2011 Stanley Cup riot photo of couple kissing makes CNN’s 100 photos of the decade

Dec 23 2019, 10:28 pm

While it’s true a lot of stories can happen in the span of a decade, there are also moments in time that come to be defined by a single photograph.

And now, a particular moment in time that happened in Vancouver in 2011 has been named one of the top 100 photos of the decade.

The photo was snapped by Rich Lam for Getty Images during the riot that broke out in downtown Vancouver after the Canucks lost to the Boston Bruins in Game 7 of the 2011 Stanley Cup Finals.

The crowd at the CBC Live Site on West Georgia Street attracted 55,000 people — at least five times the amount for Game 6, which was another Cup-deciding game. Across downtown, there were 100,000 people, including thousands watching from Canada Place.

But it was Lam’s photo of a man and woman laying in the street sharing a kiss amidst police in full riot gear that came to be one of the defining moments of the night.

In its selection of the full list of photos, CNN said “each image is iconic in its own merit, and they are sometimes taken by photojournalists in harm’s way. Each photo is memorable, permanently capturing a moment in history, searing its significance and its oddity in our consciousness, oftentimes shaping public opinion and affecting policy.”

Daily Hive StaffDaily Hive Staff

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