TIME's Top 10 Photos of 2012

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A Palestinian man kisses the hand of a dead relative in the morgue of Shifa Hospital in Gaza City, Sunday, Nov. 18, 2012. President Barack Obama on Sunday defended Israel's airstrikes on the Gaza Strip, but he warned that escalating the offensive with Israeli ground troops could deepen the death toll and undermine any hope of a peace process with the Palestinians. (AP Photo/Bernat Armangue)

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Ahmed mours the dead of his father Abdulaziz Abu Ahmed Khrer, killed by a Syrian Army sniper, during his funeral in Idlib, north Syria, Thursday, March 8, 2012. (AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd)

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Sudan, Heglig, 2012. A Sudan Armed Forces (SAF) soldier lies dead covered in oil next to a leaking oil facility after heavy fighting between southern Sudanese SPLA troops, after they entered the north Sudan oil town of Heglig mid April.[lF][lF]Contact email: New York : photography@magnumphotos.com Paris : magnum@magnumphotos.fr London : magnum@magnumphotos.co.uk Tokyo : tokyo@magnumphotos.co.jp Contact phones: New York : +1 212 929 6000 Paris: + 33 1 53 42 50 00 London: + 44 20 7490 1771 Tokyo: + 81 3 3219 0771 Image URL: http://www.magnumphotos.com/Archive/C.aspx?VP3=ViewBox_VPage&IID=2TYRYDCCISQL&CT=Image&IT=ZoomImage01_VForm

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DENVER, CO - JULY 27: Chantel Blunk, wife of Jonathan Blunk, waits as the flag-draped casket bearing her husband's remains is loaded onto a plane bound for Reno for a full military funeral, at Denver International Airport July 27, 2012 in Denver, Colorado. Blunk, a five-year U.S. Navy veteran, was killed in the July 20 Century 16 shooting massacre in Aurora, Colorado. (Photo by RJ Sangosti-Pool/Getty Images)

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President Barack Obama waits in the hallway while being introduced at a rally in the gym of Windham High School in Windham, NH. 20120818. Photo by Callie Shell for Time Magazine.

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Suspended by wires, Chinese artist Li Wei performs in the sky at La Villette in Paris Tuesday March 20, 2012. Li Wei born in 1970, Hubei, China is a contemporary artist from Beijing, China. His work often depicts him in apparently gravity-defying situations. (AP Photo/Francois Mori)

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As we prepare to bring in the new year, reflection on the past 12 months becomes a recurring theme for many. None is more evident in the long list of “Top Whatever” countdowns that will consume our conscious mind for the next month or so. Opening today however, one of the better catalogs comes from TIME Magazine and its Top 10 Photos of 2012. The 10 photos selected deliver a strong emotional impact from wartime imagery to the effects of recent natural disasters. TIME goes further adding a brief description written by each photographer.

Over the he next three weeks, TIME will continue to roll out even more end-of-year features including the Most Surprising Pictures, the Best Photo Books, the Top 10 Photographic Magazine Covers, and other compelling galleries.

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