Joseph Ciembroniewicz

J. Ciembroniewicz

Paul Ridlon, a pagan druid who also goes by the name Magnus de Rhuddlan, wears his “Moss Bear” suit as he stands inside of his yurt in Portland, Maine, on Feb. 11, 2026. Ridlon is a member of the Maine Pagan Clergy Association, and “Moss Bear” is one of several suits he constructed for use during shamanic rituals and community events.

A family of beagle-mixes riding in their owner’s car pause at a red light on East Third Street, in Maysville, Ky. on Oct. 22, 2025.

A young grower who asked not to be identified by name waters autoflower cannabis plants in his apartment in Henrietta, N.Y. on April 12, 2023.

Jenni, center, and other Mainers worship during a National Day of Prayer, organized by the Christian Civic League of Maine near the State House in Augusta, Maine, on May 7, 2026.

Lightning is seen striking a Google AI data-center from the Omaha National Cemetery in Papillion, Neb. on Friday, July 3, 2026.

Participants in the University of Rochester pro-Palestine encampment pray during a sit-in inside the administrative building, Wallis Hall, as Peace Officers from the UR Department of Public Safety observe in Rochester, N.Y. on May 1, 2024. The sit-in was intended as a means to bring administrators back to the negotiating table for the university’s academic and financial divestment from Israel.

Rain falls on a field that was licensed to recieve PFAS contaminated wastewater sludge, and now tests as one of the most toxic in Fairfield, Maine on Monday, March 16, 2026. When precipitation enters the ground, this water also becomes contaminated. Movement of groundwater spreads the forever chemicals.

Renee Reynolds sits in her home, across the street from a field that she believes recieved PFAS contaminated wastewater sludge, in Fairfield, Maine on March 19, 2026. Reynolds used to live in a trailer park that had a water supply contaminated by PFAS chemicals and E. coli. During the COVID-19 pandemic, she and her family moved out, to a new lot, that is connected to public water.

Penelope Baird, 13, swings on in Chautauqua, N.Y. on July 4, 2025.

Family members Miguel Martinez, left, Kye Martinez, 3, and Chebna Altimeau spend time together at the Gene Leahy Mall in Omaha, Neb. on May 26, 2026.

From left Dahabo, Aden, and their son, Duale, 2, who are Somali, ride the elevator to U.S. Senator Susan Collins office to drop off a passport photo in Lewiston, Maine during a statewide ICE surge on Jan. 23, 2026.

Sarah Aljitawi, a Palestinian-American University of Rochester student organizer for divestment from Israel stands on Eastman Quadrangle in front of Rush Rhees Library, in Rochester, N.Y. on Feb. 20, 2025. Eastman Quadrangle was the site of the UR pro-Palestine encampment.

A garter snake slithers through Clark Tankersley’s hair in Bowdoinham, Maine on June 11, 2022. Tankersley caught five snakes over the course of the day, and this one rode behind his ear for more than ten minutes.

Ryan May, 18, Clarkson University class of 2027, races down a berm after completing a steep rock drop on the fifth stage of the enduro course at the Eastern Collegiate Cycling Conference hosted by Clarkson University in Potsdam, N.Y. on Sept. 23, 2023. May finished eighth in the B category, qualifying for the dual slalom race the next day. He states, “I could’ve pushed myself a little harder.”

Jay, a naturalized citizen and Lewiston resident, joins others leading chants during an anti-ICE protest in Lewiston, Maine in the midst of a statewide ICE surge on Jan. 24, 2026. She stated the following about the moment: “When I lifted my passport into the air, it was not an act of planning, it was an eruption of pain. Maine is my home, the only home my heart knows.”

Aaron, an Auburn resident, pepper sprays a man who tried to take his pro-ICE sign as he stood in the median on Main St. in Lewiston, Maine on Feb. 1, 2026. Aaron said that even though the ICE surge was mostly over, he wanted to rile up fellow conservatives.

Dead freshwater drum lie strewn across Barcelona Beach, on Lake Erie in Westfield, N.Y. on August 2, 2025. The fish were killed following an upswelling that forced cold water from the bottom of the lake to the surface, resulting in a temperature shift that the fish could not survive.

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