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A woman in a red sweatshirt raises her arms next to another person and a voting machine. — Volunteer poll worker Beverly Cooley cheers after helping Ariel Hill, 19, left, vote for the first time on Election Day, Nov. 5, 2024, at the Clinton & Bernice Rose Senior Center in Milwaukee. (Joe Timmerman / Wisconsin Watch)

From:Photos: What Wisconsin’s democracy looked like on Election Day

Wisconsin Watch journalists this year crisscrossed the state — from urban Madison and Milwaukee to rural Grant and Iron counties — to tell the stories that mattered to residents. They chronicled high-stakes elections, tragedies, environmental challenges and issues affecting families’ quality of life.

None of those stories would have resonated without the visual journalism our staff and freelance photographers produced. We begin every major reporting effort by considering how to best communicate it visually. That means accurately capturing the scene and emotions associated with the story — and more broadly allowing people to see themselves and their neighbors in our work.

Here are some of the most memorable images we captured in 2024.

Smiling Tammy Baldwin, in a light blue suit jacket, looks at a woman at right. — U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin, D-Wis., meets with the co-owners at Rise & Grind Cafe on Sept. 4, 2024, in Milwaukee. (Joe Timmerman / Wisconsin Watch)

From: As Tammy Baldwin leads, Eric Hovde pins Senate hopes on a change election

People hold megaphones and protest signs — Protest organizers deliver speeches within “sight and sound” of Milwaukee’s Fiserv Forum as roughly 1,000 gathered on July 15, 2024, to protest the Republican National Convention. (Julius Shieh / Wisconsin Watch)

Aerial view of people wearing white hats and sitting in chairs in rows — Spectators in cowboy hats wait for the vice presidential nomination during the Republican National Convention on July 15, 2024, at Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee. (Joe Timmerman / Wisconsin Watch)

From: Photos: The Republican National Convention comes to Milwaukee

Woman and boy pose outside — Emily Schmit and her son, Armoni Meyers. “Back to the drawing board we go,” Schmit said after learning the state’s Assembly adjourned for the year without passing legislation to extend postpartum Medicaid coverage for a full year. “I don’t know how much more we can stomp and scream and yell.” (Brad Horn for Wisconsin Watch)

From: Wisconsin’s Medicaid postpartum protection lags most of the country

A child with braids holds a hand up to the mouth of a deer on the other side of a fence. — Nate Hagen lets his neighbor’s pet buck lick his hand on Sept. 10, 2024. His mother, Lynda, said that pets have been an important part of their family’s healing process since Nate was assaulted at school last year. (Joe Timmerman / Wisconsin Watch)

From: A Lac du Flambeau tribe child was violently bullied at school. Now his mother is speaking out.

A hand holds a fish over a net. — Henry Nehls-Lowe, Southern Wisconsin Trout Unlimited board secretary, nets a brown trout he caught while fly fishing in Big Spring Branch, a Class 1 trout stream, on Oct. 7, 2024, in Grant County, Wis. (Joe Timmerman / Wisconsin Watch) For an upcoming story.

Aerial view of land and water and a train — A beaver lodge is seen alongside trees in a pond on Katie McCullough’s property as a train rumbles down the track nearby, Oct. 23, 2024, in Rio, Wis. McCullough installed a pond leveler on her property after discovering an active beaver lodge and dam. (Joe Timmerman / Wisconsin Watch) For an upcoming story.

A woman wearing glasses on the left smiles and stands on a sidewalk next to a woman in a pink shirt. — Rosa Landa, owner of Good Hand Care AFH assisted living facility, left, laughs with resident Bebette Gaus upon finishing a walk around the neighborhood on Aug. 23, 2024, in Madison, Wis. (Joe Timmerman / Wisconsin Watch)

From: Wisconsin’s long-term care crisis: Staffing troubles, low Medicaid rates prompt closures

Large inflatable baseball is in the air in a room where people sit in a semi circle — Arlene Meyer throws an inflatable baseball to another resident during her morning ball exercises on Nov. 15, 2024, at Pine Crest Nursing Home in Merrill, Wis. Meyer has lived in the nursing home since late 2023. (Joe Timmerman / Wisconsin Watch)

From: ‘We own it. It’s our place.’ Worsened care feared as counties privatize their nursing homes

Black and white photo of Tony Evers talking to reporters — Gov. Tony Evers takes questions from reporters after hosting the annual Capitol Holiday Tree Lighting Ceremony on Dec. 5, 2024, at the Wisconsin State Capitol in Madison, Wis. (Joe Timmerman / Wisconsin Watch)

Kamala Harris smiles and holds her hands together with out-of-focus crowd behind her — Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic presidential nominee, addresses a crowd during a campaign rally on Sept. 20, 2024, at the Veterans Memorial Coliseum at Alliant Energy Center in Madison, Wis. (Joe Timmerman / Wisconsin Watch)

Former President Donald Trump appears behind a large American flag at a campaign rally at the Waukesha expo center on May 1, 2024. (Jeffrey Phelps for Wisconsin Watch)

Arthur Kohl-Riggs watches the sunset and practices handstands on an oak tree in this double exposure photograph on Nov. 12, 2024, at James Madison Park in Madison, Wis. Kohl-Riggs has lived an eclectic life that includes running in the 2012 Republican gubernatorial primary as a protest candidate against Scott Walker. (Joe Timmerman / Wisconsin Watch)

From: Arthur Kohl-Riggs finds comfort in Madison’s ‘third spaces’

People hold candles outside of the Capitol — Hundreds of community members gathered for a candlelit vigil at the Wisconsin State Capitol in Madison, Wis., on the evening of Dec. 17, 2024, one day after a school shooting left three dead at Abundant Life Christian School. (Julius Shieh for Wisconsin Watch)

From: Photos: Madison mourns after Abundant Life Christian School shooting

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Here are the most memorable images we captured in 2024

by Wisconsin Watch, Wisconsin Watch
December 31, 2024

					<h1>Here are the most memorable images we captured in 2024</h1>
<p class="byline">by Wisconsin Watch, Wisconsin Watch <br />December 31, 2024</p>
					<br />
<figure class="wp-block-image alignwide size-full"><img src="https://wisconsinwatch.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/01_20241105-General-Election-Voting-Timmerman-67.jpg" alt="A woman in a red sweatshirt raises her arms next to another person and a voting machine." class="wp-image-1301639" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Volunteer poll worker Beverly Cooley cheers after helping Ariel Hill, 19, left, vote for the first time on Election Day, Nov. 5, 2024, at the Clinton &amp; Bernice Rose Senior Center in Milwaukee. (Joe Timmerman / Wisconsin Watch)</p>
<p>From:<a href="https://wisconsinwatch.org/2024/11/wisconsin-election-photos-voters-polls-madison-milwaukee-green-bay-oshkosh/">Photos: What Wisconsin’s democracy looked like on Election Day</a></figcaption></figure>
<p>Wisconsin Watch journalists this year crisscrossed the state —&nbsp;from urban Madison and Milwaukee to rural Grant and Iron counties —&nbsp;to tell the stories that mattered to residents. They chronicled high-stakes elections, tragedies, environmental challenges and issues affecting families’ quality of life.&nbsp;</p>
<p>None of those stories would have resonated without the visual journalism our staff and freelance photographers produced. We begin every major reporting effort by considering how to best communicate it visually. That means accurately capturing the scene and emotions associated with the story —&nbsp;and more broadly allowing people to see themselves and their neighbors in our work.&nbsp;</p>
<p>Here are some of the most memorable images we captured in 2024.</p>
<figure class="wp-block-image aligncenter size-large"><img src="https://wisconsinwatch.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/02_Baldwin-Hovde-5_published-782x521.jpg" alt="Smiling Tammy Baldwin, in a light blue suit jacket, looks at a woman at right." class="wp-image-1301640" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin, D-Wis., meets with the co-owners at Rise &amp; Grind Cafe on Sept. 4, 2024, in Milwaukee. (Joe Timmerman / Wisconsin Watch)</p>
<p>From: <a href="https://wisconsinwatch.org/2024/10/wisconsin-baldwin-hovde-senate-race-election-democrat-republican/">As Tammy Baldwin leads, Eric Hovde pins Senate hopes on a change election</a></figcaption></figure>
<div class="wp-block-columns alignwide">
<div class="wp-block-column">
<figure class="wp-block-image size-large" id="Voting-excitement"><img src="https://wisconsinwatch.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/03_7-15-24_RNC-protest_Julius-Shieh_JSS_8443-782x521.jpeg" alt="People hold megaphones and protest signs" class="wp-image-1301641" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Protest organizers deliver speeches within "sight and sound" of Milwaukee's Fiserv Forum as roughly 1,000 gathered on July 15, 2024, to protest the Republican National Convention. (Julius Shieh / Wisconsin Watch)</figcaption></figure>
</p></div>
<div class="wp-block-column">
<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img src="https://wisconsinwatch.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/04_RNC-DAY-1-Hats_published-782x521.jpg" alt="Aerial view of people wearing white hats and sitting in chairs in rows" class="wp-image-1301642" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Spectators in cowboy hats wait for the vice presidential nomination during the Republican National Convention on July 15, 2024, at Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee. (Joe Timmerman / Wisconsin Watch)</p>
<p>From: <a href="https://wisconsinwatch.org/2024/07/wisconsin-milwaukee-republican-national-convention-photos-trump/">Photos: The Republican National Convention comes to Milwaukee</a></figcaption></figure>
</p></div>
</p></div>
<figure class="wp-block-image aligncenter size-large"><img src="https://wisconsinwatch.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/05_Postpartum_Emily-Schmitt4-782x1173.jpg" alt="Woman and boy pose outside" class="wp-image-1301643" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Emily Schmit and her son, Armoni Meyers. “Back to the drawing board we go,” Schmit said after learning the state’s Assembly adjourned for the year without passing legislation to extend postpartum Medicaid coverage for a full year. “I don’t know how much more we can stomp and scream and yell.” (Brad Horn for Wisconsin Watch)</p>
<p>From: <a href="https://wisconsinwatch.org/2024/02/wisconsin-medicaid-health-postpartum-pregnancy-doctors-legislature/">Wisconsin’s Medicaid postpartum protection lags most of the country</a></figcaption></figure>
<figure class="wp-block-image aligncenter size-large"><img src="https://wisconsinwatch.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/06_Hagen-2_published-782x521.jpg" alt="A child with braids holds a hand up to the mouth of a deer on the other side of a fence." class="wp-image-1301645" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Nate Hagen lets his neighbor’s pet buck lick his hand on Sept. 10, 2024. His mother, Lynda, said that pets have been an important part of their family’s healing process since Nate was assaulted at school last year. (Joe Timmerman / Wisconsin Watch)</p>
<p>From: <a href="https://wisconsinwatch.org/2024/11/wisconsin-native-school-bullying-lac-du-flambeau-mercer/">A Lac du Flambeau tribe child was violently bullied at school. Now his mother is speaking out.</a></figcaption></figure>
<figure class="wp-block-image aligncenter size-large"><img src="https://wisconsinwatch.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/07_20241007-BeaverProject-TroutFishing-Timmerman-23-782x521.jpg" alt="A hand holds a fish over a net." class="wp-image-1301646" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Henry Nehls-Lowe, Southern Wisconsin Trout Unlimited board secretary, nets a brown trout he caught while fly fishing in Big Spring Branch, a Class 1 trout stream, on Oct. 7, 2024, in Grant County, Wis. (Joe Timmerman / Wisconsin Watch) For an upcoming story.</figcaption></figure>
<figure class="wp-block-image alignwide size-full"><img src="https://wisconsinwatch.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/08_20241023-Rio-Beaver-Pond-Timmerman-002.jpg" alt="Aerial view of land and water and a train" class="wp-image-1301647" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">A beaver lodge is seen alongside trees in a pond on Katie McCullough’s property as a train rumbles down the track nearby, Oct. 23, 2024, in Rio, Wis. McCullough installed a pond leveler on her property after discovering an active beaver lodge and dam. (Joe Timmerman / Wisconsin Watch) For an upcoming story.</figcaption></figure>
<div class="wp-block-columns alignwide">
<div class="wp-block-column">
<figure class="wp-block-image size-large" id="Voting-excitement"><img src="https://wisconsinwatch.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/09_Good-Hand-Care-AFH-2_published-782x521.jpg" alt="A woman wearing glasses on the left smiles and stands on a sidewalk next to a woman in a pink shirt." class="wp-image-1301648" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Rosa Landa, owner of Good Hand Care AFH assisted living facility, left, laughs with resident Bebette Gaus upon finishing a walk around the neighborhood on Aug. 23, 2024, in Madison, Wis. (Joe Timmerman / Wisconsin Watch)</p>
<p>From: <a href="https://wisconsinwatch.org/2024/09/wisconsin-assisted-living-medicaid-long-term-care-evers-health/">Wisconsin’s long-term care crisis: Staffing troubles, low Medicaid rates prompt closures</a></figcaption></figure>
</p></div>
<div class="wp-block-column">
<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img src="https://wisconsinwatch.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/10_Pine-Crest-2_published-782x521.jpg" alt="Large inflatable baseball is in the air in a room where people sit in a semi circle" class="wp-image-1301649" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Arlene Meyer throws an inflatable baseball to another resident during her morning ball exercises on Nov. 15, 2024, at Pine Crest Nursing Home in Merrill, Wis. Meyer has lived in the nursing home since late 2023. (Joe Timmerman / Wisconsin Watch)</p>
<p>From: <a href="https://wisconsinwatch.org/2024/12/wisconsin-nursing-home-private-profit-lincoln-county-medicaid-health/">‘We own it. It’s our place.’ Worsened care feared as counties privatize their nursing homes</a></figcaption></figure>
</p></div>
</p></div>
<figure class="wp-block-image aligncenter size-large"><img src="https://wisconsinwatch.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/11_20241205-Wisconsin-Capitol-Holiday-Tree-Timmerman-bw-024-782x521.jpg" alt="Black and white photo of Tony Evers talking to reporters" class="wp-image-1301650" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Gov. Tony Evers takes questions from reporters after hosting the annual Capitol Holiday Tree Lighting Ceremony on Dec. 5, 2024, at the Wisconsin State Capitol in Madison, Wis. (Joe Timmerman / Wisconsin Watch)</figcaption></figure>
<figure class="wp-block-image alignwide size-full"><img src="https://wisconsinwatch.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/12_20240920-Kamala-Harris-Madison-Timmerman-029.jpg" alt="Kamala Harris smiles and holds her hands together with out-of-focus crowd behind her" class="wp-image-1301651" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic presidential nominee, addresses a crowd during a campaign rally on Sept. 20, 2024, at the Veterans Memorial Coliseum at Alliant Energy Center in Madison, Wis. (Joe Timmerman / Wisconsin Watch)</figcaption></figure>
<figure class="wp-block-image aligncenter size-large"><img src="https://wisconsinwatch.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/13_Trumpwaukesha100-782x1213.jpg" alt="Donald Trump appears behind a large American flag" class="wp-image-1301652" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Former President Donald Trump appears behind a large American flag at a campaign rally at the Waukesha expo center on May 1, 2024. (Jeffrey Phelps for Wisconsin Watch)</figcaption></figure>
<figure class="wp-block-image aligncenter size-large"><img src="https://wisconsinwatch.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/14_Kohl-Riggs-2_published-782x770.jpg" alt="Double exposure image of man in profile and of him doing a handstand." class="wp-image-1301653" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Arthur Kohl-Riggs watches the sunset and practices handstands on an oak tree in this double exposure photograph on Nov. 12, 2024, at James Madison Park in Madison, Wis. Kohl-Riggs has lived an eclectic life that includes running in the 2012 Republican gubernatorial primary as a protest candidate against Scott Walker. (Joe Timmerman / Wisconsin Watch)</p>
<p>From: <a href="https://wisconsinwatch.org/2024/11/wisconsin-madison-arthur-kohl-riggs-protest-republican-governor/">Arthur Kohl-Riggs finds comfort in Madison’s ‘third spaces’</a></figcaption></figure>
<figure class="wp-block-image alignwide size-full"><img src="https://wisconsinwatch.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/15__SS_1592.jpeg" alt="People hold candles outside of the Capitol" class="wp-image-1301654" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Hundreds of community members gathered for a candlelit vigil at the Wisconsin State Capitol in Madison, Wis., on the evening of Dec. 17, 2024, one day after a school shooting left three dead at Abundant Life Christian School. (Julius Shieh for Wisconsin Watch)</p>
<p>From: <a href="https://wisconsinwatch.org/2024/12/madison-abundant-life-christian-school-shooting-wisconsin-vigil-photos/">Photos: Madison mourns after Abundant Life Christian School shooting</a></figcaption></figure>

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