Life

Top photos of 2022: Reaching for normalcy

by Columbian photo staff

Masks come off as county emerges from pandemic

The past year marked a transition from the COVID-19 precautions that began in 2020 to something resembling prepandemic normalcy. That made 2022 an interesting year for us in The Columbian’s photo department. We were able to capture our subjects’ unmasked faces again. Sports, meetings and events returned in person. 

We hosted our second ever Photos of the Year event in December, which gave us a chance to tell the stories behind the images you see in the newspaper and online.

Here’s a selection of photographs from 2022 that stood out. It was hard for us to choose from among the many photos published in these pages over the past year. Maybe that’s because we follow the timeless advice of 20th Century photographer Imogen Cunningham: “Which of the photographs is my favorite? The one I am going to take tomorrow.”

— Amanda Cowan, Columbian photo editor

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Hikers walk near the entrance of Ape Caves in Gifford Pinchot National Forest on July 22. The caves were discovered in 1942 and are lava tubes from an eruption of Mt. Saint Helens 2,000 years ago. Temperatures in the caves are 42 degrees year-round.

Taylor Balkom of The Columbian

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Murwarid Azizpour, 6, foreground, curls up with a smartphone before joining her uncle, Sajad Ibrahimi; her grandmother, Sediqa Rustami; and her grandfather, Mohammad Ismail Rezayee. The family, refugees from Afghanistan, gathered for Iftar dinner during the last week of Ramadan on April 28.

Amanda Cowan of The Columbian

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Ridgefield senior Isaiah Cowley, right, and Washougal sophomore Brandon Austenfeld, left, dive for a loose ball on Sept. 30 during a game at Ridgefield High School.

Taylor Balkom of The Columbian

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President Joe Biden, center, greets people in the crowd at a Portland Air National Guard hangar after speaking April 21 about the Build Back Better infrastructure package and how it will be applied locally.

Amanda Cowan of The Columbian

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Farm co-owner Shannon Joy, left, puts a festive headband on 7-year-old llama Prince on Nov. 16 at Mountain Peaks Therapy Llamas and Alpacas in Ridgefield.

Taylor Balkom of The Columbian

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Kayla Sample, who has been living at Vancouver’s Evergreen Transit Center Safe Parking Zone, fights back tears Sept. 8 while talking about the lack of affordable housing in Clark County. She is in the process of starting an organization called Operation Can You See Us to bring attention to homelessness.

Amanda Cowan of The Columbian

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Onlookers photograph Titan VanCoug, a corpse flower, on Aug. 17 at Washington State University Vancouver. The rare flower blooms for only 24 to 48 hours. It last bloomed in 2019. The square cutout on the flower is for pollen gathering.

Taylor Balkom of The Columbian

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Clark County residents Aurora Silva, 5, in purple, and her dad, Juan, take a spin on the ride, Himalaya, while enjoying the sights, sounds, food and festivities during the Clark County Fair on Aug. 12. It returned after a two-year pandemic hiatus.

Amanda Cowan of The Columbian

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The mouth of an inflatable salmon frames an Alaska Airlines plane as it prepares to land at Portland International Airport on April 22 during the Stop Salmon Extinction Rally and March at the Vancouver Waterfront.

Taylor Balkom of The Columbian

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Niles Haas, a 27-year-old man from Vancouver who was able to overcome a fentanyl addiction through medication-assisted treatment and support from Xchange Recovery Center, climbs the stairs at the XChange’s Heart Change House on Oct. 24. Haas lives and works at the house to help fellow participants.

Amanda Cowan of The Columbian

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Aerialist Laura Burch suspends herself from silk sheets on June 9 during a Venardos Circus performance at the Vancouver Mall.

Taylor Balkom of The Columbian

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Heavy snow falls around Haruki Otomo of Vancouver, left, and his twin brother, Fumiki, both 9, as they frolic in the playground at Lincoln Elementary School on April 11. The boys were among the students in Clark County who were surprised to get the day off from school due to a rare April snowstorm.

Amanda Cowan of The Columbian

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Marie Gluesenkamp Perez, left, hugs her husband Dean Gluesenkamp after delivering a speech to supporters on Nov. 8 at the Clark County Democrats’ Election Night watch party at the Downtown Vancouver Hilton.

Taylor Balkom of The Columbian

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Sediqa Rustami, foreground, pauses to cool off in the splash pad with her granddaughter, Marwa Azizpour, 11, right, on the final day of a summer heat wave at Salmon Creek Regional Park on July 31. The family, refugees from Afghanistan, coped with triple-digit heat for multiple consecutive days without air conditioning.

Amanda Cowan of The Columbian

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Mountain View junior Aiden Nicholson, right, upends Ridgefield senior Isaiah Cowley during a punt return on Sept. 9 during the Thunder’s 26-20 triple overtime win against Ridgefield at McKenzie Stadium.

Taylor Balkom of The Columbian

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The Columbia River hits flood stage, causing minor flooding in a few areas such as Frenchman’s Bar Regional Park, on June 13.

Amanda Cowan of The Columbian

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