Best of 2008 Times photography

A crowd reaches for food aid on Jan. 6 from a Red Cross distribution truck in the Mathare slum of Nairobi.  (Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times)

A resident of Gori looks to the sky on Aug. 17 as she talks about the bombs that rained down on her neighborhood in the Georgian city near South Ossetia during the attack by Russia. Russia sent troops into Georgia on Aug. 8 after Georgian forces moved against South Ossetia. The crisis also heightened tensions between Russia and the West.  (Michael Robinson Chavez / Los Angeles Times)

Many Dharavi residents take fierce pride in a community that they and their families built with little help from the state. They refuse to be uprooted from the Mumbai slum without a fight.  (Michael Robinson Chavez / Los Angeles Times)

During low tide, workers Jorge Palma, left, and Ricardo Gonzalez Bernal harvest oysters in Samish Bay. Because of the bacterial outbreak, future crops will not be as large.  (Lix O. Baylen / Los Angeles Times)

Firefighters pour water on a home in the Oakridge Mobile Home Park in Sylmar. Of the park’s 600 homes, 501 were destroyed and at least 40 more sustained serious damage.  (Brian Vander Brug / Los Angeles Times)

Rescuers work to pull people from mangled wreckage after the deadly crash of a Metrolink train and a freight train in Chatsworth.  (Francine Orr / Los Angeles Times)

Congress approved a $700-billion Wall Street bailout in October, setting in motion the biggest government intervention in the financial system since the Great Depression. Protesters at a rally for independent presidential candidate Ralph Nader show their displeasure with the government’s financial rescue package.  (Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times)

Snowboarder Tommy Fynn of Brisbane, Australia, rubs mineral-laced mud from the bottom of Wild Willy’s hot spring on his face while enjoying the Eastern Sierra Nevada hot spot.  (Brian Vander Brug / Los Angeles Times)

Supermodel Heidi Klum on the red carpet at the 80th Annual Academy Awards at the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood, California February. The best picture was “No Country For Old Men,” directed by Joel and Ethan Coen, who won best director. Javier Bardem won best supporting actor from the film.  (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times)

Golden Globes nominee for best actor in a drama Brad Pitt looks almost bashful on our Dec. 17 cover. Of his role in “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” (which also counts best drama among its Golden Globe nominations), he says, “It just made me think about the ticking clock.”  (Liz O. Baylen / Los Angeles Times)

Michael Emerson’s Ben character on “Lost” was initially supposed to appear in only three episodes. But Emerson was so creepily awesome that he became a regular. He was nominated for an Emmy this year, and he won the coveted spot on The Envelope’s cover (Sept. 17).  (Mark Boster / Los Angeles Times)

Mushrooms take an exotic turn in Southern California thanks to a joint project by Japanese company Hokto Corp. and its American partner Golden Gourmet Mushrooms. Hard-to-find mushrooms including shimeji (also called beech) may soon hit the market.  (Mark Boster / Los Angeles Times)

Dr. David Diaz, medical director of the West Coast Fertility Centers in Fountain Valley, holds a petri dish containing embyos suspended in a growth media.  (Mark Boster / Los Angeles Times)

Kevin Carlberg, diagnosed with brain cancer six years ago, gets a kiss from his daughter in October. Carlberg’s cancer, usually a fatal type of brain cancer, received a personalized type of medical care at UCLA, where they created a vaccine from his tumor.  (Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)

Shane Mosley knocks the sweat off of Ricardo Mayorga in a boxing match at Home Depot Center in September.  (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)

China’s Yimei Wang towers over U.S. defenders as she spikes the ball during a women’s volleyball match at the Beijing Summer Olympics. The U.S. won the match.  (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)