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Cedar Rapids, Iowa 52401
The Iowa Photo: Luminescent
Photojournalist Savannah Blake, of The Gazette, find a unique image on assignment
Jan. 4, 2026 5:30 am
The Gazette offers audio versions of articles using Instaread. Some words may be mispronounced.
While photographing the Noon Year’s Eve pool party celebration at Mercer Park Aquatic Center, I noticed a large lift being brought into the pool area to drop beach balls into the pool for their noon celebration.
As City of Iowa City employee Brennan Russell began loading the bags of beach balls into the lift with him I noticed the light behind him giving him a halo-type effect. As he began raising the lift, the impact of the light around him centered more around his face and I thought it would make for a cool shot. It’s always fun to look for things that are out of the ordinary during an assignment and walking away with a unique image that you weren’t expecting to find is the cherry on top.
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