Hansen: A breakdown of some of my favorite images from 2024

How do you sum up a year?

After hundreds of assignments and tens of thousands of photos, selecting my favorite frames from 2024 was no small task.

The past 365 days saw record-breaking performances from Caitlin Clark as she capped her Iowa women’s basketball career, weather events — including snowstorms and tornados — an election, and everything in between.

Below are breakdowns of three of my favorite photos from 2024, but I hope you’ll take time to scroll through the accompanying photo gallery to see all the images.

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Confetti shoots around Iowa’s women’s basketball team as they congratulate Caitlin Clark (22) on her NCAA all-time scoring record Thursday, Feb. 15, 2024 at Carver-Hawkeye Arena in Iowa City, Iowa.

Clark’s record-breaking night:

Much has been written about Clark’s storied career from logo 3’s to buzzer-beating shots and back-to-back trips to the National Title game. In this particular moment, on the night she broke Kelsey Plum’s NCAA women’s basketball scoring record, as the confetti fell, Clark wasn’t celebrating alone, but rather with the team that took that historic ride with her. The varied expressions of joy and surprise on everybody’s faces simply added to the magic.

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Neighbors help Rick Brenneman clean up his property after a tornado hit his barn near 540th Street SW and Angle Road SW Friday, May 24, 2024 near Frytown, Iowa.

Brenneman’s barn crushed by tornado

While eastern Iowa was spared the kind of tornado-caused devastation seen in Greenfield, we were not entirely immune to the storms. One such storm created a tornado that flattened Rick Brenneman’s barn near the Kalona Creamery.

When I arrived on scene, neighbors were already helping Brenneman clear the damage — a testament to both the unpredictability of midwestern weather and the reliability of friends and neighbors that make “Iowa Nice” ring true.

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Alan Carrillo, left, and Danielle Coe, both of Iowa City, cradle a kitten found in a soybean field along the RAGBRAI route between Mount Pleasant and Mediapolis Saturday, July 27, 2024.

Kitten found along RAGBRAI route:

Growing up the daughter of two born-and-raised Iowans — albeit across the river in Omaha — I’d heard the legends of RAGBRAI. Still, I couldn’t have imagined the scene that would find me while covering my inaugural ride.

This tender moment captures the dilemma Alan Carrillo and Danielle Coe faced as they contemplated what to do with a kitten found in a nearby soybean field between Mount Pleasant and Mediapolis. Ultimately, they decided to try and carry the kitten as far as they could.

Each time I see this photo, I’m reminded of all the lovely things there are to see in this world if we stop and look — and if we have a little luck of course.

Julia Hansen is a photographer for the Press-Citizen. She covers high school and Iowa Hawkeyes sports and news events.

This article originally appeared on Iowa City Press-Citizen: Take a look a back at 2024 with these photos of the year

Image Credits and Reference: https://www.yahoo.com/news/hansen-breakdown-favorite-images-2024-152353042.html