Every month we choose for recognition three photos from among those contributed to the report by member newspapers. From these, we select a Photo of the Month and two honorable mentions.

2000
April
March
February
January
1999
December
November
October
September
August
July
June
May

How I got the picture

Holliday:

"It was my second day back working for the summer when a call came over the scanner of heavy smoke showing from a church in Alton - 20 minutes away.

" When I got there, I snapped a shot as soon as I opened the door, then began working my way around the church. When I saw the statue I knew that was what I wanted. I shot 15-20 frames with an N90 on shutter priority, Tamron 28-105 2.8 -- experimenting with composition and waiting for the fire and smoke to cooperate. I was so close, the water and ash were raining down on me at points.

" Luckily the police were busy enough with crowd control that they didn't notice me for another 15 minutes. When they did, I was pushed back out of range of any decent shots."

Honorable mentions went to Jennifer Hauck of the Valley News in Lebanon, N.H., for a May 9 picture of emergency personnel carrying a baby across rocks in Quechee Gorge, where two adults and two children were trapped by rising river water, and to Gregory Rice of the Sun Journal in Lewiston, Maine for a May 16 shot of a rider on a column of air at Bates College.