The Day staff's favorite photos of 2020
December 28, 2020 11:00 pm
• Last Updated: December 30, 2020 8:46 pm
The year 2020 started out like any other for the photo staff at The Day. As 2020 comes to an end we can definitively say it has been a year like no other.
Over the course of a year The Day's photojournalists will take tens of thousands of photos, covering everything from the routine to the unique events that make up life in southeastern Connecticut.
Our goal every year is to tell the stories of the people, organizations, and events as best we can. We strive to be as comprehensive and diverse in our coverage as our resources allow. Our goal is always to expand the experiences of you, our readers, by bringing a view into the places and events you may not get to, or may miss out on.
As the coronavirus pandemic spread across the nation and world, and into our corner of it, The Day's photojournalists stayed on the job, continuing to document, as best we could given the precautions everyone has had to observe, the lives and experiences of our region.
Working from our cars, or our homes, and not from The Day's newsroom in New London, the staff faced the challenges both of staying safe in the face of a public health crisis as well as a community transformed. The people and events we often relied upon for our daily coverage were, quite suddenly, cancelled, or no longer accessible to us.
No collection of photos is going to be truly representative of either the community, or even the narrower body of work created over the course of the year, but we hope that these two collections, The Favorite Photos features in both print and online as well as a gallery of The Day's Best Photos, at least give you a small sense of the year and how we saw it.
Sean D. Elliot
Director of Photography
Day staff photographers frequently spend time between assignments roaming around the area or going to events that would make for a good photo that can run without a story. This year it was a bit more challenging because so many events were canceled or virtual. It became frustrating at times trying to come up with something different that my colleagues and I had not already photographed recently. I was thrilled when I spotted this group of people on Hobbs Island in Groton. I have taken photos of people jumping into lakes in the woods north of here, but at this location was so different. With New London in the background and being able to shoot the whole scene from a distance instead of among the people was a fun change of pace.———————————————————————People gather on Hobbs Island, with a few of them taking turns jumping into the Thames River, on Wednesday, June 25, 2020, off shore from Groton. The city of New London is in the background. (Dana Jensen/The Day) Buy Photo Reprints
I first met Taylor and Tom when I had an assignment to take a portrait of the couple for a story about people postponing or changing their wedding plans. The couple decided not to postpone their wedding date and opted to have a private ceremony instead of waiting and going through with the bigger plans at some point. It was very nice to be allowed back to photograph them as they got ready for their wedding ceremony. It was such a happy occasion and a welcome change from some of the other pandemic-related subjects I had been covering.———————————————————————Taylor Palmer touches up her makeup while she and Tom Ortolani get ready Friday, April 10, 2020, at their home in Waterford to go to their wedding ceremony. They had to cancel their wedding due to the coronavirus pandemic and were having a private ceremony at Langley's Country Club. (Dana Jensen/The Day) Buy Photo Reprints
I am not a wildlife photographer. I can't count the number of times I've made that statement, and yet several times each year I manage to make a memorable wildlife photo. I have to give it all to luck, since I do not take the time, nor do I really have the patience, to really do wildlife photography right. In this case, I had stopped at Town Dock in Stonington Borough because the word was out that a harbor seal was loitering in the area. While I did make photos of the seal, it was a pair of common loons that caught my eye. When this loon emerged from a dive with a crab clamped in its beak, I rattled off a series of frames and caught this moment, as the loon gave the crustacean a quick toss before gulping it down.———————————————————————A common loon emerges from the water with a black-fingered mud crab in its beak Friday, Jan. 24, 2020, while searching for food in the waters of Stonington Harbor. Connecticut falls within the migratory area for the bird, which lives and breeds in Canada and the far northern U.S. (Sean D. Elliot/The Day) Buy Photo Reprints
As the region fell into the grip of the pandemic, I was assigned to a story on how the hotel industry was coping with the restrictions and, more importantly, the cancellation of reservations as summer approached. Walking through the silent and abandoned halls of the Mystic Hilton was, quite frankly, a little creepy. Rounding a corner, I followed a stretch of hoses until I found a crew that was spraying disinfectant in a set of rooms. The mirror image of the two rooms caught my eye, and I just had to wait for the worker to move into just the right position.———————————————————————Teles Campos of First National Floor Service of Nashua, New Hampshire, sprays disinfectant on the floors of a guest room Friday, May 15, 2020, in preparation for steam cleaning at the Mystic Hilton. (Sean D. Elliot/The Day) Buy Photo Reprints
At this point, I had already covered a couple of small Black Lives Matter protests. I was surprised to see at least a thousand people participating in this march through the streets of New London. I knew the protesters were going to stop at the Christopher Columbus statue, but I wasn't expecting what happened next. A few people emerged from the crowd and started spraying the statue with red paint and the crowd erupted into cheers. A short time later, the crowd returned to their march and I wasn't sure what might happen next. It turned out that the commotion at the statue was only a brief period of time in what was a very peaceful march except for the shouting of their slogans.———————————————————————People cheer as they watch fellow protesters spray-paint the Columbus statue at the corner Bank and Blinman streets Saturday, June 6, 2020, while participating in the "We're Fed Up! Black Lives Matter Protest" in New London. The protesters stopped at the statue while marching around the city. (Dana Jensen/The Day) Buy Photo Reprints
I joked with a co-worker that as a photojournalist there are things, like graduations, we cover year in and year out and all you can do is work to find different moments for storytelling images in ceremonies that look the same night after night year after year. Some years all you want is something different, for the schedule or location to change, and we certainly got that this year. Every school had a different plan, a different creative approach to graduations and making things special for the Class of 2020. Being there to document and capture these ceremonies, it's some of the most fun I've had on assignments and the most creative I've gotten to be. Something I never thought I'd say about a graduation.———————————————————————Graduate Derek Shaw holds his hand over his heart for the national anthem Thursday, June 11, 2020, during a drive-in graduation ceremony for Norwich Free Academy at Dodd Stadium. After the COVID-19 pandemic canceled original graduation plans, the school screened the prerecorded ceremony for graduates, who were invited to participate in a car parade. (Sarah Gordon/The Day) Buy Photo Reprints
I heard Taylor's screams before I saw her. Something that really happens when you think visually first. Walking alongside the rally, I had already taken lots of "march photos" and thought I had really gotten the best images and was waiting to arrive at the next stop to see what the moment of silence looked like. I had fallen back toward the back of the crowd to touch base and talk to a co-worker covering the event for a bit and hadn't even touched my cameras in a few minutes. When I heard her, I knew I had to pick them up again.———————————————————————Taylor Wininger-Sieve of Waterford screams, "I can't breathe," on Sunday, June 14, 2020, during a Walk for Justice in Waterford. Several hundred people participated in the march and rally that went from Clark Lane Middle School to Town Hall and the police station before returning back to the school. (Sarah Gordon/The Day) Buy Photo Reprints
In a summer full of heightened emotions as race and the pandemic came to a head in so many different ways, this rally planned around the former location of the Columbus statue in downtown New London was so much more than a beautiful moment. It was something, a reckoning of sorts, happening all over the country, all over the world, but here in our little corner of southeastern Connecticut, it was impactful watching people come together. I chatted with a local city councilor, Curtis Goodwin, before things got started and he made a comment about watching history unfold that has stuck with me in more ways than one.———————————————————————Sequoiah Burrello and her brother Ridge, of the Narragansett Indian Tribal Nation, participate in a traditional dance Wednesday, June 17, 2020, during a rally to recognize the removal of the Christopher Columbus statue at Columbus Square in New London. During the event, members of local Indigenous tribes performed traditional dances and held a drum circle before speakers and a moment of silence for George Floyd, a Black man killed in May by police in Minneapolis. "We're standing on beautiful soil and beautiful land," organizer and City Councilor Curtis Goodwin said. "And this, today, is called history." The City Council had voted to remove the statue from display in any public property in the city and the New London Police Department announced it would not be pursuing charges in the "incidents of criminal mischief" during demonstrations on June 6, when the statue, a police substation and a cruiser were spray-painted. (Sarah Gordon/The Day) Buy Photo Reprints
This photo is a stand-in, representative "favorite" photo. Tall ships are kind of my “thing." It's been a love affair for over 30 years, from the first time the crew of a schooner let me climb the rigging. Honestly, had I not gone into photojournalism, maybe I would have been a tall ship sailor. Or, maybe I still would have been a tall ship photographer. Despite the pandemic curtailing so many of the tall ship events that normally would make up some portion of my year, there still managed to be a couple of spectacular, memorable, historic even, moments. The sea trials of the Mayflower II, and a week later, the ship's rendezvous with the Coast Guard barque Eagle in Block Island Sound, were two of the most memorable days and produced many spectacular photos. The feedback I've received regarding these photos suggests I'm not alone in my fascination for these graceful vessels.———————————————————————The Mayflower II sails Thursday, July 30, 2020, with the Coast Guard barque Eagle in Block Island Sound. At the suggestion of Coast Guard public affairs staff, Capt. Michael Turdo of the Eagle invited Mayflower II to sail together during Mayflower II's sea trials. The waters of Fishers Island Sound, where Mayflower II had been training, are too tight and shallow for Eagle to navigate under sail, so Mayflower II was towed out to deeper, more open waters several miles south of the Rhode Island shore for the joint operation. (Sean D. Elliot/The Day) Buy Photo Reprints
It often felt as if this summer's celestial visitor, the comet NEOWISE, was taunting me. I would see photos from friends and colleagues all over the country, but a clear night seemed to elude me day after day. I was nearly to despairing that I would not even see the comet, let along get a photo. As the days of July were getting fewer and fewer, I finally got a night that was clear enough and I made the trek out to the the darker skies of Voluntown to find a spot where I could get a photo to finally satisfy my quest.———————————————————————The comet NEOWISE, for Near Earth Object Wide-field Survey Explorer, appears in the sky Monday, July 20, 2020, over Beach Pond on the Connecticut-Rhode Island border. The comet was discovered in March 2020 and is calculated to make its next appearance in 6,800 years. (Sean D. Elliot/The Day) Buy Photo Reprints
Covering the same subjects and events over the years, the activities and locations often don't change much and for me it becomes a challenge to see it another way and come away with an image that is different from ones in the past. This year due to the pandemic, groups were trying to find ways to continue their events and yet be safe. It was fun photographing the girls, they were so happy to be dancing together for the first time in months, and capturing images of ballerinas dancing outdoors in a parking lot is something you don't see every day.———————————————————————Taylor Donovan, 17, of Stonington and her fellow level 6-8 students practice a dance they learned from a professional Broadway dancer earlier in the week while participating in a class Friday, July 24, 2020, in the parking lot of Eastern Connecticut Ballet in East Lyme. The students were training at home five to six days a week through online classes with professional dancers from Broadway, NYC Ballet, Limo modern dance company and others. This was the first time they all came together for a class while social distancing. (Dana Jensen/The Day) Buy Photo Reprints
I don't think anyone, participants included, expected there to be such a large turnout this summer for a local Tump Boat Flotilla. There was no parking, legal or illegal, to be found in Noank and the waters were just as crowded, as almost a thousand boats of all shapes and sizes circled the Mystic River for hours. With cardboard cutouts, his face on their socks, inner tubes and flags galore, fans of the president were here and they weren't going to be ignored.———————————————————————Maureen Lawton, center, of Naragansett holds up a Donald Trump doll as she cheers Sunday, Sept. 13, 2020, during the Trump Boat Flotilla on the Mystic River. More than 800 boats flying pro-Trump flags and carrying groups of cheering supporters of the president paraded up the river. (Sarah Gordon/The Day) Buy Photo Reprints
I joked with a co-worker as we were at the scene of this crash that this was the most 2020 thing. In a good way. A plane crashed into a house in Groton, landing in the living room where moments before the resident, 73-year-old Kenneth Johnson, had been, and everyone from the pilot to the resident walked out the front door. It seemed wild for everyone to make it out unscathed. I remember after the crash, Johnson's daughter Tammy de la Cruz credited his safety to her son Joey Gingerella, who was fatally shot on Dec. 11, 2016. "If he had fallen asleep in the living room, he would not be here right now. I said he has an angel on his shoulder. I say it's my son," we quoted her as saying a few days later.———————————————————————Anglin Aircraft Recovery Services crew members look through debris Wednesday, Aug. 19, 2020, at the scene where a plane crashed into a home at 243 Ring Drive in Groton two days before. (Sarah Gordon/The Day) Buy Photo Reprints
I don't remember a year that had as many big news stories as we had in 2020. We had wildfires, severe storms, a presidential race, Black Lives Matter protests and the COVID-19 pandemic. Locally, I covered a couple of storms, debates for state Senate candidates, several Black Lives Matter marches and numerous pandemic-related stories. When Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg died, I thought about how this was yet another big news event that will have an effect for years to come. It has been very interesting watching history being made, and challenging with the restrictions due to COVID-19 to do it safely.———————————————————————KC Cloud of Groton holds a sign Saturday, Sept. 19, 2020, while attending a vigil for Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg in front of the New London Superior Court in downtown New London. The Rev. Carolyn Patierno of All Souls Unitarian Universalist Congregation in New London said she saw a post on the Women's March Connecticut site regarding the nationwide initiative encouraging people to go their local courthouse and hold a vigil for Ginsburg. Patierno decided since there's a courthouse in town, she would get the word out for people to join her there. (Dana Jensen/The Day) Buy Photo Reprints
October brought back the magic of sports, or at least some semblance of it. For someone who has always derived a great deal of joy out of sports coverage, the pandemic shutdown of the spring and summer sports seasons was particularly, well, depressing. Given that, it was a sure thing that I was going to be out there, on the sideline, for the opening night of high school sports this fall. Capturing the joy in this moment was a comforting salve.———————————————————————Stonington junior Sam Montalto, center, celebrates his second goal in the game with teammates Drew Johnson, left, and Billy deCastro against Ledyard in ECC boys high school soccer action Thursday, Oct. 1, 2020, at Bill Mignault Field. The defending Class-M champion Bears rolled to a 4-0 win in the season opener for both teams. (Sean D. Elliot/The Day) Buy Photo Reprints
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