Shawn has been a staff photographer at the Portland Press Herald since 2002. He previously worked for the Journal Tribune in Biddeford from 1993 to 2002, and as an intern with the Miami Herald in 1992. During his years with the Portland Press Herald Shawn has traveled to Iraq to document the work of the Maine Army National Guard, photographed the New England Patriots in the Super Bowl, and was the lead photographer on a year-long project chronicling the challenges of aging in Maine. This project earned the Portland Press Herald/Maine Sunday Telegram the prestigious Scripps Howard Award for Community Journalism, as well as Regional Emmy Award for one of the videos that documented a family’s journey with Hospice. He and his colleagues have recently focused their attention on the Coronavirus pandemic and the Black Lives Matter movement. As a native Mainer, whose family has been in Maine for seven generations, he feels fortunate for the opportunity to help tell the stories of Maine for the past 28 years and looks forward to many more. Shawn lives in Saco with his wife Amy, who is a fifth-grade teacher, and has two grown daughters.
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PublishedApril 18, 2022
In photos: Slowly, slowly, signs of spring
Officially, the first day of spring in 2022 was March 20. In Maine, March and April bring snow, frost, rain, mud and summer-like warmth within the space of a few days. Our signs of spring, like opening day at Red’s Dairy Freeze or the first Sea Dogs game, are celebrated whatever the weather. And nothing is as sweet as hearing the birds sing and seeing the first daffodils bloom halfway through April.
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PublishedApril 15, 2022
Rite of spring
Just as the birds come back and the daffodils pop up, another sure sign of spring is the sound of bats whacking balls as Little League starts up. Staff photos by Shawn Patrick Ouellette.
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PublishedApril 8, 2022
In photos: The best of March photography
March is the month when winter officially ends, spring takes hold, and daylight savings time, well, saves us. This year, it also brought us the start of spring high school sports outdoors, our first ice cream at Red’s Dairy Freeze, and, the heartbreaking news from the war in Ukraine. Here are some of the best photos of the month by Press Herald photographers.
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PublishedMarch 17, 2022
St. Patrick’s Day in photos: With pandemic restrictions lifted, Mainers say ‘sláinte!’
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PublishedMarch 7, 2022
In photos: A memorable February
It snowed, and thawed, and sleeted and thawed, and snowed some more. On the 23rd, we claimed spring for a day, breaking records when the temperature soared to the mid-60s. It was a month of bad ice, high energy costs, good skiing and great high school sports. Here are some of the best photos from the month by Press Herald photographers.
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PublishedFebruary 24, 2022
Photos: Maine high school basketball tournament
High school basketball players made the shots and our photographers caught the action. Here are some of our favorite photos from Maine’s high school basketball tournament, February 23, 2022.
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PublishedFebruary 7, 2022
In photos: Scenes of a frozen Maine
Portraits of winter in Maine by the Press Herald’s photographers
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PublishedFebruary 4, 2022
The best Press Herald photography in January 2022
January is the time we settle into the start of real winter with its bone-chilling cold, its scant hours of daylight, its snow and ice. Take a look at some of our best photography from the month as entertainment during a time of isolation.
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PublishedDecember 25, 2021
2021 Photos of the Year: Photographers’ Choice
2021 was a roller coaster ride. It started with mobs attacking the Capitol to try to overturn the presidential election and is ending with a new surge of the coronavirus. There was enough bad news – fires, floods, disasters of every natural and manmade kind – to make you want to bury your head under the covers and stay there. But there was also the miracle of vaccines – by the end of June, hardly any vaccinated people were dying of COVID-19. We gained a new appreciation of the simple but deep pleasures of meeting with family and friends, going to a country fair or a high school baseball game, looking for beauty in the flight of an owl or a solar eclipse at dawn. For our 2021 Photos of the Year collection, Portland Press Herald photographers voted on one another’s photos, then selected their own favorites from the top vote-getters. We hope you enjoy looking at them as much as we enjoyed taking them.
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PublishedDecember 25, 2021
2021 Photos Of the Year: A Pandemic Story
The wide availability of vaccines was supposed to get COVID-19 under control in 2021. Instead, the pandemic has worsened. With high levels of transmission and the arrival of the omicron variant, the winter months look bleak. But Mainers are resilient and resourceful. Children are in school, live entertainment has returned, and restaurants and other businesses survived – and in some cases thrived. Wearing masks has become commonplace, as has caring for our neighbors. Take a look back at the pandemic in Maine in 2021 through the eyes of Portland Press Herald photographers.