Get image from URL asynchronously with AFNetworking

gistfile1.m

- (UIImageView *)loadImageWithUrl:(NSString *)stringUrl
{
    UIImageView *imageView = [[UIImageView alloc] init];
    NSURL *url = [NSURL URLWithString:stringUrl];
    NSURLRequest *request = [NSURLRequest requestWithURL:url];
    UIImage *placeholder = [UIImage imageNamed:@"placeholder"];
    
    __weak UIImageView *weakImageView = imageView;
    
    [imageView setImageWithURLRequest:request placeholderImage:placeholder success:^(NSURLRequest *request, NSHTTPURLResponse *response, UIImage *image) {
        [UIView transitionWithView:weakImageView duration:0.3 options:UIViewAnimationOptionTransitionCrossDissolve animations:^{
            weakImageView.image = image;
        } completion:nil];
    } failure:nil];
    
    return weakImageView;
}