Every month, we choose three photos for recognition. These are photos submitted by Associated Press member newspapers. From these, we select a Photo of the Month, and two honorable mentions.

2000
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January

1999
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September
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June
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March

How I got the picture

Shalhoup:

"We have a box next to our assignment board in The Telegraph photo department where we encourage editors and reporters to drop news releases or a heads-up on an event that may produce good stand-alone photos, and this photo came from one of those items sent to us:

Border Books in Nashua was running several programs for children during school vacation week, and a visit by Matt Schoeffler, a wildlife expert from Nature & Nurture, an environmental awareness program out of Boston, was one of these events.

As one would imagine, there were dozens of young children jammed into a tight area between bookcases in the store, so I claimed a spot next to the table where Schoeffler kept his animals. When he started showing them and describing them, it got quite hectic, and I tried to follow him and his assistant as they showed the various creatures around, looking for kids looking interested, crowding around a creature, and reactions.

This involved getting in the way at times, stepping on a couple of unsuspecting hands and toes, all the while trying to keep out of the way. Shooting wasn't so tough as trying to remember which kids I shot for ID purposes; this girl, Katie, was very easy to remember, however. I fired off several frames as Schoeffler lowered the gecko for her and nearby kids to see closely, and the gecko stretched its neck out at the same time and surprised Katie, who reacted accordingly. So I was sure about her ID.

I was shooting film, using my old, reliable F3 with a 105 mm lens and bounce flash.

Honorable mentions went to Vyto Starinskas of the Rutland (Vt) Herald for a March 23 shot of a skier jumping off a mogul at Killington, and to Ryan Mercer of the Portsmouth (N.H.) Herald for his March 23 picture of paramedics removing a gunshot victim from an ambulance at Portsmouth Regional Hospital.