Six months before she died on November 27, 2019, Millie Lane was photographed with her twin sister, Mary, at their 100th birthday party by Press Herald photographer Brianna Soukup. The photograph is unsentimental. The sisters gaze directly into our eyes and tell us something about what it is like to have lived for a century and to be alive in 2019. One hundred years from now, Millie and Mary – and Maine – will live on in this photo.

The 2019 Photos of the Year go deep. They show us Maine through its people, sometimes with humor, sometimes with gravity. We have three short stories (because one photo was just not enough) and one long photo essay, from a year spent following the two students and their teacher at Cliff Island’s tiny school. There are also photos of great natural beauty: the thrill of sanderlings in flight, the zigzag path of watery moonlight, the glory of an autumn hillside. We are lucky to call Maine home.

Meet the Press Herald photographers and talk to them about their work on Friday, January 3, 5:30-7 p.m.
at the Photos of the Year opening reception
at the Portland Public Library.
FACEBOOK EVENT: https://www.facebook.com/events/1404414859682400/