The previous yr failed to shut the e-book on the COVID-19 pandemic, at the same time as many Clark County residents acquired vaccines. All of us tried to regulate to this “new regular” of masks sporting and weighing an infection danger as we navigated day by day life.
That was true for us in The Columbian’s picture division, too. Photographing a neighborhood masked up created its personal challenges. We photojournalists attempt to seize facial expressions that convey the story. If everyone seems to be sporting a masks, that’s tougher to do. We needed to regulate to fluctuating social-distancing and masks necessities, which made the moments we photographed much less dynamic and pure. Sporting masks whereas working additionally created logistical issues as our digital camera viewfinders fogged.
However, we captured compelling photographs of pivotal moments in 2021, like when college students had been in a position to return to the classroom with virus precautions in place. Or when highschool basketball gamers wore masks once they had been lastly in a position to return to motion on the court docket. Or when mother and father of Hudson’s Bay Excessive Faculty seniors hosted a pop-up promenade outdoors at Marshall Park so college students didn’t need to miss the time-honored custom for a second yr.
As we head into 2022 below the looming menace of the omicron variant, we proceed to work and dwell in a state of limbo. Life will not be again to regular fairly but. We stay up for becoming a member of our readers within the new yr, documenting the subsequent chapter of Clark County’s historical past because it unfolds.
— Amanda Cowan, Columbian picture editor
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College students, together with first grader Trulee Dunn, proper, get a heat goodbye from lecturers and workers as they put together to board the bus on the final day of sophistication at Inexperienced Mountain Faculty on June 15, 2021. It’s custom for lecturers and workers to blow bubbles to bid farewell to the kids, however this yr a bubble machine was used as a COVID-19 precaution.
Amanda Cowan of The Columbian
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Mannequins sit all the way down to a pseudo-turkey dinner because the property behind them smolders after an early morning hearth on Northeast 92nd Avenue west of Battle Floor on July 5, 2021. The Previous Cherry Grove Church and the home subsequent door burned down. Clark-Cowlitz Fireplace Rescue was dispatched to the church after a neighbor known as to report he’d heard an explosion. A digital camera caught somebody taking pictures fireworks towards the buildings.
Amanda Cowan of The Columbian
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EMTs and firefighters from Clark County Fireplace District 6 stand atop a firetruck and salute on the 139th Avenue overpass as an Aug. 3, 2021, funeral procession for Clark County Sheriff’s Detective Jeremy Brown drives north on Interstate 5.
Taylor Balkom for The Columbian
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Third grader Jared Beltran, 8, wears a face masks and face protect as he makes his option to class at Marrion Elemetary Faculty on Aug. 31, 2021. Hundreds of scholars throughout Clark County college districts, together with Evergreen and Vancouver, started courses for the 2021-2022 college yr amid one other yr impacted by COVID-19.
Amanda Cowan of The Columbian
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Mark Thompson, left, dressed as Santa, and Connie Thompson, dressed because the Grinch, co-owners of CLT at Dwelling, greet caregivers equivalent to Kayleigh Reusser of Legacy Well being through the second annual Caregivers Christmas on the Clark County Occasion Heart on the Fairgrounds on Dec. 7, 2021. The nonprofit Loving Them Ahead organized the occasion.
Amanda Cowan of The Columbian
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Household and supporters of slain transgender teen Nikki Kuhnhausen embrace Sept. 9, 2021, after the sentencing of defendant David Bogdanov on the Clark County Courthouse. Bogdanov was sentenced to almost 20 years in jail for the homicide.
Amanda Cowan of The Columbian
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Prairie Excessive Faculty gamers heat up Oct. 15, 2021, earlier than a recreation between the Falcons and Mountain View at Battle Floor Excessive Faculty.
Taylor Balkom of The Columbian
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Fran Mesisca of Vancouver, middle, goes for a strike whereas becoming a member of fellow bowlers as they get again into motion at Hazel Dell Lanes on Feb. 17, 2021. The bowling alley reopened after closure on account of COVID-19 considerations.
Amanda Cowan of The Columbian
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Bob Swenson of Camas receives his first COVID-19 vaccine on the Clark County Occasion Heart on the Fairgrounds throughout a drive-thru clinic Jan. 26, 2021. Swenson stated he obtained his tattoo in honor of his mom, Ginger Swenson, and has one other on the alternative shoulder to honor his father.
Amanda Cowan of The Columbian
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From left, 5-year-old Jacob Mosbach, 11-month-old Maeve DeGrandpre, Adam DeGrandpre and Jemima Dockery play with toy automobiles at Pomeroy Farm Days June 5, 2021, in Yacolt.
Joshua Hart of The Columbian
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Hudson’s Bay Excessive Faculty senior Jacob Beers, 17, left, joins Carissa Deleon, 18, of Vancouver on the dance ground because the solar units throughout a pop-up promenade at Marshall Park June 5, 2021. The college’s senior mother and father, who organized the promenade, selected the outside venue as a COVID-19 precaution.
Amanda Cowan of The Columbian
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Battle Floor Excessive Faculty senior Olivia Ledbury, pictured on campus Could 19, 2021, spearheaded the launch of a student-led peer-tutoring program when the varsity started distance studying as a result of COVID-19 pandemic. She spent greater than 250 hours over eight months helping classmates who wanted a lift academically all college yr.
Amanda Cowan of The Columbian
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First grader Mia Pierce, 6, bundles up in a coat whereas social distancing from her classmates earlier than attending hybrid courses at Crestline Elementary Faculty Jan. 19, 2021. It wasn’t formally the primary day of college, however college students, mother and father and lecturers nonetheless had that first-day feeling as space districts welcomed younger learners again to the classroom Tuesday in a hybrid setting.
Amanda Cowan of The Columbian
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Alexis Crousare of Vancouver waits along with her 4-year-old English lab and diabetic alert canine, Vader, on June 17, 2021, earlier than the Clark Faculty graduation ceremony at Kim Christiansen Area. Crousare earned her affiliate’s diploma by means of Clark Faculty’s Working Begin program, which permits highschool college students to take school programs earlier than they graduate.
Taylor Balkom for The Columbian
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Woodland freshman Nathaniel Risley clears 9 ft within the boys pole vault throughout a 2A Better St. Helens League meet on Thursday, April 15, 2021, at Woodland Excessive Faculty.
Joshua Hart of The Columbian
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Skyview senior Fedya Henrichs-Tarasenkov strains up a area aim try Oct. 22, 2021, through the Storm’s 17-7 loss to Camas at Camas Excessive Faculty.
Taylor Balkom of The Columbian
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Union junior Dylan Dalgord defends a takedown from Mountain View sophomore Minh Luong as followers watch from the shaded grandstands of Doc Harris Stadium in Camas on Could 15, 2021. The 4A/3A Better St. Helens League wresting meet was outdoors as a COVID-19 security precaution.
Joshua Hart of The Columbian
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Water droplets spray as starter David Lee rings the bell for the ultimate lap of the ladies 1600 in a 4A/3A Better St. Helens League twin on Could 25, 2021, at Union Excessive Faculty.
Joshua Hart of The Columbian
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Gabriela Ewing slices pan de muerto Saturday, Oct. 30, 2021, at a Southwest Washington League of United Latin American Residents celebration of Dia de los Muertos at River Metropolis Church. The sugar-coated bread is eaten on the times main as much as Dia de los Muertos.
Taylor Balkom of The Columbian
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Mount St. Helens and Spirit Lake seem by means of the window of a Cessna 172N flying overhead Could 11.
Joshua Hart of The Columbian
