“Where Did You Take Your Best Maine Photo Last Year?”

[T]his month, the terrific submissions for our first-ever Down East Reader Photo Contest got us thinking about our own camera work. So for the masthead page of our January issue, we asked a handful of Down East staffers to tell us where they took their favorite Maine photo in 2015. Below, their answers and the shots they love.

My favorite pic from all of 2015 is a shot of Noah strumming a guitar on Popham Beach with our son at his knee. — Kathleen Fleury, editor in chief

One evening in Kittery, just before sunset, I had a feeling something big was about to happen. I zoomed down to Seapoint Beach and arrived just as the color in the sky started to develop. For the next half-hour, I was surrounded by mango-colored light, totally unaware of anything but sky and sea. — Susan Cole Kelly, contributing photographer

Standing on the deck of my cottage on Friendship Long Island, looking out over the water at a simmering sunset. — Dawn Rasmussen, production representative

It was at Hobbs Pond in Hope, swimming with my son on a sunny summer day. — Jennifer Anderson, photo assistant