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My Best of 2019 in Photojournalism

Posted in On Assignment,Photojournalism

Happy New Year! Here are my favorite images that I’ve taken for The Jersey Journal newspaper from 2019. If you would like to see more, here are photos from previous years: 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015, 2014, 2013, 2012, 2011, 2010 and 2009. Thank you for looking!

KEARNY, N.J., SEP. 10, 2019 – Kearny’s Aytor Valdez made a bicycle kick during the boys soccer match with Union City at Laurel Hill Park. (Reena Rose Sibayan | The Jersey Journal)
JERSEY CITY, N.J., JAN. 11, 2019 – Heavily-armed police responded to a shooting at Newport Centre Mall. (Reena Rose Sibayan | The Jersey Journal)
JERSEY CITY, N.J., JAN 1, 2019 – Jonah, 7, son of Liberty State Park Deputy Superintendent Jonathan Luk, looked for wildlife through his binoculars during the First Day Hike hosted by the New Jersey State Park Service at Liberty State Park, a three-mile hike from the park office located at 200 Morris Pesin Drive to Caven Point Beach and back. Hikers were able to explore the man-made and natural shoreline of the Upper New York Bay, with views of the Statue of Liberty and New York Skyline, and the unique features of Caven Point Beach. (Reena Rose Sibayan | The Jersey Journal)
NORTH BERGEN, N.J., JAN. 24, 2019 – North Bergen players reacted to a foul committed by their team during the boys basketball game with Union City. (Reena Rose Sibayan | The Jersey Journal)
JERSEY CITY, N.J., JAN. 26, 2019 – Ana Lagundi, her face silhouetted to protect her identity, is an 87-year-old grandmother who was mugged on the staircase at the foot of Gates Avenue as she was returning home from church. (Reena Rose Sibayan | The Jersey Journal)
JERSEY CITY, N.J., FEB. 12, 2019 – The Lincoln Association of Jersey City held its 90th Wreath Laying Ceremony at Lincoln Park to celebrate the birthday of President Abraham Lincoln. Andrew Doran, member of the Lincoln Association of Jersey City, secured the wreath on Lincoln’s statue. “I’ve been doing this every year since I was in the Boys Scouts,” he said. (Reena Rose Sibayan | The Jersey Journal)
BAYONNE, N.J., FEB. 20, 2019 – Kensley Pelayo, 2, played at Stephen R. Gregg County Park. (Reena Rose Sibayan | The Jersey Journal)
From left to right, Valeria, 12; Emilia, 12; Sasha, 4; and Jack, 8, rolled down a hill at Stephen R. Gregg County Park. (Reena Rose Sibayan | The Jersey Journal)
BAYONNE, N.J., FEB. 21, 2019 – Teammates cheered on Stephanie Inciso of Dickinson as she competed in the girls 200-yard individual medley during the first day of the HCIAL Swimming Championships at Lincoln Community School. (Reena Rose Sibayan | The Jersey Journal)
BAYONNE, N.J., APRIL 26, 2019 – Gina Pronti with some of her rescue cats in her home. One of her cats, Jerry, has been missing since September and she has since hired animal communicators to help her find him. (Reena Rose Sibayan | The Jersey Journal)
SECAUCUS, N.J., APRIL 5, 2019 – Sheamus rang the bell inside the Tower 2 fire house during a visit with fellow WWE Superstar Cesaro. They delivered new furniture, kitchen appliances and board games all of which was paid for by cellular service provider Cricket Wireless. (Reena Rose Sibayan | The Jersey Journal)
WWE Superstar Sheamus, left, took on a challenge against Capt. Anthony Smentkowski Jr. to see who can put on a firefighter’s turnout gear first. (Reena Rose Sibayan | The Jersey Journal)
HOBOKEN, N.J., APRIL 9, 2019 – Deccan Bangalore, 3, enjoyed his ice cream cone outside Ben & Jerry’s on Washington Street which was giving away free ice cream to celebrate Free Cone Day. (Reena Rose Sibayan | The Jersey Journal)
JERSEY CITY, N.J., APRIL 10, 2019 – Jasmin Kenny of Snyder was hit by the pitch during the softball game with McNair at Enos Jones Park. (Reena Rose Sibayan | The Jersey Journal)
HOBOKEN, N.J., APRIL 12, 2019 – Aram Assadourian of Hoboken ran to home base during the baseball game with McNair at JFK Stadium. (Reena Rose Sibayan | The Jersey Journal)
BAYONNE, N.J., APRIL 15, 2019 — A downed tree at Kennedy Boulevard and 34th Street caused some street closures. (Reena Rose Sibayan | The Jersey Journal)
JERSEY CITY, N.J., APRIL 25, 2019 – Firefighters on tower ladders battled a three-alarm blaze at the Sims Metal Management scrap yard. (Reena Rose Sibayan | The Jersey Journal)
The smoke from the scrap yard fire was seen for miles. (Reena Rose Sibayan | The Jersey Journal)
HOLMDEL, N.J., MAY 20, 2019 – St. Peter’s University in Jersey City held its 128th Commencement at the PNC Bank Arts Center. (Reena Rose Sibayan | The Jersey Journal)
St. Peter’s University President Eugene Cornacchia hugged Paul and Barbara Kuzminski who accepted a posthumous Bachelor of Arts degree from the College of Arts & Sciences on behalf of their daughter, Stephanie Jane Kuzminski, who passed away on Jan. 9. (Reena Rose Sibayan | The Jersey Journal)
BAYONNE, N.J., MAY 23, 2019 – A. Harry Moore School in Jersey City, which serves students with a variety of special needs, held its prom at the Chandelier Restaurant. ((Reena Rose Sibayan | The Jersey Journal)
NORTH BERGEN, N.J., MAY 21, 2019 – Commissioner Allen Pascual put his hands together as in prayer and looked heavenward as church bells began to ring during his swearing in ceremony. (Reena Rose Sibayan | The Jersey Journal)
HOBOKEN, N.J., MAY 22, 2019 – Stevens Institute of Technology held its 147th undergraduate commencement at the Meadowlands Exposition Center. (Reena Rose Sibayan | The Jersey Journal)
Graduates moved the tassels on their mortar boards from right to left at the end of the ceremony. (Reena Rose Sibayan | The Jersey Journal)
HOBOKEN, N.J., MAY 28, 2019 – Brearley’s Antonino Principato tripped over the head of Hoboken’s Michael Effinger who stole second base during the semifinals of the NJSIAA North 2, Group 1 baseball tournament. (Reena Rose Sibayan | The Jersey Journal)
NEWARK, N.J., MAY 30, 2019 – Gov. Phil Murphy showed off his socks which he said he wore to match the college’s official color (teal) during the Hudson County Community College’s 42nd annual commencement ceremony at the New Jersey Performing Arts Center. (Reena Rose Sibayan | The Jersey Journal)
A graduate waved to her guest in the audience. (Reena Rose Sibayan | The Jersey Journal)
JERSEY CITY, N.J., JUNE 21, 2019 – The Jersey City Fire Department held its annual awards ceremony at City Hall. During the ceremony, Gregory Green was made an honorary deputy chief of the department for his 55 years of volunteer service. When Green was 10 years old, Jersey City firefighters rescued him from a house fire. In the 55 years since his rescue, Green has been a frequent visitor at the firehouse at 582 Communipaw Ave., where over the years he has helped with chores and kept the firefighters company. He calls it his “second home.” (Reena Rose Sibayan | The Jersey Journal)
BAYONNE, N.J., JUNE 24, 2019 – Graduates cheered during Bayonne High School’s 132nd Commencement Exercises at Don Ahern Veterans Memorial Stadium. (Reena Rose Sibayan | The Jersey Journal)
NORTH BERGEN, N.J., JUNE 25, 2019 – A mother hugged her daughter during the North Bergen High School commencement exercises for the Class of 2019. (Reena Rose Sibayan | The Jersey Journal)
JERSEY CITY, N.J., JUNE 26, 2019 – Jersey City Together held a rally at the start of the city council meeting to urge city leadership to amend the 2019 municipal budget to include $16M in funding for schools. (Reena Rose Sibayan | The Jersey Journal)
JERSEY CITY, N.J., JUNE 28, 2019 – Kids 9 to 14 years old participated in Richard Glover’s All Access to Life Foundation Youth Football Camp at Caven Point. (Reena Rose Sibayan | The Jersey Journal)
JERSEY CITY, N.J., JULY 24, 2019 – Gail Albright, left, and Theresa Franklin, comforted each other at the vigil for Markell Albright, 21, who was killed the night before on Wilkinson Avenue. Both women are members of the organization A Mother’s Pain, a Jersey City group of mothers whose sons have lost their lives to violence. (Reena Rose Sibayan | The Jersey Journal)
White balloons were released to the sky during the vigil. (Reena Rose Sibayan | The Jersey Journal)
JERSEY CITY, N.J., AUG. 22, 2019 – The Royal Air Force Red Arrows from the United Kingdom painted the sky with red, white and blue smoke during a historic three-team flight down the Hudson River and over the Statue of Liberty with the U.S. Air Force Thunderbirds and F-35 Lightning II Demo Team. (Reena Rose Sibayan | The Jersey Journal)
JERSEY CITY, N.J., SEPT. 11, 2019 – Newark firefighter Jonathan Detres played the bagpipes during the annual Circle of Honor Remembrance ceremony at the 9/11 Memorial Fountain in Journal Square Plaza in Jersey City on the 18th anniversary of 9/11. Behind him are Hudson County Sheriff’s Office recruits. (Reena Rose Sibayan | The Jersey Journal)
BAYONNE, N.J., SEPT. 11, 2019 – The Tribute in Light shone from Lower Manhattan, with the One World Trade Center, the Empire State Building lit up in red, white and blue, and the Statue of Liberty, as seen across the Hudson River on the 18th anniversary of 9/11. (Reena Rose Sibayan | The Jersey Journal)
BAYONNE, N.J., SEPT. 11, 2019 — Valentine Koltunowicz, volunteer bugler with Bugles Across America, played “Taps: during the annual Interfaith Memorial Service and Candlelight Vigil at the 9/11 Harborview Memorial Park at the Peninsula at Bayonne Harbor on the 18th anniversary of 9/11. (Reena Rose Sibayan | The Jersey Journal)
Andrea McCabe, right, helped her daughter, Caitlin, place carnations on the Teardrop Memorial on top of the column where the name of Donald James McIntyre, is etched. McIntyre, a Port Authority police officer who died on 9/11, was a close friend of Andrea’s and of her husband’s, Daniel, both with the PAPD. Andrea said she was a sergeant at the time 9/11 happened and knew all of the 37 Port Authority police officers who died on 9/11. (Reena Rose Sibayan | The Jersey Journal)
JERSEY CITY, N.J., SEPT. 16, 2019 – Natalie Pinto of St. Dominic went for a header during the girls soccer match with Bayonne at Lincoln Park. (Reena Rose Sibayan | The Jersey Journal)
NORTH BERGEN, N.J., SEPT. 19, 2019 — North Bergen’s Xavier Figeroa celebrated scoring another touchdown in the first half of the football game with Kearny. (Reena Rose Sibayan | The Jersey Journal)
GUTTENBERG, N.J., SEPT. 20, 2019 – At 95 years of age, Joe Schneider is retiring from the embroidery business and is dismantling his machines — one of the very last to do so in the region. He will donate remaining machine plates of historical value to the Stevens Tech Library. (Reena Rose Sibayan | The Jersey Journal)
BAYONNE, N.J., SEPT. 24, 2019 – Shmuly Bennish, 2, helped bake a honey cake made of flour, baking powder, sugar, cocoa, eggs and honey as Rabbi Yisrael Bennish, co-director of Chabad of Bayonne, and his family prepared for the High Holy Days. (Reena Rose Sibayan | The Jersey Journal)
JERSEY CITY, N.J., SEPT. 25, 2019 – Makila Billingsley of Hudson Catholic celebrated a point during the girls volleyball game with West Morris Central. (Reena Rose Sibayan | The Jersey Journal)
JERSEY CITY, N.J., OCT. 11, 2019 – Mariah Cain, captain of Team Dragonair, demonstrated her team’s personal human flying machine, the Airboard, on the lawn of the Liberty Science Center. Team Dragonair is one of the finalists for the international GoFly Prize. The GoFly Prize is a $2-million-plus global competition created by Connecticut entrepreneur Gwen Lighter that involves 840 teams comprising 3800 innovators from 103 countries – all working to transform the entire transportation industry through the creation of personal human flying machines. The GoFly Final Fly Off will be held in the San Francisco Bay Area in the heart of Silicon Valley on Feb. 29, 2020 – Leap Day. (Reena Rose Sibayan | The Jersey Journal)
JERSEY CITY, N.J., OCT. 24, 2019 – Kearny celebrated a goal scored by Skyler Matusz, right, during the Hudson County Tournament girls soccer finals with Bayonne at Caven Point Athletic Complex. (Reena Rose Sibayan | The Jersey Journal)
HOBOKEN, N.J., OCT. 31, 2019 – Hundreds of grownups and children dressed up in costumes marched in the annual Hoboken Ragamuffin Parade and went trick-or-treating at local businesses on Washington Street. (Reena Rose Sibayan | The Jersey Journal)
HARRISON, N.J., NOV. 8, 2019 – Hernon Goday (10) of Bernards and Ederson La Torre (4) of Harrison jumped up for a header during the NJSIAA North 2, Group 2 boys soccer final. Bernards won in penalty kicks after double OT. (Reena Rose Sibayan | The Jersey Journal)
Bernards celebrated their win over Harrison. (Reena Rose Sibayan | The Jersey Journal)
Ederson La Torre (4) of Harrison was consoled after losing the tight match to Bernards. (Reena Rose Sibayan | The Jersey Journal)
JERSEY CITY, N.J., NOV. 16, 2019 – Byron Shipman (11) of St. Peter’s Prep avoided a tackle by Rickey Spruill (36) of Notre Dame and made a one-handed catch at the end zone to score a touchdown during the NJSIAA Non-Public, Group 4 quarterfinal at the Caven Point Athletic Complex. (Reena Rose Sibayan | The Jersey Journal)
Zyeiar Miller (6) of St. Peter’s Prep celebrated a touchdown. (Reena Rose Sibayan | The Jersey Journal)
JERSEY CITY, N.J., NOV. 20, 2019 – Sherry Thomas, left, a senior building maintenance worker and chapter president of the IFPTE Local 195, and Brian Hutchison, professor and department chair of Counselor Education, led the chants during a labor rally on the campus of New Jersey City University (NJCU) to demand a fair contract during a ‘Unified Day of Action organized by the American Federation of Teachers (AFT) Local 1839. (Reena Rose Sibayan | The Jersey Journal)
Members of the of the NJCU Jazz Orchestra performed in a New Orleans-style second line at the rally. (Reena Rose Sibayan | The Jersey Journal)
BAYONNE, N.J., DEC. 2, 2019 – Jordan Moia, 6, tried to catch a snowflake on his tongue as he walked home from school on Broadway during the winter’s first snowfall. (Reena Rose Sibayan | The Jersey Journal)
JERSEY CITY, N.J., DEC. 11, 2019 – Emergency services and recovery units worked at the JC Kosher Supermarket on Martin Luther King Jr. Drive a day after a mass shooting. Mayor Steve Fulop has called the attack an anti-semitic hate crime. (Reena Rose Sibayan | The Jersey Journal)
This man’s car was damaged by gunfire during the shooting. (Reena Rose Sibayan | The Jersey Journal)
JERSEY CITY, N.J., DEC. 13, 2019 – Students Demand Action, Moms Demand Action, Hudson Partnership CMO, and Jersey City Anti-Violence Coalition hosted a candlelight vigil outside the City Hall annex to honor and remember the victims of the recent mass shooting. (Reena Rose Sibayan | The Jersey Journal)
JERSEY CITY, N.J., DEC. 17, 2019 – Thousands of officers from every police department in New Jersey and beyond paid their respects at the funeral of Jersey City Det. Joseph Seals at St. Aedan’s Church. Seals was fatally shot at Bayview Cemetery a week before by two gunmen who afterwards attacked a kosher supermarket killing three civilians in what the mayor has called an anti-semitic hate crime. (Reena Rose Sibayan | The Jersey Journal)
The family of Jersey City Det. Joseph Seals watched as his casket was placed inside the hearse after the funeral Mass at St. Aedan’s Church. (Reena Rose Sibayan | The Jersey Journal)
Jersey City Det. Joseph Seals’s wife, Laura, tearfully hugged the flag which was draped over his casket. (Reena Rose Sibayan | The Jersey Journal)
Jersey City police officers embraced after the funeral of Det. Joseph Seals. (Reena Rose Sibayan | The Jersey Journal)
BAYONNE, N.J., DEC. 19, 2019 – Bayonne firefighters battled a two-alarm blaze at 247 Broadway, near 10th Street. (Reena Rose Sibayan | The Jersey Journal)
Bayonne firefighters battled a two-alarm blaze at 247 Broadway, near 10th Street. (Reena Rose Sibayan | The Jersey Journal)
JERSEY CITY, N.J., DEC. 23, 2019 – St. Peter’s Prep players reacted as a free throw is awarded to Montclair with only two seconds left in the shot clock in the fourth quarter and the Marauders leading only by a point during the boys basketball. In the end, St. Peter’s Prep won, 61-60. (Reena Rose Sibayan | The Jersey Journal)

by Reena

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  • Maria LopezJanuary 17, 2020 - 4:03 am

    Amazing shoots, Reenarose! 😙ReplyCancel

    • ReenaJanuary 23, 2020 - 2:33 pm

      Thank you, Tita Tess!ReplyCancel

  • Sam PesinJanuary 20, 2020 - 3:18 am

    stunning photos Reena! Thank you for your amazing photography documenting life in our city and countyReplyCancel

    • ReenaJanuary 23, 2020 - 2:32 pm

      Thank you, Sam!ReplyCancel

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