Pictures Of The Year 1995 -- A Look Back With Seattle Times Photographers -- A Year's Worth

SEATTLE TIMES PHOTOGRAPHERS witnessed and captured many of the moments that made the year 1995 unique. On this New Year's Eve, Pacific Magazine again presents a selection of The Times' best photographs of the past year.

Each of these photographs is memorable in some way and worthy of another look, but not all of them can honestly be defined as photographers' favorite pictures. Some of the photos show hard times. But for every passing moment of pain, there is another vision of victory, an indelibly imprinted sighting of thoughtfulness or joy.

We have watched a year pass, and savored some of its fleeting moments. We invite you to reflect on this sampling of The Seattle Times' best photographs of 1995, with comments from the photographers who took them.

ON THE COVER: PHOTOGRAPHED BY ROD MAR, OCT. 18, 1995 Alex Rodriguez comforts teammate Joey Cora in the dugout after the Mariners' Game 6 loss to Cleveland in the American League Championship Series. It was a moment of genuine emotion that isn't often seen in the high-paid world of professional sports. Rod Mar says, "I got many calls from Mariner fans who thought the photo was too negative a portrayal of the team. But I'm also the same photographer who shot our front-page picture of Randy Johnson celebrating with the team after beating California to get into the playoffs."

---------------------------- A firefighter's passing By Alan Berner, Jan. 7, 1995

---------------------------- The body of Walter Kilgore is carried from the Pang warehouse through lines of fellow firefighters in salute. As tragic as the event remains, this is not my favorite photograph of the year, but it may be the most significant. Four firefighters died, the greatest loss of life in the history of the Seattle Fire Department.

--------------------------- Tears for Jerry By Tom Reese, Aug. 10, 1995 --------------------------- Fans of the Grateful Dead feel the loss of the band's leader, Jerry Garcia, at a Seattle Center gathering the night of his death. One of those unexpected tingles shoots up my spine, and I find myself feeling the actual passage of time. Five thousand dancing mourners and celebrants share in the tribute and honor their inner, peaceful selves, and I know that others, seemingly light years away, are cringing at the memory of anything tie-dyed. Heavy.

------------------------------ Street Play in a Border Town By Betty Udesen, Nov. 12, 1995 ------------------------------ Because sending work out of the country was an issue in the Boeing Machinists' strike, we went south to see how the maquiladora factory workers lived, and hear what they had to say about their living and working conditions in Mexicali, a Mexican border town. Before leaving Seattle with Times business reporter Stanley Holmes, I mentioned to him that no matter how bleak the situation might seem, I'd look for some element of the sweetness of life to add to the mix. He agreed. A few days later, while interviewing a man on a dirt street, I turned to find Gerardo Alvarez Castillo playing with a found tire in the street next to his home in El Robledo; his mother works in a Boeing subcontractor's factory, cutting insulation blankets. This, for me, was it.

----------------------------- After the rescue By Teresa Tamura, May 9, 1995 ----------------------------- Francisco Soto, 4, top, and Fernando, his brother, 8, below, didn't speak English, but Jorge Pagan was clearly their hero of the day. Pagan jumped off the deck of his second-story apartment and broke through a wood fence to rescue the two boys who were close to drowning in the apartment complex swimming pool. Neither could swim. I'm not sure whether the boys realized this man saved them from drowning, but it's always nice to photograph a story with a happy ending.

--------------------------- Coping By Ron Wurzer, Jan. 6, 1995 --------------------------- I took this photo for a story on how the people of the tiny town of Cumberland in Pierce County were coping with an encroaching forest fire. The Eager Beaver tavern, I was told, was the place where I could find many of them. They were a crusty bunch, but I felt welcome from the start. When I heard John Mullen, left, challenge Morris Dolmatoff to an arm-wrestling contest, I knew they were coping just fine.

----------------------------- Crossing the line By Mike Siegel, Nov. 27, 1995 ----------------------------- I arrived at the Everett Boeing Plant at 4:30 a.m., where several hundred striking machinists lined the street at the main gate, picketing the plant for the 52nd day. Someone told me not to use my flash. They said it was distracting, but it was dark, and I needed it. I made this frame of angry picketers yelling and waving their signs at people driving across the line. Workers who had decided to cross the line and return to work had to drive past this gantlet of strikers.

---------------------------- Escape By Barry Wong, Feb. 16, 1995 ---------------------------- As I approached this fire in the North End, I could see a towering column of thick, black-gray smoke reaching into the night sky. Firefighters were entering Garfield Auto Parts on Aurora and I couldn't help but feel a sense of disquiet. Only weeks before, I had covered another fire that had appeared much the same way: the Pang warehouse blaze. Four of those firefighters never came out of that doorway. With those somber events still fresh in my memory, I watched the darkened doorway on Aurora suddenly explode in a fiery ball. Firefighters, their bodies smoking, were rolling out of the doorway. Others still in the building were silhouetted by the blast of flames. They dropped to their hands and knees and, with flames at their backs, crawled to safety. It was a close call, but when it was over, everyone had gotten out.

-------------------------------------- News break By Benjamin Benschneider, Feb. 3, 1995 -------------------------------------- Photographing newscaster Peter Jennings of ABC's "World News Tonight" was a bit of a trick. I wanted to make a simple uncluttered image of Jennings at work with Seattle in the background, broadcasting the show two evenings from atop Queen Anne Hill. Jennings was constantly surrounded by TV cameras, lights, large reflectors, and all his crew. I eventually found a small opening.

------------------------------- A ride in the park By Steve Ringman, June 12, 1995 ------------------------------- Using a machete to hack away foliage for a better view crossed my mind but, hey, we're supposed to be sensitive photojournalists, and defacing Mount Baker Park was out. The photo was an automatic, combining the beauty of bicycle road racing with the beauty of Seattle.

------------------------------- Victor victorious By Mark Harrison, April 4, 1995 ------------------------------- In the final game of the Final Four, UCLA beats Arkansas 89-78, and Ed O'Bannon, named the game's outstanding player, exalts in the realization of his national championship dreams. In spite of the riot-squad mentality of the King County Police who surrounded the court to restrict fan and press access, the Kingdome erupted with jubilation.

--------------------------- The Last Salute By Jimi Lott, Jan. 11, 1995 --------------------------- In a sea of salutes in the Mercer Arena at Seattle Center, firefighters from around the world show their respect during a memorial service for the four Seattle firefighters who lost their lives in the Pang warehouse fire. Thousands joined together by grief and respect brought me to an emotional level I still feel every time I see firefighters in action. I don't ever want to forget what they do for us. None of us should.

------------------------------ Courthouse gunman subdued By Greg Gilbert, March 2, 1995 ------------------------------ I was sent to the King County Courthouse to photograph a judge. While I was on a pay phone getting the assignment information, at least 50 people ran by me. A woman yelled, "He's got a gun!" I never heard any gunshots, but I suddenly realized I was the only person in the hallway. I saw uniformed and plainclothes police holding a man face down on the floor. The man seemed calm. I only knew that someone had a gun and had fired it in the courthouse. What I didn't know was that around the corner from where the man was were three seriously wounded people. Within minutes an aid car arrived and quickly brought out a person on a stretcher. Then another, and another. I called the office from the same pay phone and tried to describe what had happened. While I was talking, the suspect was being led by me. I dropped the phone and photographed him again. Timothy Blackwell was arrested and charged with killing his estranged wife, Susanna Blackwell, and two of her friends, Phoebe Dizon and Veronica Johnson. His trial is scheduled for January.

----------------------------- Crossings By Pedro Perez, Aug. 23, 1995 ----------------------------- Since "Wheel of Fortune" was taping in Seattle for the week, I went up to the observation deck of the Columbia Tower to get a view of the roof of the Space Needle painted with the game show's logo. It was photographer's luck that there was enough wind to fill the main sails of the tall ship Lady Washington, and bring it across the wake of a Bainbridge ferry.

---------------------------- Two seconds and counting By Jim Bates, March 10, 1995 ---------------------------- High-school state championships are my favorite events to photograph because they're packed with so much emotion. Basketball is the best because it's such a high-energy game and the players are so close to the crowd. The outcome of a good game can hang in the balance every trip up and down the floor. That was the case with the playoff game between Blanchet and the Stanwood team, which had held the top AA girls' spot all season. The Blanchet players wait as the last few seconds tick off the clock, hoping their lead will hold up. It did, by six points. Blanchet went on to win the state AA championship. From left: Nadia Morgan, Alex Allen, Natalie Larsen, Jessica Jones, Tanya Hallett and Jessie Delaunay.