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A Tampa Bay Times photographer’s year in photos: Ivy Ceballo

10 moments to reflect on time together in 2021.
 
Reba Bowens, 32, of North Carolina, jumps while playing capoeira at the Florida Center for Capoeira’s first annual belt ceremony known in Portuguese as “Batizado” at Kodawari Studios in Tampa on Saturday, June 12, 2021.
Reba Bowens, 32, of North Carolina, jumps while playing capoeira at the Florida Center for Capoeira’s first annual belt ceremony known in Portuguese as “Batizado” at Kodawari Studios in Tampa on Saturday, June 12, 2021. [ IVY CEBALLO | Times ]
Published Dec. 1, 2021

I noticed a theme of human connection and relationships in my favorite photographs from the past year.

The images reveal what most of us missed in 2020 as communities, families, friends and sports fans felt more safe to share the same physical space again.

From the energy in the room as a local capoeira group sang and danced to celebrate finally hosting their first annual belt ceremony to a mother’s hesitation dropping off her first-grader for in-person learning, society tried to begin healing and process our collective grief.

The selection of moments below show how we cope and how we cherish our time together, perhaps more than we did before.

Joe McMiller, 35, and his daughter Ava McMiller, 8, return to Skate World together for the first time since the start of the pandemic last year during her spring break at Skate World in Tampa on Thursday, March 18, 2021. [ IVY CEBALLO | Times ]
Erik Esinhart proposes to Rebecca White before crossing the finish line of the Publix Gasparilla Distance Classic in Tampa on Saturday, May 8, 2021. [ IVY CEBALLO | Times ]

Read more: On Gasparilla morning, this couple began a journey at the finish line

Tampa Bay Rays right fielder Brett Phillips (35) celebrates with fans after hitting a three-run home run in a game-winning walk off beating the Detroit Tigers 7-4 in the tenth inning at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg on Friday, September 17, 2021. [ IVY CEBALLO | Times ]
Tampa Bay Lightning left wing Pat Maroon (14) skates around the arena to celebrate with cheering fans after earning his third Stanley Cup Championship title at Amalie Arena in Amalie Arena on Wednesday, July 7, 2021. [ IVY CEBALLO | Times ]
Jace Dinkins, 4, Robert Dinkins III, 6, Mariah Dinkins, 6, and Aubrey Murphy, 2, wait as their aunt and mother Jamelia Wilson, 26, distributes slices of cake in memory of her uncle Tyron Lewis at her mother’s St. Petersburg home on Sunday, Oct. 24, 2021. [ IVY CEBALLO | Times ]

Read more: 25 years after police killed TyRon Lewis, family’s pain persists

Kevin, 64, and Joan DiMaggio, 57, wave as people react to their vaccine costumes during Halloween on Central Ave. in St. Petersburg on Sunday, Oct. 31, 2021. The back of their costumes read “Millions of Americans find us very scary!” [ IVY CEBALLO | Times ]
Third Delaney, 5, gets his twin sister Lyric Delaney, 5, to help him make it up the curb while while driving Lyric's toy convertible in Tampa on Thursday, May 6, 2021. [ IVY CEBALLO | Times ]

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Mary Daniel, 58, tucks in her husband Steve Daniel, 67, who has Alzheimer’s, while he goes to bed at Rosecastle at Deerwood, an assisted living facility in Jacksonville, during her nightly visit on Thursday, May 20, 2021. [ IVY CEBALLO | Times ]

Read more: Florida woman’s pandemic journey takes her from dishwasher to political activist

First grader Davine Scott, 6, is held by her mother Melissa Rodriguez before starting her first day of first grade at Palm River Elementary in Tampa on Tuesday, August 10, 2021. [ IVY CEBALLO | Times ]