Cristin Gisler 

Section by Jess Harvey and Scarlet Lee

Cristen Gisler photographed for the Gloucester Daily Times for 5 years, from 1991 to 1996. She captured many different parts of life in Cape Ann, from storms to sports. Before working for the Gloucester Daily Times, she attended the University of Florida in the 80s. She made a name for herself by creating close connections with community members and sports teams. She wrote that her favorite part of her job was the connections she got to make with people, and how much she learned from them, such as her friend who had AIDs, or the Gloucester Fishermen ice hockey team. One of the biggest events she captured was the Perfect Storm in late 1991. She was a crucial part in documenting this storm for Gloucester.  

A man was caught growing around 80 marijuana plants in the mid-1990s on Route 128. The legalization of growing and processing marijuana was not legal until 2016 in Massachusetts. This photograph by Gisler shows the plants being taken away from where they were being grown.

The Massachusetts coastline’s everyday places were left submerged in ice with no signs of life except for this cop car. This cop car is thought to be there to be a blockade for cars that slide down the icy hill so that they hopefully don’t fall into the water. This nor’easter caused major coastal flooding and turned Gloucester roads into rivers of slush.

This historically tragic storm happened on October 30th,1991. The aftermath of the Perfect Storm had Gloucester speechless, with just fallen houses and roaring waves left. This house shows a common scene on Cape Ann's waterfront after this event: torn apart and fallen.

This is a picture of a young Macaulay Culkin shooting his movie, The Good Son, in December of 1992. Culkin is most widely known for his role as Kevin McAllister in the Home Alone movies. To get a photo of Culkin, Cristin Gisler was told to take it where Culkin was eating his lunch, but Gisler said no as she thought it was wrong to photograph a kid while he was just trying to eat his lunch. So she took this photo of him at work instead. 

Sally O’Maley 

Section by Adelaide Johnston-Ransom and Jules Aandrea

Sarah “Sally” J. O’Maley was a photographer and reporter for the Gloucester Daily Times for 27 years. Mainly working in Essex, she was the primary person to photograph the town for the newspaper at the time. Through the early 1970s to the mid 1990s, she captured all of the Essex events, from small classroom parties to huge Easter egg hunts. Her photos of children, families, and large groups bring out the feeling of nostalgia and warmth, even when their faces don’t seem particularly joyous. She was also known as a dedicated worker, typing hours through the night and into the morning hours to finish her stories for the paper. Sally passed away in 2021 at the age of 81, but her photos will continue to live on as an example of how even the mundane can be transformed into the extraordinary. 

Two kids “mailing” their valentine cards to their fellow classmates in specially designed mailboxes before the class’ Valentine’s Day party. The composition of the shot lets the viewer see all the designs of the mailboxes, as well as show the kids’ perspective of the holiday. Usually for adults, Valentine’s Day is about that special someone. Kids don’t really care about that type of love yet, so they give to the whole class. 

Two boys with a dog who seems to be gagging on a rope. (He isn’t though don’t worry!) One of the best things about photography is you can create hilarious moments by simply removing the context of the picture or capturing the perfect frame. The dog’s yawn and pose combined with the tug-of-war rope toy behind its mouth creates morbidly cackling optical illusion. Finally, the juxtaposition of the boy’s joyous faces really packs the final comedic punch.  

Four kids are washing a car in their homemade car wash. Their upset faces show that they are not having fun while doing their car wash. They are all working hard as they clean the cars: one boy hoses down the car and two of the boys scrub the car clean as one boy stands and watches. Even though it looks like they’re not having fun, when the car is clean it will make them feel proud of their hard work. 

A Cub Scouts' Pinewood Derby race. This photo creates questions and answers as you examine it, such as, “Why are these boys so excited?” As you look past the children it answers: “They’re watching their handcrafted cars roll down an angled piece of wood! Who wouldn’t?” That leads to the inquiry of why are they racing, and, if you look close enough, the photo responds with, “Because they’re cub scouts of course!” While most pictures are worth a thousand words, this one is worth at least ten questions and answers. 

Many parents in the photo are helping their young children gather eggs during the easter egg race. One parent holds their kid and runs to gather as many eggs as possible. Some kids are smiling while some kids are super serious and run to win the egg hunt. The smiling and dedicated faces show how enjoyable and exciting the day was for the young kids.

Josh Reynolds

Section by Molly Blander and Savannah Hopkins

An active member in the community, Josh Reynolds was a photographer for the Gloucester Daily Times (GDT) for four years (1996-1999). Josh Reynolds studied journalism at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, and has since worked at The Boston Globe, The Associated Press, USA Today, and The Washington Post. During his time at the GDT, he photographed youth sports, bringing Gloucester High School’s spirit into the local newspaper. Another area of focus for Josh was capturing the essence of local life. Between cars, sports, and wildlife, Josh offered a new lens into the community during his career at the Gloucester Daily Times.  

When taking photos for the GDT, Josh Reynolds was a master of making moments between teens and sports. Since the dawn of town sports, teens in Gloucester and Rockport have competed with each other. Although new athletes jog the streets, the camaraderie that Josh captured remains.  

Basketball is often referred to as 'poetry in motion,' and Reynolds showcases that incredible prose in these pictures. Between the poetic license of clumsy rebounds and the iambic pentameter of perfect shots, basketball remains a graceful sport. Using his camera, Reynolds wrote out the poetry of basketball line-by-line. 

The car pictured by Josh Reynolds is the costly Mercedes 540K. Yet, its expense supported a much-needed cause. Josh captured the charity United Way in action as it used the Mercedes to help families struggling with financial insecurity and mobility.  

Mike Dean 

Section by Ellie Miller and Phoebe Hone

Originally from Beverly, Massachusetts, Mike Dean studied at the University of New Brunswick and worked for the Gloucester Daily Times in early 2000. He was the driving force that got the GDT to switch to digital in 2001, being the person to write the proposal to do so. He was also chief photographer of the GDT from 2000 to 2008. 

A photo of Keith Michael Johnson performing a juggling act for young children at the Rockport Public Library. We mainly chose to include this photo because it made us laugh when we first looked at it. It is rare to capture someone in a state such as juggling, and the goofy look on his face was something we were drawn to. Dean captured the silliness of the entire act very well, enough so that it can make most who look at it laugh.

This is the reaction of the young children at the Rockport Public Library from watching Keith Michael Johnson perform. The joy on their faces is obvious and genuine, and truly captures the innocence of the children - who are able to enjoy such a silly act to its absolute fullest. This is ultimately what drew us to the picture - the joy and laughter on their faces is something that we found incredibly cute.  

A photo of Gloucester residents protesting the war in Iraq. Since it was taken by the police station near the Cape Ann Museum, we felt a connection to this photo. Even 20 years later, we can still identify the spot where the protest was happening, which helps us build a greater understanding for what the protesters may have been feeling being there that day and protesting such a serious issue. 

Here, Mike Dean captured the rivalry between Rockport and Manchester-Essex in this high school basketball game from February 13, 2003. We chose this photo because it conveys so much emotion and energy; he found the perfect moment out of the thousands that were possible to catch. Another reason it landed on our list is because its competitive nature still exists today.

Dean caught an intense moment for the owners of this house on Riverview Road with a powerful photographic composition. He was able to use the intense curtains of smoke to dramatically frame the firefighters entering the flaming building via its roof. Alongside the placement of the subject in the frame, he was also able to find the right exposure to add even more drama to this dark-lit photo. We chose it for these very reasons; the composition is quite intense and caught a moment that will now be immortalized in Gloucester’s records thanks to this collection of pictures. 

Before capturing the photo above, Dean caught this frame adding to the saga. He found yet another angle to capture an intense composition. Here the firefighter looks almost angelic ascending the ladder with a burst of white light behind them. Dean also captured lots of movement with the smoke gliding across the house. Although this photo was taken in color, the lack of vibrant hues again adds to the drama involved in this situation. We chose this photo because it adds to the previous picture's story of the fire. 

Bart A. Piscitello

Section by Addison Lai

Bart A. Piscitello was born in Glocester, MA. He worked for the Glocester Daily Times from the late 1970s into the early 2000s. Piscitello worked in the production of photographs and papers since the start of his time at the GDT. Then, with a promotion to a backup photographer, he would work night shifts and weekend shifts to fill in the gaps at the GDT. Piscitello would also do odd jobs for the company and give his help where help was needed. 

A high school women’s field hockey coach contemplates her game plan during halftime. The players gather around to hear her insightful comments and rest before going back out onto the field. 

A young boy pretends to hold up a boulder on a beach to impress the locals. 

A baby Humpack whale is spotted waving “Hi” to a local whale-watching group around the Glocester Harbor.