The flowers bloomed, the seniors graduated, the athletes brought their games outside during the merry, merry month of May. This year we were also blessed with a rare and magical show of the purple, green and pink northern lights. Here are some of the Portland Press Herald photographers’ best of the month.
Gregory Rec
Staff Photographer
Gregory got his start in journalism delivering his hometown newspaper, the Norwich Bulletin, as a teenager, reading the front page articles on dark winter mornings as he passed under streetlights.
Greg worked as a photojournalist at a weekly newspaper group in Connecticut for three years before attending the University of Montana to study journalism and Spanish. He interned at the Portland Press Herald in the summer of 1995 and the Boston Globe the following year.
He was hired at the Press Herald in 1997 and over the past 20 years, he has photographed throughout Maine, covered the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks in New York City, twice embedded with Maine Army National Guard troops in Iraq, covered the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina in Louisiana and the 2010 earthquake in Haiti. In 2004, Rec was named Journalist of the Year with columnist Bill Nemitz by the Maine Press Association for their work in Iraq. After only ten years at the Press Herald, he won the Master Photographer award from the New England Society of Newspaper Editors, an award usually reserved for veteran photographers.
Posted inMaine
In photos: April snow showers and a total solar eclipse, here is the best of the month
The month of April began in winter and ended in spring, and included a glorious total solar eclipse over parts of Maine on April 8, an experience that left viewers awestruck. Here are some of the Portland Press Herald photographers’ favorite photos from the month.
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Posted inMaine
In photos: Sheep shearing at Shaker Village
At the Sabbathday Lake Shaker Village farm in New Gloucester, sheep are shorn once a year in the spring. This year, the farm has 73 sheep and it took most of a day to shear them all. Shaker Village, which was established in 1783 and is the only active Shaker community in the world, is home to two remaining Shakers, Brother Arnold Hand and Sister June Carpenter. Photos by staff photographer Gregory Rec.
Posted inMaine
In like a lion, out like a lion: Best of March photography
On March 1, the temperature in the Portland area got down to 13 degrees. Two days later, it jumped up to 55 degrees. It was a month with every kind of weather – rain, wind, snow, a vernal equinox, springlike warmth. Here’s some of our best work by Portland Press Herald photographers from a chaotic month.
Posted inMaine
In photos: The best of February
If you were planning to visit Maine for the first time, February wouldn’t be the best month – unless you were a high school sports fanatic. Then you’d be in heaven. But after the destruction of January’s two major storm surges, we welcomed a quieter, milder February. Here are some of the Portland Press Herald photographers’ favorite photos from the month.
Posted inSports, Varsity Maine
In photos: See the action from Monday’s high school postseason games
Take a look at some of our favorite images from the basketball quarterfinals and nordic, swimming and indoor track state championships.
Posted inMaine
In photos: Greater Portland sees snow, at last
Greater Portland saw only a half inch of snow in December. With the exception of 1999, when the area had only a trace amount of snow, it’s the smallest amount since the National Weather Service began keeping records in 1882. But January has been playing catch-up and winter is far from over. Here are some of our favorite photos from this month’s snowstorms.
Posted inMaine, News
In photos: Willard Beach’s fishing shacks
Take a look at the three historic fishing shacks that stood for over a century on Fisherman’s Point at Willard Beach and were washed away in Saturday’s storm.
Posted inMaine, News
In photos: Aftermath of the storm
A winter storm that started Tuesday night and ended late Wednesday morning carried heavy rains and high winds, resulting in widespread flooding and power outages across the state.
Posted inMaine, News
2023 Photos of the Year: Maine’s asylum seekers
In recent years, thousands of asylum seekers, mostly from the Democratic Republic of Congo and Angola, have made their way to Maine, hearing that it’s a safe haven. From January to June, more than 1,600 arrived in Portland in need of help. The city found itself frequently overwhelmed, with little to no space available in its shelters as families, including many with small children, kept coming. Community groups, nonprofits and churches helped house and guide the newcomers. The city turned the gym in the Portland Expo into temporary housing from the spring into late summer. Our photographers spent months this year documenting the lives of new asylum seekers trying to make their way in an unfamiliar place and checking in on others who had been for years to see how their lives in Maine had turned out.