{"id":483514,"date":"2026-01-01T00:05:18","date_gmt":"2026-01-01T00:05:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/483514\/"},"modified":"2026-01-01T00:05:18","modified_gmt":"2026-01-01T00:05:18","slug":"press-democrat-photographer-kent-porters-photos-of-the-year-2025","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/483514\/","title":{"rendered":"Press Democrat photographer Kent Porter&#8217;s photos of the year 2025"},"content":{"rendered":"<ul class=\"mng-gallery-initialized mng-gallery-slider\">\n<li data-index=\"1\" class=\"mng-ge mng-gallery-active\" id=\"mng-ge-0\" aria-hidden=\"false\" tabindex=\"0\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"A fireworks distribution center in the Yolo County community of Esparto, explodes\" class=\"size-article_inline\"   src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/YoloCounty.jpg\"\/>\n<p>A fireworks distribution center in the Yolo County community of Esparto, explodes, Tuesday, July 1, 2025. (Kent Porter\/The Press Democrat)\n<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li data-index=\"2\" class=\"mng-ge\" id=\"mng-ge-1\" aria-hidden=\"true\" tabindex=\"-1\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"A large coronal mass ejection, or CME, hurtled through space...\" class=\"lazyload size-article_inline\" data- src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/TPD-L-kp1111_Aurora_03.jpg?w=620\"  bad-src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/TPD-L-kp1111_Aurora_03.jpg\"\/>\n<p>A large coronal mass ejection, or CME, hurtled through space and hit Earth square on, creating a mid-latitude aurora borealis sub-storm, Tuesday night, Nov. 11, 2025.  The photo was made along Dry Creek Road viewing north at Timber Crest Farms in Healdsburg. (Kent Porter \/ The Press Democrat)<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li data-index=\"3\" class=\"mng-ge\" id=\"mng-ge-2\" aria-hidden=\"true\" tabindex=\"-1\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Firefighters turn away from rotor wash debris kicked up by...\" class=\"lazyload size-article_inline\" data- src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/TPD-L-kp0917_CazFire_01-copy.jpg?w=620\"  bad-src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/TPD-L-kp0917_CazFire_01-copy.jpg\"\/>\n<p>Firefighters turn away from rotor wash debris kicked up by Cal Fire\u2019s Boggs Forest Helitack as the craft is used to help extinguish a house fire which nearly gutted the structure, Wednesday, Sept. 17, 2025, in Cazadero. The fire also spread in to vegetation, burning about 2.5 acres. (Kent Porter \/ The Press Democrat)<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li data-index=\"4\" class=\"mng-ge\" id=\"mng-ge-3\" aria-hidden=\"true\" tabindex=\"-1\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Casa Grande right fielder Gavin Lee dives for a bloop...\" class=\"lazyload size-article_inline\" data- src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/TPD-L-kp0315_Casa_02.jpg?w=620\"  bad-src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/TPD-L-kp0315_Casa_02.jpg\"\/>\n<p>Casa Grande right fielder Gavin Lee dives for a bloop single in the first inning against Sacred Heart Cathedral, Saturday, March 15, 2025, in Petaluma. (Kent Porter \/ The Press Democrat)<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Show Caption<\/p>\n<p>1 of 4<\/p>\n<p>A fireworks distribution center in the Yolo County community of Esparto, explodes, Tuesday, July 1, 2025. (Kent Porter\/The Press Democrat)\n<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"#\" class=\"icon-enlarge mng-gallery-fullscreen-expand\" aria-label=\"Expand fullscreen slideshow\">Expand<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Editor\u2019s note: At the end of each year, we ask The Press Democrat photographers to supply us with their favorite choices for photos of the year. Photojournalist Kent Porter captured a once-in-a-lifetime photo when responding to some breaking news earlier in the year. He talks about it in his own words.<\/p>\n<p>My favorite images this year have a lot to do with being in the right place at the right time. I\u2019m a very curious person, which sometimes puts me in the line of fire, or very close to it. Take the Esparto fireworks explosion in which seven people tragically lost their lives. I followed my instincts, honed by five decades of spot news coverage, resulting in a dramatic storytelling image.<\/p>\n<p>With the aurora borealis photograph, I follow the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) space weather website for the latest updates on sunspot activities.\u00a0 Sometimes I get lucky with the foreground as a sense of place, although I have several go-to spots for sub-storms.<\/p>\n<p>Cal Fire\u2019s Boggs Mountain Helitack dropping water on a house fire above Cazadero is a one-off. It took me an hour to reach the fire and I was quite surprised when the helicopter swooped overhead. The rotor wash tossed my fire helmet 25 yards away.<\/p>\n<p>The image of a Casa Grande baseball player catching a flyball is my best sports photo of 2025 and was also the first baseball game I\u2019d covered in a year.<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A fireworks distribution center in the Yolo County community of Esparto, explodes, Tuesday, July 1, 2025. (Kent Porter\/The&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":483515,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[648,1032,1033,171,218771,67,132,68],"class_list":{"0":"post-483514","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-arts-and-design","8":"tag-arts","9":"tag-arts-and-design","10":"tag-design","11":"tag-entertainment","12":"tag-photos-of-the-year-2025","13":"tag-united-states","14":"tag-unitedstates","15":"tag-us"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115816924783042417","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/483514","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=483514"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/483514\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/483515"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=483514"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=483514"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=483514"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}