PHOTOS OF THE YEAR: Scenic Iowa

Photographing the Holiday Train was something I've wanted to do for several years, so when I got the green light to do it, I knew I had to make it count. After a stop in Marquette, I followed the train up Great River Road to Lansing, where I've spent a lot of time since my childhood. I knew that the photo to get was going to be from the Mount Hosmer lookout as the train was pulling out of town, so I photographed a little bit down on the tracks and then drove up to the entrance of the park, not knowing that it had closed for the day. This meant I'd need to walk up the hill in the dark if I wanted to capture the image. So I started at a good pace and was near the top when I saw the train start to move. I ran the rest of the way and got into place just as it passed by the iconic Black Hawk Bridge on its way north. Lights from the Black Hawk Bridge and the Canadian Pacific Railway's Holiday Train are reflected on the Mississippi River in Lansing on Sunday, Dec. 8, 2019. The train travels through the U.S. and Canada, providing entertainment along its railroads and presenting donations to local food pantries. (Rebecca F. Miller/The Gazette)

Kinley Belland, 8, of Williamsburg plays with friends and family while waiting for the start of the NewBo Halloween Parade in Cedar Rapids on Saturday, Oct. 26, 2019. Waiting for the parade to start but wanting to make a photo of the sunset, I began scouting the crowds and saw a few kids playing, including Kinley, with her witch costume. I told her mom that I wanted to try to make a photo of her silhouetted against the sunset and she happily agreed to let me try. The kids, of course, all wanted to be in the photo so I had them all pose in their costumes and took a few photos before they forgot I was there and went back to playing. After a few minutes, I made this frame and immediately knew it was the photo of the day for me. (Andy Abeyta/The Gazette)

The Gazette newsroom is across the street from First Presbyterian Church, and the stained glass windows and stone exterior always catch my eye. As I prepared to walk through downtown in search of weather photos from an overnight snowfall, I saw Steve Simmons of Cedar Rapids clearing the sidewalk and waited for him to enter the frame I had composed. Photographed in Cedar Rapids on Wednesday, Feb. 20, 2019. (Liz Martin/The Gazette)

Just a brutally cold day photographing the Polar Vortex. I remember the battery in my camera quickly died in the relatively short time I was along the river. Water vapor rises from the surface of the Cedar River in Cedar Rapids on Wednesday, Jan. 30, 2019. (Jim Slosiarek/The Gazette)

Traffic rolls along Highway 151 as the sun rises over the land near Norway, Iowa, on Tuesday, March 12, 2019. (Jim Slosiarek/The Gazette)

Acorns develop on an oak tree on land owned by Colleen and Duane Koss in Amana on Wednesday, Aug. 28, 2019. The 100-acre habitat has received a certification by the National Wildlife Federation for a New Wildlife Habitat Garden. (Liz Martin/The Gazette)

Fireworks are launched from the First Avenue Bridge over May's Island during the Freedom Festival celebration in Cedar Rapids on Thursday, July 4, 2019. (Liz Martin/The Gazette)

Vapor rises from the surface of the Cedar River as the sun rises in Cedar Rapids on Wednesday, Jan. 30, 2019. Residents braced for record cold temperatures as a polar vortex moved into the Midwest. (Rebecca F. Miller/The Gazette)

The morning sun reflects off ice as corn stubble stands in a farm field in rural Benton County, Iowa, on Tuesday, March 12, 2019. (Jim Slosiarek/The Gazette)

Ice and snow cover the Cedar River in Cedar Rapids on Wednesday, Jan. 30, 2019. Residents braced for record cold temperatures as a polar vortex moved into the Midwest. (Rebecca F. Miller/The Gazette)

Water vapor rises from the Cedar River around the Veterans Memorial Building as the sun rises in Cedar Rapids on Wednesday, Jan. 30, 2019. Residents braced for record cold temperatures as a polar vortex moved into the Midwest. (Rebecca F. Miller/The Gazette)

A harvester works a soybean field at Blackford Farms in rural Marion on Thursday, Oct. 17, 2019. (Andy Abeyta/The Gazette)

The moon in its waxing gibbous phase, on the evening before the full moon where the it is 98% illuminated, rises above a screen of clouds during a break in the action during the class 3A regional final softball game between the Solon Spartans and the Mount Vernon Mustangs at Solon High School in Solon, Iowa, on Monday, July 15, 2019. (Jim Slosiarek/The Gazette)

Hula hoops hang from a tree along E23 County Home Rd. west of the town of Amber, Iowa on Monday, Sept. 9, 2019. It's a mystery how and who started the tradition. Several of the hoops has memorial messages to departed loved ones. One had a happy birthday announcement. The attraction is featured on the website Atlas Obscura. (Jim Slosiarek/The Gazette)

Snow and ice cover the Mississippi River as seen from pikes Peak State Park in McGregor on Saturday, Feb. 9, 2019. (Rebecca F. Miller/The Gazette)

Water runs over the bottom of Price Creek through Amana on Monday, Nov. 25, 2019. (Andy Abeyta/The Gazette)

Blades of grass glisten with frost in Cedar Rapids on Friday, Oct. 25, 2019. (Rebecca F. Miller/The Gazette)

A slice of Americana. This was for a story about Tipton applying for a grant to rebuild Cedar St. through the downtown of the city. The compression caused by the use of a long telephoto lens helped me connect the southern boundary of town with the downtown district. Traffic moves along Highway 38 or known locally as Cedar St. in Tipton, Iowa, on Thursday, Oct. 17, 2019. The City of Tipton filed an application for a federal BUILD grant. The money from the grant would fund the city's share of a joint city-Iowa Department of Transportation project, estimated to cost $7,418,650, to reconstruct Highway 38 through the city. (Jim Slosiarek/The Gazette)

Maple sap drips from a spile inserted by volunteers at Indian Creek Nature Center in Cedar Rapids on Thursday, Feb. 21, 2019. The sap collected from taps placed today will be used to make the syrup for the center's upcoming Maple Syrup Festival, March 23-24. (Liz Martin/The Gazette)

Water from Lake Macbride flows over the spillway into the Iowa River at a First Day Hike at Lake Macbride in Solon on Tuesday, Jan. 1, 2019. Parks nationwide hosted guided hikes in an effort to encourage people to get outside and start the new year in nature. (Rebecca F. Miller/The Gazette)

Grasses stand above a mound of snow in Cedar Rapids on Wednesday, Feb. 20, 2019. As winter drags on, the novelty of earlier-season feature hunting has long since worn off. Children sledding, plows working, and neighbors helping each other dig out have all been thoroughly documented, so as a photographer it becomes more difficult to find inspiration. During our most recent storm, I was walking through downtown Cedar Rapids and found myself drawn to abstracted images of simple contrasts created by the blanket of white. (Liz Martin/The Gazette)

Riders take on a hill on Prairie du Chien Road north of Iowa City during the 2nd Annual Big Grove Brrrewery Ride on Sunday, March 10, 2019. Cyclists on the ride, which was rescheduled from earlier this winter due to sub-zero windchills, traveled from Big Grove's Iowa City taproom to Solon and back. (Liz Martin/The Gazette)

Lights from the Black Hawk Bridge and the Canadian Pacific Railway's Holiday Train are reflected on the Mississippi River in Lansing on Sunday, Dec. 8, 2019. The train travels through the U.S. and Canada, providing entertainment along its railroads and presenting donations to local food pantries. (Rebecca F. Miller/The Gazette)

Trees are reflected in floodwaters at Indian Creek Nature Center in Cedar Rapids on Saturday, March 23, 2019. This wooded wetland allows space for the high waters of Indian Creek, serving as flood mitigation above its convergence with the Cedar River. Just weeks ago, I saw the wetland under very different conditions as volunteers crossed the wetland and its ephemeral ponds to tap trees for the nature center's annual Maple Syrup Festival, held last weekend. (Liz Martin/The Gazette)

Ginseng, with berries still attached to the flower, grows on private property in Clayton County on Monday, Sept. 23, 2019. Ginseng can only be harvested in September and October on private land with permission of the landowner by licensed harvesters. (Liz Martin/The Gazette)

A woman walks along the shore of a small lake at the Monarch Research Project in Marion during the Linn Landowner Forum on Sunday, Sept. 29, 2019. (Andy Abeyta/The Gazette)

Fall colors are seen on a leaf during an ecospirituality tour at the Prairiewoods Franciscan Spirituality Center in Hiawatha on Friday, Oct. 4, 2019. This marks my first Iowa Photo feature since joining the Gazette visuals staff on Sept. 18. There has been much to be excited about during my transition to the paper, but one thing that stood out to me was our access to a macro lens. I've always wanted to play with one but somehow have never found the opportunity. So, I decided I'd carry our Canon 100mm f/2.8 lens around for a few days and see what I could come up with. Macro work certainly poses challenges I didn't expect, but I learned a bit and I thought these few photos were a fun start. (Andy Abeyta/The Gazette)

Soybeans are seen in a field farmed by Jeff Pape of Dyersville on Wednesday, Oct. 9, 2019. Pape and other farmers depend on a reliable internet connection to help transmit real-time harvest data to their home computers and co-operatives. (Rebecca F. Miller/The Gazette)

Cows graze in a pasture during a tour of ITC's high-voltage power lines in the Cedar Rapids area on Friday, Oct. 11, 2019. The company inspectss its electric transmission lines twice per year, looking for downed trees and damaged infrastructure to be repaired. (Rebecca F. Miller/The Gazette)

The sun rises over frosty fields in rural Linn County outside of Springville on Saturday, Nov. 23, 2019. The frost quickly burned off as the sun rose and high temperatures reached the mid-40s on Saturday. (Liz Martin/The Gazette)

Union Pacific's Big Boy No. 4014 travels through Mount Vernon on its trip westward across Iowa on Tuesday, July 30, 2019. It is the largest steam locomotive ever built and spent Tuesday night in Cedar Rapids before traveling on to Des Moines as part of a commemoration of the Transcontinental Railroad's 150th anniversary. Photographed from the old Lincoln Highway bridge on the west end of Mount Vernon, which is now a pedestrian bridge. (Liz Martin/The Gazette)

James and Jared Garnant harvests soybeans on about 180 acres of farmland in rural Linn County north of Ely, Iowa, on Sunday, Oct. 13, 2019. Farmers across the state are taking advantage of the relatively good weather to harvest crops that were late to be planted due to rainy conditions in the spring and rainy conditions in the fall harvest time. (Jim Slosiarek/The Gazette)

'I was out with my dog for her before-bed walk Monday, Jan. 21, 2019, when I saw the halo around the moon,' said Gazette photojournalist Jim Slosiarek. We finished our walk rather quickly as I hoped I still had enough time to get in my car and search for a good foreground element to help with the composition of the photograph I wanted to make,' continued Slosiarek. 'I ended up getting stopped by a train along a gravel road several miles from my home in rural Amana, Iowa. I turned on my hazard lights and walked into the snow-covered ditch. Not having a tripod with me, I ended up laying on my back with the camera braced on my chest to get the composition and steadiness for the half second exposure.' (Jim Slosiarek/The Gazette)