In photos: Ramadan brings a gathering of faith, music and food

At sundown, the Ocean Gateway in Portland came alive with performances, traditional Arabic music, prayer and food to celebrate one of the last nights of Ramadan.

In photos: Slowly, slowly, signs of spring

Officially, the first day of spring in 2022 was March 20. In Maine, March and April bring snow, frost, rain, mud and summer-like warmth within the space of a few days. Our signs of spring, like opening day at Red’s Dairy Freeze or the first Sea Dogs game, are celebrated whatever the weather. And nothing is as sweet as hearing the birds sing and seeing the first daffodils bloom halfway through April.

Rite of spring

Just as the birds come back and the daffodils pop up, another sure sign of spring is the sound of bats whacking balls as Little League starts up. Staff photos by Shawn Patrick Ouellette.

In photos: The best of March photography

March is the month when winter officially ends, spring takes hold, and daylight savings time, well, saves us. This year, it also brought us the start of spring high school sports outdoors, our first ice cream at Red’s Dairy Freeze, and, the heartbreaking news from the war in Ukraine. Here are some of the best photos of the month by Press Herald photographers.

St. Patrick’s Day in photos: With pandemic restrictions lifted, Mainers say ‘sláinte!’

In photos: A memorable February

It snowed, and thawed, and sleeted and thawed, and snowed some more. On the 23rd, we claimed spring for a day, breaking records when the temperature soared to the mid-60s. It was a month of bad ice, high energy costs, good skiing and great high school sports. Here are some of the best photos from the month by Press Herald photographers.

Photos: Maine high school basketball tournament

High school basketball players made the shots and our photographers caught the action. Here are some of our favorite photos from Maine’s high school basketball tournament, February 23, 2022.

In photos: Scenes of a frozen Maine

Portraits of winter in Maine by the Press Herald’s photographers

The best Press Herald photography in January 2022

January is the time we settle into the start of real winter with its bone-chilling cold, its scant hours of daylight, its snow and ice. Take a look at some of our best photography from the month as entertainment during a time of isolation.

2021 Photos of the Year: Photographers’ Choice

2021 was a roller coaster ride. It started with mobs attacking the Capitol to try to overturn the presidential election and is ending with a new surge of the coronavirus. There was enough bad news – fires, floods, disasters of every natural and manmade kind – to make you want to bury your head under the covers and stay there. But there was also the miracle of vaccines – by the end of June, hardly any vaccinated people were dying of COVID-19. We gained a new appreciation of the simple but deep pleasures of meeting with family and friends, going to a country fair or a high school baseball game, looking for beauty in the flight of an owl or a solar eclipse at dawn. For our 2021 Photos of the Year collection, Portland Press Herald photographers voted on one another’s photos, then selected their own favorites from the top vote-getters. We hope you enjoy looking at them as much as we enjoyed taking them.