Don Seabrook | November's best photos

As a photojournalist, I’m more interested in documenting people, who they are and the interesting things they do. But at times, I see possibilities for interesting photographs in the natural beauty and dramatic light we are blessed with in North Central Washington. I was driving to work on Nov. 3 and noticed mist on top of the Columbia River before sunrise. I waited for the sunrise to pop out from clouds for a few minutes, capturing birds swimming in the backlit steam.

On election night, I attended a party for candidate Anne Hessburg at Pybus Public Market. I kept an eye on her, following around the room while waiting for someone to notify her of results when they came in. Under the stage in the room, children had been popping their heads out while they played underneath for much of the night. I kneeled on the floor, waiting for Hessburg to get into my frame and was fortunate when she hugged her sister in the background.

I met Jim Moore last year as he was putting away a boat after rowing on the Columbia River. I tucked away his information after he told me he was looking to set up a shop to work on his sculptures. When I called him at the beginning of the month and visited him while he was working, he warned me about watching him weld two pieces of a sculpture together — the bright light could damage my eyes. I prefocussed my camera and shut my eyes while engaging the shutter to come up with this image.

Photographing bowling is always a challenge because the lighting drops off dramatically from where the teams congregate to where they throw the ball. I tried a new approach on Nov. 15 and used a slow shutter speed while panning the bowlers to show the movement of the bowlers.

The hockey game finished and I was about to make my way across the ice from the area between the team benches when I noticed players moving toward the Wenatchee Wild’s goalie. I was able to grab a celebration photograph between the two stars of the game with Salmon Arm.

Freelance writer Dee Riggs had submitted a story on an exercise class for Parkinson’s patients and I was able to document a couple of classes on Nov. 17. I was struck by how each person was physically separated in their exercises, but how emotionally they were connected with each other and Paula Lamanna, the leader of the group.

Always on the lookout for feature photo ideas while I’m driving, I spotted two girls raking leaves in a front yard. I talked to their grandmother and then photographed them raking, falling, having a leaf fight and then Hazel throwing leaves into the air over her head.

With one of the first snows on Nov. 22, there were multiple accidents around both Columbia River bridges. I was on my way to photograph the premier of the movie "Devotion," but stopped to talk to a trucker who was struggling with chaining up, trying to get up Ninth Street in East Wenatchee.

I then decided to go to the movie theater along Sunset Highway. When that became closed, I made my way up to the Eastmont Avenue bypass and across Odabashian Bridge. The bridge was clogged with trucks, so I found a spot to photograph the traffic mess from the Chelan County side looking back to the Douglas County side.

On Thanksgiving, I needed to find a story to photograph for the paper on Saturday and discovered an annual Turkey Bowl game that was also a toy collection fundraiser. There were a lot of opportunities for good photographs and I liked this one best with the defender getting a face full of snow.

I photographed my first basketball games of the season at Eastmont High School on Nov. 29. I use two cameras fitted with different lenses, one for action under the basket, and the other, longer lens, for action at the other end of the court. All three of these favorite photographs came from the longer lens (300mm 2.8). In sports photography, I try to capture interesting moments and I think all three of these do just that.