The World's Best Photos of #Fun2020

In the best images of #Fun2020, we can see how each culture has a different concept of fun. But at the same time, we find in all of them the most universal gesture that human beings have in common: a smile.

Octavi Royo, Agora's CEO and Co-founder

A group of children laugh as they play with old motorcycle tires in a sand dune of Mui Ne, a coastal fishing town that is one of the most famous travel destinations in Vietnam. Every day, many children come to the dunes to play and work with their parents. Children offer sand slides for hire and sell squeezed coconut, mothers sell powdered flour while the fathers drive the motorbike taxi. Children here are poor, they are not familiar with modern electronic devices like the children in the city. They work hard but they're always happy, and their joy comes even with simple games. I plan to spend all the prize money to support the Vietnamese COVID-19 fund.

@trantuanviet (Vietnam), #Fun2020 Hero

October is summertime on this side of the world. And on this particular day, it was blistering hot. I was washing my car with my son in the afternoon, and I guess he decided to take advantage and make the most of all that water and cool off. The water supply in our area is very erratic, so when we do get water we are very mindful of how we use it. But on this particular day, I decided to forget all of that and let the boy have fun with all that water. My son showed me that he was happy, truly happy with what he had. The expression on his face was pure joy and happiness. 

@bonkoti (Zambia)

The boy in this picture comes from a poor family, they can hardly afford toys in their situation. But the kid was very happy with the tire his father had brought home from work. I didn't ask him to smile, we were just playing hide and seek behind this tire and he was laughing the whole time.

@sujonadhikary (Bangladesh)

The 3 kids in the photo are triplets, and I've known them since they were in the belly of their mother! Here, the triplets are in a bakery just in front of the oven where their grandfather worked for more than 30 years. The photos of this shooting were a present for the grandfather's birthday. It was a lot of fun to build up all the set-up, the lights and decoration, together with the family of the triplets (also cousins, uncle and aunt) and the staff of the bakery...everybody there knew the grandfather of the kids and they were all very happy and touched to prepare this photoshoot for him to have a memory of "his oven".

@suewetjen (Spain)

Flashback on a fun photoshoot with two of my best friends. It all worked out really well in the end! 

@birazhayalci (Turkey)

Can you guess how old is he? Yes, he's 86 years old but he doesn't look old at all, right? That's the power of smiling, the power of having fun because the time you enjoy wasting is not wasted time.

@andylam (Vietnam)

There's nothing more fun than exploring the world with your best friends. 

@sahlankokasinta (Indonesia)

The people from the Kayin tribe live alongside the Thai-Myanmar border. When I got to the top of the mountain, I spotted these two Kayin ladies chatting and having a laugh together. With such a beautiful background, I couldn't help but capture this magic moment.

@naingtunwinbagan (Myanmar)

It was just incredible to watch that scene in Detroit. Detroit is a city that people call “dangerous”, a city full of negative opinions, and I don’t know why. It’s a place I really loved, and watch that scene of a policewoman playing basketball with that boy was incredible. 10 minutes before that, I was taking portrait pictures of the two policewomen working, and they were just so happy about me asking for their pictures.

@nicoprg (France)

This photo tells the story of two best friends who are playing a traditional game called Kelereng, full of fun and happiness.

@aburizchi (Indonesia)

The kids had the best afternoon ever playing in their homemade spaceship, under the supervision of their furry captain.

@katerinazefirova (Russia)

I wanted to capture the joys of life in the simplest of ways: the happiness of being a kid, forgetting your problems even for a short period of time. There's always so much more that life has to offer. I really wanted to capture a scene where children would jump in the water, but it didn't work out so well. As I was post-processing this image, I noticed the raw emotion of pure happiness expressed by the children as they were jumping in the water.

@jemalmunds (Philippines)

The day was warm, a little too warm for us to both stay inside and stay outside. So in an effort to cool off, we made a slip 'n slide. Initially, this little girl was really afraid to take the leap in sliding as fast as she could on the slip 'n slide, but once she did you would have never known she was hesitant! It was an enjoyable time that kept everyone cool and having lots of fun.

@hwilson8 (USA)

These North Vietnamese mountain villages are an explosion of colors and hospitality. These smiles tell the story of an unforgettable afternoon spent with amazing people. This shot was absolutely spontaneous, upon returning from the visit of a temple, many of the children who welcomed us at the entrance of the village all sat in a row on this wall. I had just enough time to take a few shots before they all ran away laughing!

@marcotagliarino (Italy)

In Bangladesh, rural kids are used to making their own toys. In this photo, they had made a tricycle from scratch. To me, this photo captures the essence of childhood: the most important thing is to be creative, whatever resources you may have, and have fun.

@rozelkazi (Bangladesh)

I'm always looking for new patterns to shoot with my drone. Looking through Google Maps, I found this silo with car tires very interesting from above.

@wunderbilder (Germany)

The baller wasn’t really ready, so I had to take some shots while he was warming up. The story behind the photo is training hard for what you want. When one never gives up on his dreams, he achieves them. Through pain, we gain the toughest things.

@calvin_walker (Ghana)

This picture shows three stunt riders practicing on the Wall of Death, a popular show in Indonesia. They speed around at sometimes more than 100 km/h! To them, having fun means taking risks!

@drozzan (Indonesia)

There was such a great bond between these two. A mother who turns into a lion: it’s not so common and it spices up a shooting to have a natural photo!

@photolivestudio (France)

I was visiting Chicago for the first time. This funfair was right next to Lake Michigan. My friends and I went on the ride, it was such a thrill! Once back on the ground again, I took a picture of others enjoying the feeling of flying in the air. It’s liberating and scary at the same time.

@guz (Germany)

The kids took advantage of the harvested fields to create a football pitch. Although the pitch was very hard and watery, they played with such inspiration and passion. Their biggest dream was to score a goal in a proper stadium.

@tuan1368 (Vietnam)

It was boiling hot outside, so we went cave exploring. This light was just so mesmerizing that I had to use it for a photo. So we climbed all the way to the back of the cave to set up the composition, and then I went back for the jump! It was actually quite dangerous and slippery in there, and I was on top of a rock, so I really had to watch out how I jumped in order not to fall.

@johandroneadventures (Belgium)

On the occasion of the Tet national holiday, the Mong children wear traditional clothes and visit all the houses of the village. 

@nguyenvuphuoc (Vietnam)

This photo was taken during the festival of Old Buton Cultural Charm, where elementary school children perform a colossal dance alongside 5000 other dancers. I wanted to highlight the expression of joy and happiness on the kids' faces after having completed the performance successfully, they were so proud!

@rustamawat (Indonesia)

I took this shot during a basketball game with my best friends. We were messing around and had a lot of fun with the drone!

@pherrography (Switzerland)

Although he's more than 90 years old, he's still in great shape. I pictured him just before he went to get water in the nearby river. 

@tuanngocphoto (Vietnam)

It was the last day of an unusually warm winter in St. Petersburg. It was such a great moment with my two daughters, we loved saying goodbye to winter! Happiness lays in simple little things.

@nayagrig (Russia)

One day, we jumped on our bike and found a swing hanging off a palm tree across a little local river. During the sunrise, we saw local kids jumping, laughing and paddling on a tiny wooden boat. When we arrived there, these big-hearted kids immediately offered us to play with them and try jumping to the river from the palm tree. We were having one of the best days of our lives, filled with pure joy. All thanks to these beautiful, kind and talented Filipino kids.

@maky&matt (Czech Republic)

I went to see the San Petersburg ballet perform in Madrid, and took some great photos of the show. The dancer in the picture contacted me as she noticed the pictures of the show I had posted on Instagram. We agreed to collaborate for a photoshoot in an abandoned train station to contrast with her elegance. We shot on the 8th of March, just two days before the state of emergency was declared in Spain, which means these are the last pictures I took outside my home!

@rafaelgranados (Spain)

We always have lots of fun during our family holiday. Last year, our family photo wasn't that original so we wanted to do something different and fun for this year's photo. I think it worked!

@cunodebruin (Netherlands)

I took this photo on the occasion of the Gong culture festival, celebrated by the Gia Rai ethnic group and taking place in Vietnam's Central Highlands. This celebration was declared a "Masterpiece of Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity" by the UNESCO.

@phamchiconghp (Vietnam)

I took this photo during my last trip before the COVID-19 pandemic. We did not expect such a landscape. We decided to hike this mountain to get a perfect view when the sun rises. When the blue hours began, we started to jump around and scream because we knew we were going to get an epic shot, that’s why I named the photo “jump of happiness”.

@samuelemiccoli (Italy)

Hundreds of meters of newly dyed, bright red cotton are rolled out to dry in the sun.  The workers manage to cover almost 100 hectares with 500 feet-long strips. It takes four hours for a strip to dry completely. This kid was having great fun, jumping from a strip to another!

@azimronnie (Bangladesh)

My daughter wanted a photo with her favorite pet, but the cheeky hamster kept running away.

@tinozavrus (Russia)

My younger brother was playing with the remote-controlled plane and suddenly lost control of it, which gave me inspiration for this fun photo. It took me ten attempts to take this photo, my hands were quite hurt but it was worth it!

@asadksungkar (Indonesia)

Nowadays, I seldom see kids playing in a primitive way like this in the photo. It may be simple, but full of social interaction and fun! Or perhaps they are not lucky enough to have fancy gadgets, nice home or food on the table. Whenever I go to this place, most of these young kids are chasing me to take a photograph of them. And for me, I'm lucky enough to capture their genuine smile and happiness.

@renebernal (Philippines)

For the past 6 years, my best friends and I have been meeting up for a weekend at the farm. We always take a group picture to keep a memory, but it gets crazier every year! We just wanted to have one picture that sums up all the good times we had together. Looking forward to the next one!

@hardingmicha (Austria)

I love to see my nephews having fun together! I come back to my hometown once a year to visit my family. This is a kite I brought them from the city, they spent all summer playing around with it in the rice fields.

@erwinsaleh (Indonesia)

After a long hot summer, everyone was waiting for the relief of the monsoon and its heavy rain. The rural kids were celebrating in a unique, entertaining way.

@pranab_basak (India)