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.
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 inLocal & State
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.
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Posted inLocal & State
In photos: Sweet spring sugaring, a celebration of Maine Maple Weekend
Maine Maple Sunday is always the fourth Sunday of March, and this is the 39th year of the annual event, which features open sugarhouses throughout the state, farm tours, pancake breakfasts and sales of all kinds of maple products. This year was fully open, after a canceled year in 2020 because of the pandemic, and a modified event in 2021. Maine Maple Sunday is more than just a sales event, though. It’s a harbinger of sweet, sweet spring, after a long, cold winter.
Posted inLocal & State
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.
Posted inLocal & State
In photos: Scenes of a frozen Maine
Portraits of winter in Maine by the Press Herald’s photographers
Posted inLocal & State
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.
Posted inLocal & State, News
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.
Posted inLocal & State, News
2021 Photos Of the Year: A Pandemic Story
The wide availability of vaccines was supposed to get COVID-19 under control in 2021. Instead, the pandemic has worsened. With high levels of transmission and the arrival of the omicron variant, the winter months look bleak. But Mainers are resilient and resourceful. Children are in school, live entertainment has returned, and restaurants and other businesses survived – and in some cases thrived. Wearing masks has become commonplace, as has caring for our neighbors. Take a look back at the pandemic in Maine in 2021 through the eyes of Portland Press Herald photographers.
Posted inLocal & State, Religion and Values
Portland set aglow with celebration of first night of Hanukkah
Cars with menorahs on top parade through the streets of Portland to reach City Hall, where Rabbi Moshe Wilansky of Chabad Maine lit a 12-foot tall menorah on the first night of Hanukkah.
Posted inLocal & State, News
Navy SEALS and friends run, bike, swim from Mt. Washington to Peaks Island
The 12-hour triathlon was the latest in a series of grueling fundraisers for Camp Sunshine.