
Getty / Rich Fury

Getty / Kevin Mazur
DONDA By Kanye West Listening Event

Getty / Samir Hussein
Dune Premiere

Getty / Stefania D’Alessandro
Bennifer Back Together

Getty / Chelsea Guglielmino
#FreeBritney

Getty / Kevin Winter
63rd Annual GRAMMY Awards

Getty / Rich Fury
2021 Billboard Music Awards

Getty / Philip Faraone
2021 iHeartRadio Music Awards

Getty / Theo Wargo
2021 MTV Video Music Awards

Getty / Koury Angelo
Billie Eilish “The World’s A Little Blurry” Premiere Event

Getty / Arturo Holmes
Saying Goodbye to Michael K. Williams

Getty / Photopix
Travis Barker and Kourtney Kardashian are Engaged

Getty / Noam Galai
Iris Apfel’s 100th Birthday Party

Getty / Amy Sussman
Thelma and Louise 30th Anniversary

Getty / Jamie McCarthy
2021 Met Gala

Getty / Matt Winkelmeyer
The Academy Museum of Motion Pictures Opening Gala

Getty / Chris Jackson
Prince Philip’s Funeral
2021 was a year full of highs and lows. With 2020 pretty much written-off, this year brought back highly anticipated events such as the Met Gala and live shows, with yes, real people sitting in the audience! But that’s not all, Taylor Swift released her version of Red and Adele dropped her album 30 after six years.
2021 was also the year America elected a new president, with Joe Biden being tasked with the most powerful position in the world. But not everything was smooth sailing because despite being a new year, countries were still being ravaged by the COVID-19 pandemic, including Australia.
Sydney and Melbourne dealt with gruelling lockdowns due to the Delta variant and now, in the lead up to Christmas, the new Omicron variant seems to be taking over.
But going back to what made us leap with joy, Britney is finally free and it was a huge year for movies, with James Bond No Time to Die released after constant delays and Spider-Man: No Way Home breaking records at the box office.
Amy Sussman, Staff Entertainment Photographer at Getty Images had a busy year, and she revealed just how much her job has changed since pre-pandemic.
“At the People’s Choice Awards there were six outlets at the whole event and we all had big roped off sections, so there was a lot of space. Normally events like that would be quadruple the size – it would be exponentially busier. So the size of the press has dropped for sure.”
But it’s not just how people interact with one another, but also the advancements of technology that have helped photographers do their best work.
“One of the biggest things I’ve seen is cameras being able to transmit instantly when being on carpets. It allows you to be more flexible with the people you’re working with especially now, when we don’t have people on-site,” said Amy.
Take a look back at some of the biggest pop culture moments from 2021.