Photos: September 2020 News Photos of the Month

Coopr [cq], a nine-month-old King Charles Spaniel, watches from the driver's seat as Brecken Moneypenny gets out of the car for his first day of second grade at Viola Gibson Elementary School in Cedar Rapids on Monday, Sept. 21, 2020. (Liz Martin/The Gazette)

Fia, 4, (left) and Kaia McCormick, 2, (right) play on a bounce pad at Colony Pumpkin Patch in North Liberty on Sunday, Sept. 20, 2020. (Andy Abeyta/The Gazette)

First grader Zuly Palante raises her hand as she participates in class via computer video at the home of Callista Ruopp in Iowa City, Iowa, on Thursday, Sept. 10, 2020. (Jim Slosiarek/The Gazette)

Dedric Doolin of Cedar Rapids and Jorel Robinson of Cedar Rapids hold candles at a candlelight vigil for Breonna Taylor at NewBo City Market in Cedar Rapids on Monday, Sept. 21, 2020. Community members spoke about the importance of voting, running for public office and continuing work to end systemic racism. (Rebecca F. Miller/The Gazette)

Hazel LeGrand-Leverett, 4, of Cedar Rapids hands out carnations at a candlelight vigil for Breonna Taylor at NewBo City Market in Cedar Rapids on Monday, Sept. 21, 2020. Community members spoke about the importance of voting, running for public office and continuing work to end systemic racism. (Rebecca F. Miller/The Gazette)

A fisherman pulls in a catch along the shoreline of Lake MacBride as haze from wildfires on the West Coast fill the sky at sunset in Solon on Monday, Sept. 14, 2020. After noticing haze in the sky all day I decided to push back an afternoon kayaking on the lake so that we'd be on the water around sunset. It was a surreal sight. It isn't the first time I've seen wildfire smoke from the West Coast in Iowa but it hits closer to home this time. The small town of Detroit, Oregon, appears to have been completely lost to one of the fires. The town lays alongside Detroit Lake, a five square-mile reservoir attracting anglers, recreational boaters, hikers and campers to the area. I grew spending countless hours of summer there and regularly camped nearby in a forested park that I hear is largely destroyed as well. As we continue to recover from the derecho in our area, I'm heartbroken to see more and more loss all along the West Coast as record-breaking wildfires rage on. With many of my family and friends stuck indoors due to unhealthy air conditions, it only felt right to enjoy what we still have in Lake MacBride. (Andy Abeyta/The Gazette)

The wavy glass and cracks of a pierce of shattered glass creates an ethereal quality to multi-colored lights in Walford, Iowa, on Monday, Sept. 14, 2020. (Jim Slosiarek/The Gazette)

A tree is seen still standing despite severe damage after the Aug. 10 derecho on William Court NW in Cedar Rapids on Thursday, Sept. 24, 2020. (Andy Abeyta/The Gazette)

A monarch butterfly perches on a gomphrena in the garden of Janis Russell in Iowa City on Tuesday, Sept. 15, 2020. (Liz Martin/The Gazette)

A debris pile is seen as fishermen fish the lake at Pleasant Creek State Recreation Area in Palo, Iowa, on Thursday, Sept. 24, 2020. The campground has reopened following cleanup of damage from the Aug. 10 derecho storm. (Jim Slosiarek/The Gazette)

Christine Lehman-Engledow of Swisher attends a vigil dressed as the Statue of Liberty accompanying three men to their mandatory check-in at the Homeland Security Investigations office in Cedar Rapids on Tuesday, Sept. 1, 2020. The vigil was organized by the Iowa City Catholic Worker House and included community members from other organizations including the Eastern Iowa Bond Project and Advocates for Social Justice. (Liz Martin/The Gazette)

Ashden Graham, 17, a Marion High Schoo student, and Tanner Veit, 17, a Linn-Mar student, chop wood as they work to haul debris from the backyard at a home in Marion on Friday, Sept. 25, 2020. The Marion Economic Development Corporation is working with local schools to engage students and help them gain experience in various building trades by rehabilitating older homes around Marion. (Rebecca F. Miller/The Gazette)

Co-owner Chuck Schillig looks through a wall torn open by the winds of the Aug. 10 derecho at Westfield Tennis in Cedar Rapids on Wednesday, Sept. 16, 2020. The building, built in 1976, needs a new roof and new iron support beams at the end of the structure. The business was closed for six weeks at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic along with gyms across the state but was able to open for nearly normal operations with tennis players during the summer until the derecho. (Andy Abeyta/The Gazette)

Romina Pacheco, 4, watches her tablet screen as her teacher reads 'Pete the Cat' in her preschool class at the Iowa City Neighborhood NESTS location at at Open Heartland in Iowa City, Iowa, on Monday, Sept. 21, 2020. (Jim Slosiarek/The Gazette)

David Kutter of Cedar Rapids stands by his vehicle wearing a Joe Biden mask while waiting to hear former second lady Jill Biden speak during a drive-in rally at Kirkwood Community College in Cedar Rapids on Saturday, Sept. 26, 2020. (Andy Abeyta/The Gazette)

Former second lady Jill Biden waits on stage to speak during a drive-in rally at Kirkwood Community College in Cedar Rapids on Saturday, Sept. 26, 2020. (Andy Abeyta/The Gazette)

Photographed through the plastic sheeting creating a booth, Cornell College senior international relations and German double major and student government vice president Maddie Huntzinger takes a nasal swab from Nancy Reasland Pandemic Response Coordinator as she gets tested for Covid19 coronavirus at the Student Health Center at Cornell College in Mount Vernon, Iowa, Monday, Sept. 14, 2020. The antigen test used by the college uses a self-administered nasal swab sample which isn't as uncomfortable as a nasopharyngeal swab sample. (Jim Slosiarek/The Gazette)

Jax Musser, 11, of Marion gives himself an eye hole to see through in a clay mask he's forming during an Art in the Garden event at Brucemore in Cedar Rapids on Sunday, Sept. 13, 2020. (Andy Abeyta/The Gazette)

I like this candid moment after I took a portrait of a mother and her four children with their kittens. I like the pattern of mom hugging kid and kid hugging kitten. The photograph didn't fit with the story since it only showed one child and one kitten but as a photographer it's difficult to pass up such a nice moment. Molly Rocarek kisses her daughter Oakley, 3, as the girl holds Tinker Bell at the family's home in Mount Vernon, Iowa, on Friday, Sept. 18, 2020. Tinker Bell along with Flash are the two kittens that mother Molly found after the Aug. 10 Derecho storm. The family later adopted two more kittens so each of the four children had their own. (Jim Slosiarek/The Gazette)

Trump campaign spokeswoman Erin Perrine (left) and Penny Nance (left), president of Concerned Women for America look at the Iowa Firefighters Memorial statue as they tour the memorial with other surrogates as they campaign for Donald Trump at the Iowa Firefighters Memorial in Coralville, Iowa, on Friday, Sept. 11, 2020. The Trump bus is on a 12-stop tour of the state. (Jim Slosiarek/The Gazette)

Boaters stand as the Star-Spangled Banner is played during a boat parade near Mehaffey Bridge at Coralville Reservoir in Solon on Monday, Sept. 7, 2020. Around 100 boats and hundreds of pedestrian onlookers gathered at the Mehaffey Bridge Road area with American and Trump flags and played the Star-Spangled Banner on Monday afternoon after boating from launch points to the north and south. (Liz Martin/The Gazette)

Iowa Marching Band percussionist Jenna Springer performs a drum roll as 30 fish sculptures are unveiled during a ceremony at Hancher Auditorium in Iowa City, Iowa, on Friday, Sept. 25, 2020. (Jim Slosiarek/The Gazette)

Head custodian Effie Redig helps a young student with her face visor as students arrive during the first day of in-person classes at Shimek Elementary School, 1400 Grissel Place, in Iowa City, Iowa, on Monday, Sept. 28, 2020. The school has an enrollment of about 205 students. The school district has been in online-only learning for the past three weeks and started the hybrid learning model Monday. (Jim Slosiarek/The Gazette)

Kathy Colton of Marion hands a piece of skirting board to Katie Bellows, 17, of Cedar Rapids while working to repair the skirting of a mobile home at Edgewood Forest in Cedar Rapids on Wednesday, Sept. 2, 2020. Matthew 25 volunteers were salvaging skirting from mobile homes that will be demolished and using the materials to repair damaged skirting on other homes in the park. (Liz Martin/The Gazette)

Dani Cosner (right) with her son Isaiah, 9, and daughter Brooklyn, 12, at their home in Iowa City, Iowa, on Wednesday, Sept. 2, 2020. Isaiah is entering fourth grade while Brooklyn will be a seventh grader. (Jim Slosiarek/The Gazette)

aA crew removes a sycamore tree in Greene Square Park in Cedar Rapids on Tuesday, Sept. 15, 2020. Eight trees in the park were marked for removal due to damage they sustained in the storm. (Rebecca F. Miller/The Gazette)in Greene Square Park in Cedar Rapids on Tuesday, Sept. 15, 2020. Eight trees in the park were marked for removal due to damage they sustained in the storm. (Rebecca F. Miller/The Gazette)

The stump is all that remains of a shade tree in Greene Square Park in Cedar Rapids on Tuesday, Sept. 15, 2020. Eight trees in the park were marked for removal due to damage they sustained in the storm. (Rebecca F. Miller/The Gazette)

Jerry Hutton walks betweens rows of maple trees at Fleming Nursery, 7900 Peterman Lane, in northeast Cedar Rapids, Iowa, on Saturday, Sept. 12, 2020. (Jim Slosiarek/The Gazette)

People play pickle ball at GreenState Family Fieldhouse, which adjoins Xtream Arena, in Coralville on Wednesday, Sept. 9, 2020. (Liz Martin/The Gazette)

Everyone is looking for moments of levity right now. I found mine after a morning photographing tree cleanup along the trails at Indian Creek Nature Center. It was and is a daunting task, requiring park managers to clear and sometimes reroute trails altogether because of the extensive tree damage they sustained in the derecho. As we emergeged from the wind-whipped forest, there was Kai standing patiently on top of his owner's car and kept safely out of the Otis Road traffic. Kai, a dog belonging to Nova (right), stands on top of their car on Thursday, Aug. 27, 2020. The two were returning from a walk along the Sac and Fox Trail at Indian Creek Nature Center. (Rebecca F. Miller/The Gazette)

A squirrel climbs a tree along the 10th fairway during the CRANDIC meet at Gardner Golf Course in Marion on Wednesday, Sept. 30, 2020. (Andy Abeyta/The Gazette)

A dried up leaf is seen in the pile of debris still waiting to be collected in front of my house in Cedar Rapids on Sunday, Sept. 6, 2020. (Andy Abeyta/The Gazette)

Pumpkins are seen on display at Colony Pumpkin Patch in North Liberty on Sunday, Sept. 20, 2020. (Andy Abeyta/The Gazette)

A utility worker raises a transmission line as workers with Goodwin House Moving in Washington, Iowa, moves a house along Fourth Avenue in Marion, Iowa, on Wednesday, Sept. 9, 2020. The house is the first of two that is being moved from land that will be home to the new Marion Public Library. Joe Hill, a private business owner from San Diego, Calif., plans to develop the two houses, which were built in the 1800s, into a 19-unit apartment complex named Carriage Corner. Carriage Corner will be on Fourth Avenue and Ninth Street. (Jim Slosiarek/The Gazette)

The reflection of people waiting in line is seen in the window of the Ladd Library with the inspiration CR Strong printed on it at a Iowa Department of Human Services disaster food assistance application site at the Ladd Library parking lot in southwest Cedar Rapids, Iowa, on Tuesday, Sept. 1, 2020. (Jim Slosiarek/The Gazette)

Evergreen branches, blown into the photographer's yard during the Aug. 10 storm, on Sunprint paper in Cedar Rapids on Tuesday, Sept. 22, 2020. (Liz Martin/The Gazette)

It's stone fruit season and thanks to fruit share I'm getting through my CSA subscription, I've got lots of fresh locally grown peaches around (and some damsen plums, which I start to watch for around this time of year). These survived the post-derecho power outage and I wanted to use them in something quick and pie-like to celebrate their flavor and also the fact that I finally feel like cooking again. I'm shooting these with my smartphone camera (iPhone SE...nothing fancy, but it does the trick). When you're photographing a series for social media, it's good to keep visual variety in mind: photograph from different perspectives and at different steps in the process. My first shot is wider and shows some of the context of the prep work. It's nice to show viewers the whole fruit before you get too far into prep. (Rebecca F. Miller/The Gazette)

It's getting to be the time of year when we start to pack up our gardening gear and get things ready for winter. But turning inward doesn't have to mean the season of abundance is over. Using your phone camera and a macro lens attachment, you can explore the amazingness that exists inside of those veggies you enjoyed all summer. Seeds do some pretty heavy lifting when it comes to our food, and adults and kids alike can learn something from taking a closer look at these tiny powerhouses. (Rebecca F. Miller/The Gazette)