2000 pictures of the year

It'S HARD TO BELIEVE that just 12 months ago we were wondering if a massive computer breakdown would end civilization as we know it. No electricity. No water. No Pacific Northwest issue featuring The Seattle Times' best photographs of the past year.

Fortunately, technology held up so that we can look back at some of the things that made 2000 noteworthy.

Times photographers started the new year in New York City, where a few terrorist threats didn't keep a good party down. Later in Seattle we celebrated other events. A big, ugly building was imploded. A building that many find big and ugly was dedicated.

If it was a special year, it was also a year like any other, with stories of tragedy as well as triumph, moments ordinary as well as extraordinary.

These are Times photographers' records of some of those moments.

ALL DIGITAL

by Steve Ringman

A videoimagereflected offan oval object was part of a multi-media art installation by NewYork city artist Tony Oursler at the Henry Art Gallery.

LINDA DAVID

by Tom Reese

The story of Linda David's life, kept aboard a small boat in Everett, was difficult for many to bear. Photographer Tom Reese says it was an honor "to have the opportunity to look past her scars and see the light in her eyes and the gentle spirit behind her smile."

TRIUMPHANT TIME

by Dean Rutz

Puyallup's Megan Quann reacted as the scoreboard showed her winning an Olympics gold medal in the women's 100-meter breaststroke. Quann came from a half-second behind at 50 meters to win by a half-second, besting her own American record.

MOMENT OF SILENCE

by Greg Gilbert

Employees of Horizon Airline gathered on the Sea-Tac Airport tarmac to hold hands and observe a moment of silence at 4:36 p.m. on February 3, the precise time that Alaska Airlines Flight 261 crashed three days earlier off the California coast. Fellow Horizon employees were among the 88 people who died in the crash.

BIG BANG

by Greg Gilbert

After 24 years of being home to Seattle sports teams - and the butt of endless jokes and complaints - the Kingdome was turned to rubble in a matter of seconds by a carefully sequenced series of explosions. The photograph was shot with a remotely triggered camera atop a building on First Avenue South.

MILLENNIUM PARTY

by Rod Mar

Celebrants Curtis Kidd III, left, and his girlfriend Talia Mitchell were part of the throng that jammed New York's Times Square one year ago today to watch a crystal ball drop in the countdown to a new millennium. At the other end of the continent, in Seattle, the party was muted; worries about terrorists led the mayor to cancel the annual New Year's gathering at the Seattle Center.

CHILDREN OF THE DUMP

by Mark Harrison

Socorro Villegas scavenged at the city dump outside Puerto Vallarta in Mexico, where many poor families struggle against disease and hunger not far from the city's beach resorts. A charity to help the children of the dump was created to honor Flight 261 victims Joe and Linda Knight, co-pastors of a Monroe church who had made a mission of providing a place for the children to shower, eat a hot meal and seek health care.

FIRST HAIRCUT

by Jimi Lott

Jimi Lott tells the story of this picture: "It wasn't much of a building. As a matter of fact, it's a small, red house tucked on a side road in Lynnwood. I am always on the lookout for something a bit different to photograph and when I entered the front door of this little barbershop, I felt like I had stepped back in time. Chairs and clippers decades old and still alive, and conversation that locals have continued for years.When little Jeremy Dean, 14 months, sat on a suitcase that has been used as a booster seat for some 30 years, it all came together. He is the third generation of his family to get haircuts at the little red house, and the chances are, even his dad sat on the suitcase."

EXPERIENCE MUSIC

by Jimi Lott

What can you say when you watch a billionaire stand on his tiptoes in Guccis and smash a glass guitar? Paul Allen played rock'n'roll iconoclast-for-a-day, smashing a guitar created by Dale Chihuly at the grand opening of the Experience Music Project in Seattle.

LINE OF FIRE

by Jimi Lott

For Seattle police officer Tommie Doran, the man skipping along a Lower Queen Anne sidewalk last April did not represent light-heartedness. The man, David Walker, was armed with a knife and had fired two shots at grocery-store employees. Police followed Walker for several blocks, trying to hem him in, and Doran fired a fatal shot when Walker lunged at officers. Doran re-enacted the moment at an inquest.

Our Tradition

Pacific Northwest's magazine's annual Pictures of the Year is part of the photographic tradition at The Seattle Times. Besides reminding us of memorable images, it is every year a small tribute to the professionalism - and to the eyes and hearts - of the newspaper's photographers. It is also a reminder of the importance The Times places on photography as part of its content.

Cole Porter, Director of photography