From Hidden Snipers to Train Surfers, WIRED’s Best Photo Stories of the Year​

Can You Spot the Snipers Hidden in These Photos? Simon Menner’s ongoing series Camouflage shows landscapes with German snipers hidden somewhere in the frame. The project is like a deadly Where’s Waldo exercise. For Menner, the challenge of finding the snipers isn’t the important part; the photos comment on the way things like fear, terror, and surveillance are constantly part of our lives in the modern world. Simon Menner

Can You Spot the Snipers Hidden in These Photos? Simon Menner’s ongoing series Camouflage shows landscapes with German snipers hidden somewhere in the frame. The project is like a deadly Where’s Waldo exercise. For Menner, the challenge of finding the snipers isn’t the important part; the photos comment on the way things like fear, terror, and surveillance are constantly part of our lives in the modern world.

Simon Menner

What Cities Would Look Like if Lit Only by the Stars French artist Thierry Cohen draws attention to this creeping loss in his series Villes éteintes (Darkened Cities) , which imagines the world’s largest cities under clear night skies. His photographs are as impossible as they are beautiful. The dark urban landscapes and vibrant constellations are composites of two images—one of the city and one of the sky. THIERRY COHEN/DANZIGER GALLERY

What Cities Would Look Like if Lit Only by the Stars French artist Thierry Cohen draws attention to this creeping loss in his series Villes éteintes (Darkened Cities) , which imagines the world’s largest cities under clear night skies. His photographs are as impossible as they are beautiful. The dark urban landscapes and vibrant constellations are composites of two images—one of the city and one of the sky.

THIERRY COHEN/DANZIGER GALLERY

The TSA’s Instagram Feed Is Terrifying and Totally Awesome The feed is essentially a gallery of some of the craziest items people try to get past security checkpoints. There’s no shortage of material—the TSA claims an average of 40 firearms (often loaded) are seized at checkpoints every week. Nine-bladed super knife? Grenade? Everything you need to assemble a bomb? Yes, all that and more. TSA

The TSA’s Instagram Feed Is Terrifying and Totally Awesome The feed is essentially a gallery of some of the craziest items people try to get past security checkpoints. There’s no shortage of material—the TSA claims an average of 40 firearms (often loaded) are seized at checkpoints every week. Nine-bladed super knife? Grenade? Everything you need to assemble a bomb? Yes, all that and more.

TSA

The World’s Tiniest Countries and the Eccentrics Who Rule Them Never heard of the Imperial Kingdom of Calsahara? The Conch Republic? The Principality of Sealand? You’re not alone.​ Léo Delafontaine hadn’t either until 2012, when he visited the Republic of Saugeais, a self-proclaimed micronation in eastern France. He’s since become fascinated with “countries” unrecognized by world governments and organizations. Léo Delafontaine

The World’s Tiniest Countries and the Eccentrics Who Rule Them Never heard of the Imperial Kingdom of Calsahara? The Conch Republic? The Principality of Sealand? You’re not alone.​ Léo Delafontaine hadn’t either until 2012, when he visited the Republic of Saugeais, a self-proclaimed micronation in eastern France. He’s since become fascinated with “countries” unrecognized by world governments and organizations.

Léo Delafontaine

The Brutal DIY Weapons of the Ukrainian Revolution The revolters who battled the Ukrainian army in Maidan Square and toppled President Yanukovych did so while armed with little more than sticks, bats and sledgehammers. Their nasty homemade hardware is the subject of a series of portraits by photographer Tom Jamieson. Tom Jamieson

The Brutal DIY Weapons of the Ukrainian Revolution The revolters who battled the Ukrainian army in Maidan Square and toppled President Yanukovych did so while armed with little more than sticks, bats and sledgehammers. Their nasty homemade hardware is the subject of a series of portraits by photographer Tom Jamieson.

Tom Jamieson

Photographer Recreates an ’80s Portrait Studio—With Awesome Results Robbie Augspurger’s series Glamour & Headshots wasn’t inspired by retro filters on an Instagram app. Instead, he makes portraits that look like The Partridge Family because that’s the photography he grew up with. Robbie Augspurger

Photographer Recreates an ’80s Portrait Studio—With Awesome Results Robbie Augspurger’s series Glamour & Headshots wasn’t inspired by retro filters on an Instagram app. Instead, he makes portraits that look like The Partridge Family because that’s the photography he grew up with.

Robbie Augspurger

Unsettling Images of Patients in Hiding After Plastic Surgery (NSFW) In South Korea, plastic surgery is rampant, and the goal is often to look less Asian. While there are plenty of photos of the final results, artist Ji Yeo balances the visual scales by documenting the ugly side of becoming “beautiful.” Ji Yeo

Unsettling Images of Patients in Hiding After Plastic Surgery (NSFW) In South Korea, plastic surgery is rampant, and the goal is often to look less Asian. While there are plenty of photos of the final results, artist Ji Yeo balances the visual scales by documenting the ugly side of becoming “beautiful.”

Ji Yeo

What It’d Look Like if Star Wars Spilled Into the Real World Thomas Dagg uses Photoshop to seamlessly blend characters and spaceships from the films into every day scenes. The images invite viewers into the world of his childhood, when he imagined seeing a galaxy far, far away in everything around him. Thomas Dagg

What It’d Look Like if Star Wars Spilled Into the Real World Thomas Dagg uses Photoshop to seamlessly blend characters and spaceships from the films into every day scenes. The images invite viewers into the world of his childhood, when he imagined seeing a galaxy far, far away in everything around him.

Thomas Dagg

30 Years After Chernobyl’s Meltdown, Gripping Photos Expose the Human Fallout The explosion at the Vladimir Ilyich Lenin nuclear power plant released more radiation than the bomb dropped on Hiroshima, and one might never know they were being poisoned until months, even years later. Veteran photographer Gerd Ludwig’s spent 20 years photographing the area, chronicling the ongoing consequences of the radioactive release. GERD LUDWIG/INSTITUTE

30 Years After Chernobyl’s Meltdown, Gripping Photos Expose the Human Fallout Part of the mystery and terror of the Chernobyl disaster is the invisibility of the threat. The explosion at the Vladimir Ilyich Lenin nuclear power plant released more radiation than the bomb dropped on Hiroshima, and one might never know they were being poisoned until months, even years later. Veteran photographer Gerd Ludwig’s spent 20 years photographing the area, chronicling the ongoing consequences of the radioactive release.

GERD LUDWIG/INSTITUTE

The Hackers Who Recovered NASA’s Lost Lunar Photos These self-described techno-archaeologists have been on a mission to recover and digitize forgotten photos taken in the ‘60s by a quintet of scuttled lunar satellites. The Lunar Orbiter Image Recovery Project has since 2007 brought some 2,000 pictures back from 1,500 analog data tapes. Lunar Orbiter Image Recovery Project

The Hackers Who Recovered NASA’s Lost Lunar Photos These self-described techno-archaeologists have been on a mission to recover and digitize forgotten photos taken in the ‘60s by a quintet of scuttled lunar satellites. The Lunar Orbiter Image Recovery Project has since 2007 brought some 2,000 pictures back from 1,500 analog data tapes.

Lunar Orbiter Image Recovery Project

Total Strangers Let This Photographer Crash for a Night in Their Homes Bieke Depoorter has an unorthodox way of working: The photographer has been wandering cities in Russia, the US and Egypt asking strangers if she can spend the night in their home. Surprisingly, many of them say yes. BIEKE DEPOORTER

Total Strangers Let This Photographer Crash for a Night in Their Homes Bieke Depoorter has an unorthodox way of working: The photographer has been wandering cities in Russia, the US and Egypt asking strangers if she can spend the night in their home. Surprisingly, many of them say yes.

BIEKE DEPOORTER

The Final Years of Pre-Soviet Russia, Captured in Glorious Color In 1909, Nicholas authorized Sergei Mikhailovich Prokudin-Gorskii to document his empire using a new technique called additive color. Over a period of about six years, Prokudin-Gorskii took some 10,000 pictures, systematically chronicling Russia’s rich culture, industry, and architecture. Sergei Mikhailovich Prokudin-Gorskii

The Final Years of Pre-Soviet Russia, Captured in Glorious Color In 1909, Nicholas authorized Sergei Mikhailovich Prokudin-Gorskii to document his empire using a new technique called additive color. Over a period of about six years, Prokudin-Gorskii took some 10,000 pictures, systematically chronicling Russia’s rich culture, industry, and architecture.

Sergei Mikhailovich Prokudin-Gorskii

Intimate Photos From the Golden Age of Silicon Valley Doug Menuez spent 15 years in the middle of what many call the golden era of Silicon Valley. Between 1985 and 2000, he had unparalleled access to Steve Jobs, Steve Capps, and 70 other people and companies, including Adobe and NeXT. His amazing archive of images comprise one of the richest records of this seminal moment in American and technological history. Doug Menuez

Intimate Photos From the Golden Age of Silicon Valley Doug Menuez spent 15 years in the middle of what many call the golden era of Silicon Valley. Between 1985 and 2000, he had unparalleled access to Steve Jobs, Steve Capps, and 70 other people and companies, including Adobe and NeXT. His amazing archive of images comprise one of the richest records of this seminal moment in American and technological history.

Doug Menuez

The Most Ridiculous Laws in America It’s not hard to satirize statutes that ban people from picnicking in a graveyard or tickling a woman’s chin with a feather duster. Many of the things that legislators have seen fit to legislate read like something straight out of Monty Python. Olivia Locher portrays them in irreverent photos inspired heavily by the bold colors and aesthetics of pop art. Olivia Locher

The Most Ridiculous Laws in America It’s not hard to satirize statutes that ban people from picnicking in a graveyard or tickling a woman’s chin with a feather duster. Many of the things that legislators have seen fit to legislate read like something straight out of Monty Python. Olivia Locher portrays them in irreverent photos inspired heavily by the bold colors and aesthetics of pop art.

Olivia Locher

The Ruins of the USSR’s Secret Nuclear Cities Nadav Kander traveled to the steppes of Kazakhstan four years ago to see the “closed cities” of the Soviet nuclear testing area, a network of cities all but invisible to outsiders until the arrival of Google Earth. His haunting images of an eerily beautiful landscape raise questions about secrecy, transparency, and the universal human attraction to ruins. NADAV KANDER / COURTESY FLOWERS GALLERY

The Ruins of the USSR’s Secret Nuclear Cities Nadav Kander traveled to the steppes of Kazakhstan four years ago to see the “closed cities” of the Soviet nuclear testing area, a network of cities all but invisible to outsiders until the arrival of Google Earth. His haunting images of an eerily beautiful landscape raise questions about secrecy, transparency, and the universal human attraction to ruins.

NADAV KANDER / COURTESY FLOWERS GALLERY

Powerful Portraits of People Living Off the Grid Antoine Bruy has been photographing around Europe for the project since 2012, visiting some 15 encampments in his home country as well as in Romania, Spain, Switzerland, and Wales. The portraits show farmers, homesteaders, herders—all of whom seem at once weary and at peace with the toil of making their lives in the wilderness. Antoine Bruy

Powerful Portraits of People Living Off the Grid Antoine Bruy has been photographing around Europe for the project since 2012, visiting some 15 encampments in his home country as well as in Romania, Spain, Switzerland, and Wales. The portraits show farmers, homesteaders, herders—all of whom seem at once weary and at peace with the toil of making their lives in the wilderness.

Antoine Bruy

People Around the World Pose With Everything They Eat in a Day Imagine what a picture of all the food you eat in a day would tell you about your eating habits. What about when you compare it to that of a neighbor, a person in another state, another part of the world? That’s the idea behind Peter Menzel’s photo book, What I Eat: Around the World in 80 Diets. Peter Menzel

People Around the World Pose With Everything They Eat in a Day Imagine what a picture of all the food you eat in a day would tell you about your eating habits. What about when you compare it to that of a neighbor, a person in another state, another part of the world? That’s the idea behind Peter Menzel’s photo book, What I Eat: Around the World in 80 Diets.

Peter Menzel

The Real-Life Community Inside the ‘Abandoned’ Skyscraper From Homeland The Tower of David is an imposing monolith that looms 45 stories over downtown Caracas, Venezuela. The luxurious skyscraper, erected in 1990, was later abandoned to the locals and transformed into a unique, self-governing community. ALEJANDRO CEGARRA

http://www.wired.com/2014/12/alejandro-cegarra-the-other-side-of-the-tower/

ALEJANDRO CEGARRA

Hackers Gather for Cyberwar in an Intense 48-Hour Sim Locked Shields is among the world’s preeminent cyber attack simulations. For two days, international teams of hackers and system admins play both sides of a war game, simultaneously attacking and defending critical infrastructure. LUCA LOCATELLI

Hackers Gather for Cyberwar in an Intense 48-Hour Sim Locked Shields is among the world’s preeminent cyber attack simulations. For two days, international teams of hackers and system admins play both sides of a war game, simultaneously attacking and defending critical infrastructure.

LUCA LOCATELLI

Haunting Photos of a Crumbling Post-Communist World The dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1989 ended a 25-year dictatorship in Romania. Photographer Tamas Dezso has since 2011 been documenting the disintegrating communist infrastructure left behind in Romania after the Red Giant fell, and the nearby villages still struggling to adapt. TAMAS DEZSO, COURTESY OF ROBERT KOCH GALLERY, SAN FRANCISCO

Haunting Photos of a Crumbling Post-Communist World The dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1989 ended a 25-year dictatorship in Romania. Photographer Tamas Dezso has since 2011 been documenting the disintegrating communist infrastructure left behind in Romania after the Red Giant fell, and the nearby villages still struggling to adapt.

TAMAS DEZSO, COURTESY OF ROBERT KOCH GALLERY, SAN FRANCISCO

Beautiful Polar Photos Tell a Haunting Story About Climate Change Camille Seaman spent more than a decade making the photos in Melting Away, a project examining climate change through photographing icebergs and other arctic wonders. CAMILLE SEAMAN

Beautiful Polar Photos Tell a Haunting Story About Climate Change Camille Seaman spent more than a decade making the photos in Melting Away, a project examining climate change through photographing icebergs and other arctic wonders.

CAMILLE SEAMAN

What the World’s Worst Email Spammers Might Look Like Christina De Middel uses a lot of imagination and a little dramatic staging to bring your junk mail to life in her series Poly-Spam. CRISTINA DE MIDDEL

What the World’s Worst Email Spammers Might Look Like Christina De Middel uses a lot of imagination and a little dramatic staging to bring your junk mail to life in her series Poly-Spam.

CRISTINA DE MIDDEL

Creepy Photos of Crumbling Soviet-Era Architecture In a series of 10 trips through Russia, Ukraine, Eastern Europe, and the Baltics, including a tour of Chernobyl and a climb atop a frigid Bulgarian mountain, English photographer Rebecca Litchfield braved radiation and KGB-style interrogation techniques to capture the beauty of this bygone era. Rebecca Litchfield

Creepy Photos of Crumbling Soviet-Era Architecture In a series of 10 trips through Russia, Ukraine, Eastern Europe, and the Baltics, including a tour of Chernobyl and a climb atop a frigid Bulgarian mountain, English photographer Rebecca Litchfield braved radiation and KGB-style interrogation techniques to capture the beauty of this bygone era.

Rebecca Litchfield

Savor the Awkward Atmosphere of the Post-Soviet Dance Club Imagine rolling up to a dingy dance club in a remote Lithuanian village in the middle of the night with two 6×7 cameras and asking to take people’s pictures. That’s exactly what Andrew Miksys did for his series DISKO. But what began as a fascinating look at a fringe youth culture turned out to be a compelling journey revealing ancient customs, modern conflict, and a good deal of his own family history. Andrew Miksys

Savor the Awkward Atmosphere of the Post-Soviet Dance Club Imagine rolling up to a dingy dance club in a remote Lithuanian village in the middle of the night with two 6×7 cameras and asking to take people’s pictures. That’s exactly what Andrew Miksys did for his series DISKO. But what began as a fascinating look at a fringe youth culture turned out to be a compelling journey revealing ancient customs, modern conflict, and a good deal of his own family history.

Andrew Miksys

The Electrician Who Makes Bolts of ‘Lightning’ in His Basement By day, Jacques Emery is a middle-aged electrician living in Martigny, Switzerland. By night, he descends into his basement, where a kind of magic happens. There amongst a sea of capacitors, resistors, diodes, and coils, he is transformed into something of a mad scientist, experimenting with the strange and beautiful power of electricity. OLIVIER LOVEY

The Electrician Who Makes Bolts of ‘Lightning’ in His Basement By day, Jacques Emery is a middle-aged electrician living in Martigny, Switzerland. By night, he descends into his basement, where a kind of magic happens. There amongst a sea of capacitors, resistors, diodes, and coils, he is transformed into something of a mad scientist, experimenting with the strange and beautiful power of electricity.

OLIVIER LOVEY

Satellites and Zeppelins: Serious Tech Helps Europe Lock Down Its Borders The Europeans are no less determined than the US to secure their borders, relying on everything from drones and unmanned ships to guys in zeppelins to protect themselves from those who hope to sneak in from North Africa, the Middle East and elsewhere. JULIAN RÖDER

Satellites and Zeppelins: Serious Tech Helps Europe Lock Down Its Borders The Europeans are no less determined than the US to secure their borders, relying on everything from drones and unmanned ships to guys in zeppelins to protect themselves from those who hope to sneak in from North Africa, the Middle East and elsewhere.

JULIAN RÖDER

The Crazy Train Surfers Who Flirt With Death for Sport In the townships of Johannesburg a dangerous game is being played. Reckless students and disenfranchised young men are dangling from cars and clambering atop the roofs of commuter trains in a sport called Staff Riding. MARCO CASINO / LUZ

The Crazy Train Surfers Who Flirt With Death for Sport In the townships of Johannesburg a dangerous game is being played. Reckless students and disenfranchised young men are dangling from cars and clambering atop the roofs of commuter trains in a sport called Staff Riding.

MARCO CASINO / LUZ

A Peek Into Life in ‘Silicon Forest,’ Russia’s Hot New Startup Scene The town of Akademgorodok, nestled among birch and conifers 3,400 kilometers east of Moscow, is becoming a hub for 21st century Russian innovation and entrepreneurship. You’ve heard of Silicon Valley. This is Silicon Forest. GRANT SLATER

A Peek Into Life in ‘Silicon Forest,’ Russia’s Hot New Startup Scene The town of Akademgorodok, nestled among birch and conifers 3,400 kilometers east of Moscow, is becoming a hub for 21st century Russian innovation and entrepreneurship. You’ve heard of Silicon Valley. This is Silicon Forest.

GRANT SLATER

How Ebola Healthcare Workers Get Dressed Glenna Gordon‘s revealing portraits of African healthcare workers suiting up to combat Ebola are more than instructional. By showing us the brave men and women beneath all that protective gear, she’s humanized the people risking their lives under trying conditions so others might live. GLENNA GORDON/WALL STREET JOURNAL

How Ebola Healthcare Workers Get Dressed Glenna Gordon‘s revealing portraits of African healthcare workers suiting up to combat Ebola are more than instructional. By showing us the brave men and women beneath all that protective gear, she’s humanized the people risking their lives under trying conditions so others might live.

GLENNA GORDON/WALL STREET JOURNAL