The best of 2013 — Photographs by the Sun Journal’s Amber Waterman

: Hot air balloons begin to land in the patchwork of fields in Auburn and Durham after the Friday morning launch of the 21st Annual Great Falls Balloon Festival in August. I love this photo because it reminds me of Northern Iowa, near where I grew up. The patchwork fields and rolling hills — divine!

: Seth Adams does a back flip after the Leavitt Hornets won 47-18 over Winslow in the Class C State Championship game. This photo is reminiscent of all the joy those boys felt after their win.

: The base of a headstone Anna Kulnski is cleaning is reflected in her aviator sunglasses at the Monmouth Center Cemetery. The photo was a creative way to show the good work the students were doing.

: Charles Winslow clears ice off of his car on Ash Street in Lewiston. “I’m not really going anywhere, but just clearing it off before I have to,” said Winslow. I needed a way to show the ice that had crusted Lewiston-Auburn, and had already photographed it hanging off cherries in a tree. When I saw Winslow scraping, I asked him if I could hop in while he was clearing his car. It worked out well that he scrapped the spot in front of my lens first before moving to the other section of the window. A day when the photo gods were smiling upon me!

: Kyla Hill, 14, of Lewiston looks for her next victim during the Zombie Mountain Challenge children’s fun run at Lost Valley in Auburn.

: The hot air balloon Footloose from Concord, N.H., floats past the Androscoggin Bank Colisee and St. Mary’s Hospital Friday morning. After working for the newspaper for 10 years — going on 11 years this March — the Friday launch at last year’s Great Falls Balloon Festival was by far the best morning launch I have photographed. It was amazingly beautiful with the clouds and the mist.

: Dot Powers models her dress, made of recycled Sun Journal newspapers, to Schooner Estates employee Chris Boivin in her apartment at the Auburn retirement community. Mary Tully, left, orchestrated a Christopher Banks fashion show, at which Powers later showed off her dress to residents and guests. Dot was such a card and a joy to work with!

: Nichole Bouyea of Lewiston, left, watches as Rick Jones does a splash-and-dash on the Androscoggin River in his hot air balloon Footloose during the Great Falls Balloon Festival. More than a dozen kayakers took to the waters on the final morning launch. I took a chance on this launch and decided to put my kayak in the water and photograph it that way. All of the morning launches had been going over the river, so I was hoping Sunday would be no different. I was rewarded with this magnificent paddle and picture.

: Dean Beckwith of Bowdoin keeps an eye on his pigs, Lovely, left, and Albert as they wander the Topsham Fairgrounds. Beckwith was participating in a carbon neutral program, The Hazelnut Project, where the two pigs tend the grass around his hazelnut bushes. When at a fair, I try to find the picture that hasn’t been done over and over again. I felt this photo was a Lovely way to meet that goal.

: Jason Lavoie of Auburn watches his pit bull mix Brody get a belly rub from Callie the Cat at the Greater Androscoggin Humane Society’s pet festival and annual Strutt Your Mutt/Dash For Dogs 5k at the Petco in Auburn. According to Zachary Black, the operations manager at the Greater Androscoggin Humane Society, the organization raised more than $10,000 and had almost 150 runners in the Dash for Dogs 5k. One reason I like this photo is that I think pit bulls are only as bad as their owners and get a bad rap. This dog was in heaven getting belly rubs from the cat!

: Oak Hill player Luke Washburn shows the referee the ball he recovered after his teammate Alex Mace forced Lisbon’s Kyle Bourget to fumble in the second quarter of their game last October. The Oak Hill Raiders won 33-14, clinching the No. 2 seed in the Class D West playoffs. Everyone was congratulating Washburn, and I was in the right spot to get the composition so you could read that it was an important play. The one photos says it all.

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