Samuel Aranda’s fantastic photo from Yemen has been selected by World Press Photo as its 2011 picture of the year. Aranda was on a two-month-long assignment for the New York Times when he shot the above photograph of a woman consoling an injured man.

Arnada stumbled upon the pair in a mosque that was converted into a hospital. It was one his first photos taken in Yemen, and he didn’t realize its power until later. “I got back to my place and I saw the photo in the screen and I was like, ‘Wow,’” Aranda told the Times. “The woman is not just crying. It was something more. You can feel that the woman is really strong.”

[Image via The New York Times]