So maybe just this photo of a really happy guy in a bright yellow taxicab on a beautiful day in New York City is a welcome change.

2020 has provided a remarkable array of stories for Reuters photographers around the world, from the pandemic and all that it brought in its wake to civil unrest and the black lives matter movement.

And then, of course, came the U.

S.

Presidential election.

Some 50 freelance and staff photographers spent election Day sending pictures directly from camera to the Reuters global desks.

Andrew Katie was one of those photographers.

Andrew, really good to see you.

Thanks so much for speaking with us today Before we come on to Election Day.

I want to ask you how you prepared for this election.

Did you have a strategy or what?

Was it more a case of getting out there and seeing what you could get?

Eso You know, I looked at where would I have to go to make sure I covered both sides equally.

Um, so I live in work in Manhattan, obviously a very liberal progressive part of the city.

And then also there's Ah, part of the city called Staten Island, which is famously very, very Republican.

They call it the Red Borrow.

So I made sure that I was over there.

You know, I was just hitting the streets over there as well, hanging out in barbershops, pizza shops, you know, meeting people in their houses that even just like trying to meet people away from the rally, seen on just talk to people about, you know, where they live, where they work, where they grew up.

One of their parents, they're trying to get a really good on you want sense of, you know what they're about.

One of the photos that you shot, the one that's probably being used the most was the cab driver in Union Square.

Why do you think viewers reacted so so powerfully to that photo?

Um, I think you know, 2020 is being a really, really hard year for New Yorkers for for Americans.

I mean, the whole world has had a bad year, which is not something that happens quite often.

And so many of the images have bean, you know, like body bags and mass graves and burning police cars and tear gas.

So maybe just this photo of a really happy guy in a bright yellow taxi cab on a beautiful day in New York City is a welcome change.

Having said that, of course, another of the enduring images from you is of, Ah, Lady weeping in Times Square, weeping with happiness, I believe.

But again, why do you think so powerful?

You know it Z It depicts the relief.

I think a lot of people felt with just the election cycle being over, and it's been such an uncertain year, like we don't know what's happening with coronavirus.

Is there gonna be a vaccine when it the lockdowns gonna lift?

So finally having something conclusive?

You know, I think a lot of people felt that relief.

It was a long election cycle, you know.

It always is in America, but this one felt particularly hard and particularly long And maybe just having, you know, something conclusive.

A lot of people related to that, you know, as you've said, you shot people from for both sides and in Staten Island and Manhattan, which what was the most memorable for you would you say?

What do you think?

It's the combination of having both those those sides that that made this so memorable for you.

It was really memorable for me, you know, like getting out of this little the bubble that I living in Manhattan, as I was saying earlier and going to Staten Island and meeting people, you know, meeting the neighbors.

It was really nice for me to go and do that and meet people and take, you know, portrait of them in the house or in front of the Arizona Bridge, or like shoot scenes of Staten Island, which is a place I don't often go to.

That was a really, really good experience for me, but yeah, back to the lady, weeping in Times Square.

You know, I was.

My shift was meant to be over.

I wasn't meant to be there at all.

My boss had said, You know, you're done, go home.

So I went to leave.

And then, just as I was about to leave, she was like, Wait a second.

We don't really have any good close ups of, you know, good emotion or anything.

It's a lot of wide shots like he was saying earlier, Dude, I'm in Times Square.

There's about to be an acceptance speech of the president elect.

I'm not gonna go home.

I'm going to stay and watch this thing.

So I went back downstairs and really looked closely at people's faces because they were looking up at the screen.

And then So these two girls that were reacting like like Beatlemania, you know, they were really excited and relieved and hugging and almost crying already.

So I was like, All right, this is it.

I was like, Look at these two girls and try to get something great and yeah, it's cool.

Watch them, you know, watch the speech.

Got a lot of photos of them.

And then after that, went up and was like, Hey, by the way, I took photos of you guys that whole time.

Can I get your names on?

It was great.

Good.

Andrew, look, I'm going to stop it there.

Thank you for all of your photographs.

Both sides, as we've talked about.

Thank you very much indeed for talking with us on the debrief today.

My pleasure.