WABE 2022: A year in photos

Below is a collection of photos our Digital team has selected as we reflected on how we brought the news to you visually this year. 2022 was the year of response. We saw how communities, industries, and government are responding to our changing climate through our The Heat Effect series. We witnessed a community of beekeepers quickly respond to a call to action, scrambling to save thousands of bees left stranded at Hartsfield-Jackson Airport. We saw how women and activists responded to the Supreme Court’s dramatic change to abortion rights with the repeal of Roe v. Wade. Along with journalists from the world over, our team covered Georgia’s response to an extended and exhaustive midterm election cycle and how that election system and politicians responded to a changing Georgia. 

We’ll continue to show you how Atlanta and its communities respond, endure, thrive, and grow in 2023.

By Matthew Pearson

WABE News Photographer


Click on the photo to see and read more.

Rivian neighbors oppose plant
Dozens of residents who live near the planned site of Rivian’s electric truck factory spoke against the plant Tuesday in Madison. (Emil Moffatt/WABE)
Adam Blue, with non-profit Stand With Us, leads a session for parents at Temple Kol Emeth in Marietta. The organization helps parents and students identify and confront antisemitism on high school and college campuses. (Kaitlin Kolarik/For WABE)
In a year-long investigation, WABE followed Ms. Peaches in her fight for decent housing at the blighted Forest Cove apartments. Soon after the series, the city launched a relocation effort. Months later, Ms. Peaches is finally in her new housing. (Alphonso Whitfield/WABE)
Millions of bees were left to die on a tarmac out in Georgia sun after a shipment from California to Alaska was diverted to Georgia. (Matthew Pearson/WABE)
Beekeepers checking to see if a queen in one of the packages of bees had survived. (Matthew Pearson/WABE)
Confederate Memorial Day at Stone Mountain Park, Atlanta, Georgia, USA on April 30, 2022. (Matthew Pearson/WABE)
Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp speaks to a supporter at B.J. Reece Orchad during a campaign stop in Ellijay, Georgia on May 19, 2022. (Matthew Pearson/WABE)
Abortion-rights activists marched in downtown Atlanta on Saturday, May 7, 2022. Members of a religious group did their best to dissuade the crowd of supporters. (Matthew Pearson/WABE)
Porch’se Miller, a community organizer with the NAACP uses a megaphone to lead a group of abortion-rights activists in a chant during a march in downtown Atlanta on Saturday May, 7, 2022 in respons to the leaked draft opinion on Roe v. Wade by the US Supreme Court. (Matthew Pearson/WABE)
Bill Crumpler ignites wood chips in a bee smoker in preparation to examine the hives that were rescued from Atlanta’s Hartsfield-Jackson Airport a month before. (Matthew Pearson/WABE)
Howard Knight has been teaching her class about several bills approved by the Georgia legislature this year, including the divisive concepts law. (Kaitlin Kolarik/For WABE)
Kyle Clark plays the flute, an instrument he learned as a way to connect to his Cherokee heritage while he was fighting bone cancer. (Matthew Pearson/WABE)
Congresswomen Nikema Williams and Lucy McBath march with Olivia Schramkowski at the Georgia March for Our Lives in Atlanta, Ga on Saturday, June 11, 2022. (Matthew Pearson/WABE)
Members of the Wall of Vets take up the rear, creating a barrier between the Abortion-rights protesters and a group of Proud Boys during the second day of protests in Atlanta, Ga on June 25, 2022. (Matthew Pearson/WABE)
A young girl holds a sign while marching with her family, behind her, members fo the Wall of Vets take up the rear dung a abortion-rights protest on June 25, 2022. (Matthew Pearson/WABE)
Cedar Grove head coach John Adams said he stresses preparation with the athletes. (Matthew Pearson/WABE)
E.J. Colson, a sophmore quarterback for Grove High School, smiles during a water break in practice. The Georgia High School Association mandates a certain number of breaks per hour of practice. The number increases as the heat climbs. Matthew Pearson/WABE)
Youth soccer players from the Clarkston and neighboring communities struggle for control of the ball at midfield during a friendly scrimmage match on a newly opened StationSoccer field at MARTA’s Kensington Station on Saturday, July 16, 2022. (Matthew Pearson/WABE)
Shaquille O'Neal
Former NBA star Shaquille O’Neal was part of a recent campaign in Atlanta, promoting Papa Johns’ “Dough & Degrees” program. (Emil Moffatt/WABE)
Two Atlanta Forest Defenders stand near Intrenchment Creek near the site of the proposed $90m traning center the city of Atlanta plans to build for police and firefighters. (Matthew Pearson/WABE)
Paths throughout the forest in Southeast Atlanta are blocked with barricades of branches and tires set up by Forest Defenders in order to limit entry of law enforcement and construction of the proposed training facility in the South River Forest. (Matthew Pearson/WABE)
Al Pearson holds peaches grown on his family’s orchard, which as been in operation for five generations. (Matthew Pearson/WABE)
Al Pearson holds peaches grown on his family’s orchard, which as been in operation for five generations. (Matthew Pearson/WABE)
The soldiers of Bravo Company, First Battalion 507th Infantry Airborne jog during their three-week airborne training school at Ft. Benning, Ga. The heat index on this day will eventually reach 98 degrees. (Matthew Pearson/WABE)
Truist Park

The view from the last row of Section 410 at Truist Park as the Atlanta Braves face the Arizona Diamondbacks, July 29, 2022. This is considered the “worst” seat at the park. (Emil Moffatt/WABE)

Lin-Manuel Miranda campaigning with Stacey Abrams at a Mexican restaurant in Gwinnett County, Georgia on Oct. 19, 2022. (Sam Gringlas/WABE)
A get out the vote event for Asian American Pacific Islander voters who support Stacey Abrams takes place in Decatur, Georgia, on Nov. 8, 2022. (Matthew Pearson/WABE)
A get out the vote event for Asian American Pacific Islander voters who support Stacey Abrams takes place in Decatur, Georgia, on Nov. 8, 2022. (Matthew Pearson/WABE)
A Kemp supporter checks his phone while attending the Governor’s Election Night Watch Party on November 8, 2022. (Matthew Pearson/WABE)
Gov. Brian Kemp at an election night victory speech on Nov. 8, 2022. (Matthew Pearson/WABE)
Members of the Georgia House Republican Caucus cast their votes for leadership Yesterday, the State House GOP Caucus held their leadership election. Ballots were collected in white buckets, “like a church offering,” before being counted at the front of the chamber on November 14, 2022. (Matthew Pearson/WABE)
Rep. Jon Burns, the next leader of the Georgia House, speaks briefly to the press after the Republican House Caucus elects their new leadership on November 14, 2022. (Matthew Pearson/WABE)
Sticky, a regular patron of Our Bar on Edgewood Ave, poses for a portrait during a comedy night for local comedians in November of 2022. (Matthew Pearson/WABE)
In this photo, patrons are shown inside of Harold’s Chicken & Ice Bar. (Matthew Pearson/WABE)
President Obama joins Sen. Warnock for a Get Out The Vote Rally in Atlanta. (Matthew Pearson/WABE)
President Obama joins Sen. Warnock for a Get Out The Vote Rally in Atlanta on Dec. 1, 2022. (Matthew Pearson/WABE)
Herschel Walker at a pre-runoff election rally in Kennesaw at the Governor’s Gun Club on Monday, Dec. 5, 2022. (Matthew Pearson/WABE)
Herschel Walker at a pre-runoff election rally in Kennesaw at the Governor’s Gun Club on Monday, Dec. 5, 2022. (Matthew Pearson/WABE)
Killer Mike hosts Sen. Warnock for a shop talk at Swag Shop in Edgewood Neighborhood on eve of the runoff election. (Matthew Pearson/WABE)
Voters cast their vote in Georgia’s runoff election for U.S. Senate. (Matthew Pearson/WABE)
Warnock secures re-election after a runoff against Herschel Walker. (Matthew Pearson/WABE)
Shakila Aimaq had just finished her medical education when she and her family had to flee Afghanistan and ended up in Atlanta. Now she’s a teaching assistant at Decatur’s International Community School. (Matthew Pearson/WABE)
Marjan Ghadrdan and Sami Netherton administer antibiotics and pain medication for a rescued bald eagle recovering from a broken wing at Aware Wildlife Center. (Matthew Pearson/WABE)

Special thanks to Emil Moffatt, Kaitlin Kolarik, Sam Gringlas and Alphonso Whitfield.