Tyler Tjomsland: Favorite Photos 2015
My goal as a photojournalist is to document news events in ways that enrich perspectives and spark reaction within our community: to make readers care about others and the world around them. From raging wildfires all over Eastern Washington, to the sidelines of Martin Stadium, 2015 gave me plenty of opportunities to bring reality to the pages of The Spokesman-Review. I feel extremely fortunate to work for a newspaper that still supports great documentary photography and to serve a community that passionately connects with our work. View Favorite photos of 2015: Colin Mulvany View Favorite photos of 2015: Dan Pelle View Favorite photos of 2015: Kathy Plonka View Favorite photos of 2015: Jesse Tinsley
Section:Picture story
Kenan Adams-Kinard, who pled guilty to beating WWII veteran Delbert Belton to death enters court for sentencing on Thursday, Feb. 5, 2015, in Spokane, Wash. A judge sentenced Adams-Kinard to 240 months, or 20 years in prison for the murder of Belton.
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SINGLE FRAMES
Agapita Montes-Rivera, center, the mother of Antonio Zambrano-Montes is comforted as she weeps with her daughter Rosa Elena Zambrano-Montes, far right, as his casket is brought from his funeral Mass to a waiting herse on Wednesday, Feb 25, 2015, at St. Patrick’s Catholic Church in Pasco, Wash. Zambrano-Montes, a farmworker, was shot and killed by Pasco police Feb. 10th.
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Sightseers and passersby snap photos of a roaring Spokane Falls on Saturday, Feb. 14, 2015, in downtown Spokane, Wash.
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Friends and family attended an emotional memorial service for Merrill Womach on Saturday, Jan 10, 2015, at Fourth Memorial Church in Spokane, Wash. Womack was burned severely in a plane crash in 1961. He spent 50 weeks in a hospital and made a comeback after numerous reconstructive surgeries. He helped transform the modern funeral with his Spokane-based National Music Service, which at one point supplied music for three-quarters of the funeral services held in the United States and Canada. Most of those services, not coincidentally, were graced with his voice, singing songs that “seem so much a part of our deepest souls and which bring peace and hope during times of personal loss,” a 1980 profile in the Saturday Evening Post said about Womach.
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Ben Barstow holds a spout of winter wheat for the photographer on Thursday, Feb. 26, 2015, at his farm near Palouse, Wash. Farmers sowing Eastern Washingtonís largest cash crop have seen a mild spring lead to a premature growing season. Researchers at Washington State University say theyíre seeing wheat, cherries, apples and other tree-fruit growing several weeks ahead of schedule across the state.
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Kurt Matter and his wife Joanie take their 1959 Triumph for a spin on Thursday, Jan. 29, 2015, at their home near Kettle Falls, Wash. The Matters met in 1970 while attending the University of Washington, where Kurt was a standout defensive end. When Kurt’s older brother, Mark, volunteered to go to Vietnam, Kurt bought the TR3 from him for $400. But, Kurt’s Triumph ownership was short lived. Unable to repay his $400 loan, he sold the car, a decision he would soon regret. Mark was killed in action in Oct. 1, 1970, in while running recon in Quang Tin Province. He was 20 years old. As the shockwaves ripped through his family, Kurt knew he had to get Mark’s car back. “Every day I’d look in the newspaper.” said Kurt. “Finally, I saw two or three for sale and one for $425.” By then, Joanie and Kurt were contemplating marriage “We realized we couldn’t afford to buy a car,” she said, but this was no time for logic. The couple decided to check out the Triumph and - Bingo! It was Mark’s car. Reunited, the car would join Kurt and Joanie on a lifetime of road trips.
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A man checks out the scene where a Nissan Xterra lost control and crashed into a optometrist’s office on Thursday, Jan. 8, 2015, at 5th Avenue and Chandler Street in Spokane, Wash.
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Spokane County Sheriff Deputy Tyler Kullman throws a ball for Deacon, a four-year-old German Shepherd on Wednesday, Sept. 23, 2015, at Spokane County Sheriff’ Training Center in Spokane Valley, Wash. Deacon has served the Spokane County Sheriff’s Office since December 2013, and will retire this week due to injuries sustained on the job.
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Rodger Moneymaker, 47, of Uniontown carries a box of sausage to be smoked at an undisclosed location on Thursday, Feb. 26, 2015, at in Uniontown, Wash. For 62 years, this small, close-knit town of German origin has been inviting residents far and wide to gorge themselves on a special recipe of pork sausage on the first Sunday in March.
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Diabetic Perry Kitt,, 70, has his feet examined by Judy Gordon an RN and certified diabetes educator on Tuesday, Feb. 3, 2015, at Benewah Medical Center in Plummer, Id. Maintaining feet is crucial for patients like Perry, Gordon said. “Preventing amputations is huge.” Kitt, who battles type 2 diabetes is one of about 400 diabetics treated by the Coeur d’Alene Tribe’s Bewewah Medical Center.
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A Seahawks urn holding Tiffany Helm’s father, Ron Kennedy, who died in 2011 is seen on Wednesday, Jan. 1, 2014, at her home in Colbert, Wash. “I remember my dad yelling at the TV and they were just so terrible,” said Helm, who’s a bartender and waiter at Poole’s Public House on Hastings Road. “I grew up in the middle of all that – we were great fans.” The whole family watched the Seahawks lose to the Pittsburgh Steelers in Super Bowl XL in 2006. When her father died in June 2011, Helm and her mother went to look for an urn to hold his ashes. Nothing seemed quite right. “And then I looked at the top of these skinny shelves and there it was,” Helm said – an urn shaped like a Seahawks helmet. “I looked at my mom and said, ‘Dad can really rest in that,’ ” Helm said.
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Spokane’s Patrick Ferguson waits to fight Vardan Khachatrian for the 2015 USA Boxing National Championships’ Finals Heavyweight Title on Saturday, Jan 24, 2015, at Northern Quest Casino in Airway Heights, Wash.
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Vardan Khachatrian hits Patrick Ferguson during the 2015 USA Boxing National Championships’ Finals Heavyweight Title on Saturday, Jan 24, 2015, at Northern Quest Casino in Airway Heights, Wash. Ferguson went on to win the fight.
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Chiefs’ Tyson Helgesen (6) trades punches against Seattle’s Keegan Kolesar (28) on Friday, Dec. 4, 2015, at Spokane Veterans Memorial Arena in Spokane, Wash.
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Las Vegas Outlaws’ Eddie Moten (6) reaches for the ball as Shock receiver Jabin Sombrano (2) collides with mascot Shox The Fox during an arena football game on Friday, June 12, 2015, in Spokane, Wash.
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Hockey superstar Wayne Gretzky was all smiles when taking the ice during Hockey Fest 2015 on Friday, July 10, 2015, at Frontier Ice Arena in Coeur d’Alene, Id.
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Jane Faller smiles while walking with her husband, Bob Faller, and their dog Murphy on their rural property on Wednesday, March 4, 2015, near Republic, Wash. Their daily walks around their 12 acres are an echo to earlier nomadic times, where they roamed the U.S. and British Columbia, working odd-jobs and living off the land before growing bored and moving on to the next location. Aging here, in the poorest and one of the more sparsely populated counties in the state, is challenging. Residents frequently must travel long distances on winding roads for anything but the most basic health care.
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‘The culmination of our whole life’ Aging in Rural America
Bob Faller, embraces his wife Jane as the stand on their porch and look to the sky for smoke on Friday, Aug. 28, 2015, at their home in Republic, Wash. “We don’t require much,” says Bob. “We both came from two poor families, working their asses off for survival. We’ve never wanted for something we didn’t need.”
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Bob Faller catches a breath while cutting down a tree on his property on Wednesday, May 6, 2015, near Republic, Wash. Faller works with the fervor or a man decades younger, limbing the tree in a day and completely removing it in the next. The wood he will use to heat his home this winter. Bob Faller touches the tree like a lover, caressing and hopeful. He beams, like he’s plugged into the very nature he relies on to guide his life. Now that cancer has invaded him like blight, he’s relying on nature to guide his death. A nails-tough individualist, living off the grid as much as possible – even when facing terminal illness – Faller keeps the medical system at bay, not with his bare hands, but with perseverance, alternative medicine and yoga.
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Jane Faller looks to Bob during a dinner conversation on Wednesday, March 4, 2015, at their home in Republic, Wash.
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Jane applies a soothing cream to Bob’s back after a day of working outside on Tuesday, May 12, 2015, at their home in Republic, Wash. Radiation for throat cancer has left his skin burned nearly a year after treatment.
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Jane Faller meditates during a yoga class led by Bob, right. on Tuesday, May 12, 2015, at the Republic Senior Center, in Republic, Wash. The class took off in the rural community almost as soon as Bob started it. Soon, the tiny senior center in the Republic church basement was packed wall-to-wall with yoga mats.
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Bob Faller shows where doctors clipped his wife’s ring from her finger after she fell on their property and underwent massive dramatic swelling a week earlier and returned home on Monday, Sept. 21, 2015, to their home in Republic, Wash. The couple held hands and cried, waiting for an ambulance to take Jane Faller three hours over mountain passes to the big hospital in Spokane, where after six days and three surgeries doctors finally stopped the internal bleeding in her left hand.
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Bob Faller places his hand on Jane’s bandage after she returned from the hospital on Monday, Sept. 21, 2015, after a fall at their home in Republic, Wash.
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Bob and Jane pause near one of their pear trees, where they find their fruit had gone rotten during Jane’s time in the hospital and Bob’s hospice care. “It’s like the universe is insulting me,” Faller said, throat cancer making his voice more gravelly and harder to hear each day. Earlier this summer, wildfires forced the couple to prepare for evacuation from their beloved home in remote Ferry County, the same week he started hospice. “This isn’t how I wanted it.”
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Bob Faller pauses while trying to help his wife cook breakfast on Monday, Sept. 21, 2015, at their home in Republic, Wash. This week, a hospice nurse who visits twice weekly predicted Faller has two months to live. He’s lost too much weight, too quickly. A hospital bed arrived Wednesday and was set up in the living room by the window.
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Bob and Jane Faller take their dog Murphy on a winter walk through their grounds on Wednesday, March 4, 2015, in Republic, Wash. “This is the culmination of our whole life,” Faller said.
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Melanie Brashler, of Stevens County Fire District 5, works in a two-person crew with her husband Larry to fight a flare-up of a massive wildfire along Townsend-Sackman Road early Saturday morning, Aug 15, 2015, in the hills near Addy, Wash.
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Wildfires in Eastern Washington
Paul Kreis, left, shouts to family members for more water as flames flare up behind him on Saturday morning, Aug 15, 2015, as they defend their homes on Townsend-Sackman Road in the hills near Addy, Wash.
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Jean Sturk, embraces Rick Anderson chief of Stevens County Fire District 2 after Anderson’s firefighters saved her home Saturday from The Carpenter Road Fire, part of the Stevens Complex Fire, on Tuesday, Aug 18, 2015,, at an Incident Command Center near the Fruitland Bible Camp in Fruitland, Wash.”This man saved our home it’s miracle,” she said.
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Doug Grumbach, 52, a fourth generation Ferry County rancher, stands in a forest near the Canadian border where the northern portion of the Stickpin Fire overtook 12 head of his cattle during a wildfire on Wednesday, Aug 26, 2015, near Frog Spring in the Colville National Forest near Danville, Wash
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A bird flies through burned-out trees on Wednesday, Aug 26, 2015, near Frog Spring in the Colville National Forest near Danville, Wash.
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Forest Service firefighter Hayden Honsinger, watches as the Carpenter Road wildfire smolders over a ridge on Friday, Aug 21, 2015, on Hunters-Springdale Road in Stevens County, Wash.
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Erma Johnson looks to the hills where an approaching forrest fire works as her husband Ken and friend Dee Carper work to evacuate their home on Thursday, Aug 20, 2015, on Hunters-Springdale Road in Stevens County, Wash
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Lorne Brunson, 42, stands on a hill overlooking remains of his homestead on Sunday, Aug 16, 2015, which was lost to a wildfire Saturday near Coyote Canyon in Fruitland, Wash. “Next spring it’s going to be gorgeous, it’s going to be grassy, it’s going to be beautiful,” he said. “We just have to get there.”
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A burned out logging road is seen on Wednesday, Aug 26, 2015, near Frog Spring in the Colville National Forest near Danville, Wash. The Stickpin Fire, reported Aug. 11, burned nearly 54,000 acres, mostly on the Colville National Forest. About 30 percent of the area burned experienced high intensity fires that damaged soils, according to the Forest Service, which advocates thinning trees to reduce fire intensity.
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Washington State takes the field against Oregon State during the first half of a PAC 12 football game on Saturday, Oct 17, 2015, at Martin Stadium in Pullman, Wash.
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WSU Football
WSU receiver, Gabe Marks is brought down by Portland State during the first half of a college football game on Saturday, Sep 5, 2015, at Martin Stadium on Pullman, Wash.
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Washington State head coach Mike Leach reacts against Wyoming during the first half of a college football game on Saturday, Sep 19, 2015, at Martin Stadium in Pullman, Wash.
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WSU quarterback Luke Falk runs with the ball against Stanford during the second half of a Pac-12 college football game on Saturday, Oct 31, 2015, at Martin Stadium in Pullman, Wash.
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Washington State receiver River Cracraft (21) battles Wyoming Eric Nzeocha (11) for the ball during the first half of a college football game on Saturday, Sep 19, 2015, at Martin Stadium in Pullman, Wash.
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Washington State corner Marcellus Pippins (27) reacts after WSU made a fumble recovery against Wyoming during the second half of a college football game on Saturday, Sep 19, 2015, at Martin Stadium in Pullman, Wash.
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Washington State running back Keith Harrington (24) runs the ball against Wyoming during the first half of a college football game on Saturday, Sep 19, 2015, at Martin Stadium in Pullman, Wash.
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Washington State head coach Mike Leach speaks with quarterback Luke Falk (4) against Oregon State during the second half of a PAC 12 football game on Saturday, Oct 17, 2015, at Martin Stadium in Pullman, Wash.
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Washington State receiver Dom Williams (80) hauls in a long pass against Oregon State during the first half of a PAC 12 football game on Saturday, Oct 17, 2015, at Martin Stadium in Pullman, Wash.
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Washington State fans cheer against Oregon State during the first half of a PAC 12 football game on Saturday, Oct 17, 2015, at Martin Stadium in Pullman, Wash.
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WSU quarterback Luke Falk (4) escapes pressure from Stanford to throw during the first half of a Pac-12 college football game on Saturday, Oct 31, 2015, at Martin Stadium in Pullman, Wash.
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WSU’s Destiny Vaeao (97) reacts after the defense recovered a fumble against Stanford during the first half of a Pac-12 college football game on Saturday, Oct 31, 2015, at Martin Stadium in Pullman, Wash.
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WSU’s Kirkland Parker (10) brings down Stanford running back Christian McCaffery (5) during the first half of a Pac-12 college football game on Saturday, Oct 31, 2015, at Martin Stadium in Pullman, Wash.
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WSU receiver Gabe Marks is picked off by Stanford corner Quenton Meeks (24), setting Stanford up to score a touchdown during the second half of a Pac-12 college football game on Saturday, Oct 31, 2015, at Martin Stadium in Pullman, Wash. Sanford won the game 30-28.
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Washington State receiver John Thompson (85) runs the ball against Washington during the first half of the Apple Cup on Friday, Nov 27, 2015, at Husky Stadium in Seattle, Wash.
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Washington State head coach Mike Leach watches as his team struggles against Washington during the second half of the Apple Cup on Friday, Nov 27, 2015, at Husky Stadium in Seattle, Wash.
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Washington State receiver Gabe Marks (9) has a pass broken up by Washington defensive back Budda Baker (32) during the first half of the Apple Cup on Friday, Nov 27, 2015, at Husky Stadium in Seattle, Wash.
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Washington State fans Kelly Fisher, left, Troy Halpin, center, react as Washington fan Herbert Williams, right, celebrates during the second half of the Apple Cup on Friday, Nov 27, 2015, at Husky Stadium in Seattle, Wash.
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Washington State quarterback Luke Falk (4) looks for an open teammate against Miami during the first half of the 2015 Hyundai Sun Bowl on Saturday, Dec 26, 2015, at Sun Bowl Stadium in El Paso, TX.
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Washington State receiver Gabe Marks (9) reacts after hauling in a touchdown pass against Miami during the Hyundai Sun Bowl on Saturday, Dec 26, 2015, at Sun Bowl Stadium in El Paso, TX.
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Washington State’s Peyton Pelluer (47) intercepts a pass intended for Miami’s Rawshawn Scott (11) during the first half of the 2015 Hyundai Sun Bowl on Saturday, Dec 26, 2015, at Sun Bowl Stadium in El Paso, TX.
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Washington State defensive members from left, Robert Barber (92, backwards hat) Kache Palacio (40) and Ivan McClennan (3) celebrate with the Sun Bowl trophy as head coach Mike Leach, right, smiles after the defense came up huge in a win over Miami during the 2015 Hyundai Sun Bowl on Saturday, Dec 26, 2015, at Sun Bowl Stadium in El Paso, TX.
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