty
A building occupant uses his phone to record rock climber Alex Honnold climbing the Taipei 101 building without ropes or safety gear in Taipei on January 25, 2026.
An off-road vehicle tries drifting inside a large bowl-shaped depression made from ice blocks.
CFoto / Future Publishing / Getty
An off-road vehicle tries drifting inside an ice bowl constructed from ice bricks in Ulanqab City, Inner Mongolia, China, on January 28, 2026.
A pair of ice dancers perform, one holding the other up by their legs.
Andy Wong / AP
Jayin Panesar and Natalia Pallu-Neves, of Brazil, compete during the Ice Dance Free Dance in the ISU Four Continents Figure Skating Championships, in Beijing, China, on January 23, 2026.
An aerial view of a field of sand dunes covered by a light dusting of snow
CFoto / Future Publishing / Getty
An aerial view of dunes in the Taklamakan Desert covered in snow in Yuli County, Xinjiang, China, on January 29, 2026
A bright sunset, viewed through industrial equipment and smokestacks.
Dmitri Lovetsky / AP
A man walks on the ice of the Neva River during sunset in St. Petersburg, Russia, on January 24, 2026.
A large group of anti-ICE protesters march on a cold day.
Roberto Schmidt / AFP / Getty
Protesters against ICE march through the streets of downtown Minneapolis, Minnesota, on January 25, 2026.
A person in a car takes video of federal agents driving in another car.
Seth Herald / Reuters
A community member takes video of federal agents conducting an immigration-enforcement action in Saint Paul, Minnesota, on January 27, 2026.
An elevated view of people standing together in a street at night, during a vigil
Adam Gray / AP
People gather during a vigil where Alex Pretti was shot and killed by federal immigration enforcement in Minneapolis, on January 28, 2026.
A man is tackled after spraying an unknown substance at U.S. Representative Ilhan Omar.
Octavio Jones / AFP / Getty
A man is tackled after spraying an unknown substance at U.S. Representative Ilhan Omar during a town hall she was hosting in Minneapolis on January 27, 2026.
A detailed view of the clasped hands of performer Nicki Minaj and President Donald Trump
Win McNamee / Getty
A detailed view of the clasped hands of performer Nicki Minaj and President Trump as they stand onstage during the Treasury Department’s Trump Accounts Summit at Andrew W. Mellon Auditorium on January 28, 2026, in Washington, D.C.
A person speaks on a phone, seen near stacked boxes.
Elijah Nouvelage / Reuters
Tulsi Gabbard, the U.S. director of national intelligence, speaks on the phone while standing at the edge of a truck-loading bay after the FBI executed a search warrant for the Fulton County Election Hub and Operation Center in relation to the 2020 election, according to a law-enforcement official familiar with the matter, in Union City, Georgia, on January 28, 2026.
A model presents a very feathery garment during a fashion show.
Aurelien Morissard / AP
A model wears a creation from the Chanel spring/summer 2026 haute couture collection presented in Paris on January 27, 2026.
Many birds fly above a wetland area.
CFoto / Future Publishing / Getty
Migratory birds fly over Baimahu National Wetland Park in Huai'an City, Jiangsu province, China, on January 24, 2026.
A woman sits on a swing above a frozen reservoir.
Sergei Gapon / AFP / Getty
A woman sits on a swing above the frozen Kyiv Reservoir, also known as the Kyiv Sea, in Lyutizh, Ukraine, on January 24, 2026.
Emergency personnel work to extinguish a fire at the site of an air attack.
Oleksandr Magula / AFP / Getty
Ukrainian emergency personnel work to extinguish a fire at the site of an air attack in Kyiv on January 24, 2026, amid Russia’s ongoing invasion of Ukraine.
A pedestrian crosses huge mounds of snow on a city street.
Alexander Nemenov / AFP / Getty
A pedestrian crosses mounds of snow on a street used for temporary snow storage in central Moscow on January 29, 2026.
An aerial view shows houses perched along the edge of a cliff after a landslide.
Danilo Arnone / Reuters
An aerial view shows houses perched along the edge of a cliff after a landslide in Niscemi, Sicily, Italy, on January 27, 2026.
An aerial view of a war-damaged bridge, mostly collapsed, in a river in Syria.
Izz Aldien Alqasem / Anadolu / Getty
An aerial view of a war-damaged bridge in Deir ez-Zor, Syria, on January 22, 2026. In Deir ez-Zor province, where nearly 15 years of conflict have caused widespread destruction, the targeting of bridges over the Euphrates River has brought daily life for residents to a near standstill. Attacks by the Assad regime, Russia, and coalition forces destroyed 19 bridges linking the river’s eastern and western banks, severely restricting civilian movement and paralyzing commercial and social life in the region.
Utility crew members work on ice-encrusted power lines.
Bruce Newman / AP
A lineman works to restore power in Oxford, Mississippi, on January 26, 2026, following a weekend ice storm.

About the Author

Alan Taylor is a senior editor at The Atlantic.
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