Photos: The Images that Captured San Diego’s Story in 2025

January

At the beginning of 2025, San Diegans watched in horror as fires in Los Angeles destroyed thousands of homes, killed people and leveled entire communities. We were on alert and wondering: Are we next?

The region experienced several fires in January. The largest sparked in the Otay Mountain area, also known as the Border 2 Fire. The fire burned 6,625 acres but avoided structures. San Diegans got lucky.

Photojournalist Ariana Drehsler went out a day after the Border 2 fire started to capture the fire fighting efforts. On her way to one location she spotted a Cal Fire helicopter flying over Otay Lake to get more water. The fire can be seen in the background.

More from January: Photojournalist Vito di Stefano captured moments at a San Diego City Council meeting and during Mayor Todd Gloria’s State of the City. Drehsler explored Chula Vista’s bayfront. Zoë Meyers went out with a fire marshal to look at a burn scar from the year before. The fire department went out to educate homeowners about ways to protect their homes.

February

Voice of San Diego contributing writers Sandra Dibble and Kate Morrissey set their sights on stories related to immigration policies and changes at the border that would impact San Diego and Tijuana.

Morrissey followed the heartbreaking stories of immigrants who were ripped out of their homes by immigration agents. Dibble explained how mass deportations would impact Tijuana.

The Defense Department in February deployed United States Marine Corps troops to patrol the U.S.-Mexico border. Photojournalist Carlos A. Moreno was there to capture their movements.

What Moreno had to say: “When I captured this image of U.S. military at the border on the U.S.-San Diego side of the fence, literally a stone throw away from the city of Tijuana, Mexico, immediately felt a sense of déjà vu from 2018, when Donald Trump first called troops to secure the border at the exact place I happened to take this image. It was eerie being there, if almost unreal, like something out of a Hollywood movie right before an action sequence. It was a moment I had to document for its importance, relevance and for its unknown value of what could happen next.” 

More from February: Moreno also documented the military troops that Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum deployed to the border. And Drehsler spent time at a school board meeting in Chula Vista.

March

In March, we set out to understand how police officers were using the city of San Diego’s camping ban to crackdown on encampments. Through an analysis of police data, reporter Lisa Halverstadt found that a lot of citations and arrests were concentrated in city parks, especially Balboa Park.

Drehsler visited the park to capture scenes at Balboa Park. She came across tourists and individuals who call the park home. One man, Jeff Elsasser, told Drehsler he had been homeless since July 2024. He sleeps near the park but spends most days at Balboa.

More from March: Meyers captured moments the San Diego Football Club’s first home game at Snapdragon Stadium. Fans participated in different activities outside. Drehsler took a portrait of Chula Vista Councilmember Carolina Chavez during her campaign for county supervisor.

April

Photojournalist Meyers went out to the University Heights neighborhood to document a vegetation fire that was giving firefighters a headache for being “very stubborn” as one fire department official put it to ABC 10.

Residents nearby watched as firefighters from San Diego, Chula Vista, Poway and other cities worked to put it out and protect homes.

Here’s what Meyers had to say about the photo: “I was doing some computer work from my house one Saturday this spring when I noticed a large white cloud of smoke engulfing my street. I quickly registered it as smoke rather than the usual fog, and a quick check on Watch Duty showed me there was a fire in a canyon just a few blocks away. When I arrived the flames had largely been extinguished, but neighbors were gathered along with firefighters and watching the firefighting efforts at the bottom of the canyon. Owners of the homes right along the canyon had opened them up for people to watch. It was a relief to see the fire turn into a bit of a neighborhood watch party rather than a tragedy.”

More from April: Di Stefano was busy in April capturing images of student life at South Western College, City Council meetings and Supervisor Terra Lawson-Remer’s State of the County address. Drehsler photographed a heated meeting at Grossmont Union High School District.

May

Our South County reporter Jim Hinch spent much of May reporting out a story about Chula Vista Mayor John McCann. He learned that the mayor was divesting himself from a real estate company he co-owns with his wife, Myllissa. That happened after we had learned that the company was going to sell real estate at a bayfront condominium project McCann helped promote as a city leader.

You can read the story here.

Photojournalist di Stefano went out to the opening of the Gaylord Pacific Resort and Convention Center to try to capture images of the hotel but also South County’s leaders. He captured a great image of McCann walking with his wife for the story.

Here’s what di Stefano said about the shot: “This image was taken at the opening of the Gaylord Pacific Resort and Convention Center ribbon cutting ceremony. Toward the end of the program, I briefly spoke with the illustrious VOSD journalist, Jim Hinch, and he mentioned that I should take a few images of Chula Vista Mayor Jim McCann and his wife Myllissa McCann. So I scurried about the hotel and spotted them walking outside into the courtyard. I was in the atrium and took the image through the clear windows and, inadvertently, captured the interior palm trees reflection that give the image that slight double exposure look.”

More from May: Taking photos of buildings is hard, but di Stefano makes it look easy. Drehsler spent time with a family we had previously profiled about living in a shelter. They moved into an apartment and Drehsler photographed the family in their new home. Drehsler also took images of an encampment in Oceanside that officials wanted to clear.

June

Contributor Sandra Dibble found that a pavilion that the city of San Diego paid $300,000 and that was commissioned by the binational initiative World Design Capital, was relocated to Mexico and didn’t credit the designers.

Known as the EXCHANGE pavilion, it had its debut in Balboa Park to celebrate design and cross-border collaboration. “We put all our hearts and souls and minds into it,” the architect told Dibble.

Photojournalist David Maung visited the pavilion at Esperanto Park in Tijuana. Here’s what Maung said about the photo: “Providing parks and public spaces is an important way to foster a good quality of life for residents of any city. I was impressed with the recently opened park in Tijuana, Parque Esperanto, which seemed to be well appreciated and enjoyed by the people visiting that day. It was an inspiration for me to see people using a park in this rapidly growing city, which certainly could use more parks like Parque Esperanto.”

More from June: From lively streets in Ocean Beach to hidden encampments, Drehsler captured scenes in Ocean Beach. Di Stefano captured a very serious moment during a county supervisor debate between candidates John McCann and Paloma Aguirre.

July

This year, we brought in a new reporter to cover San Diego City Hall. Mariana Martinez Barba hit the ground running and spent months getting to know the city’s movers and shakers. To kick off her coverage, she spent time with Mayor Todd Gloria and spoke to him about what he hopped to accomplish.

Drehsler spent an afternoon with the mayor, shadowing him as he went from meetings and other obligations on his calendar.

More from July: During this month, we had the honor of publishing some truly powerful images. Brittany Cruz-Fejeran spent time along the U.S.-Mexico border documenting how Marines were reinforcing the border wall with barbed wire. Drehsler shot a portrait of a business owner who was greatly impacted by delayed city road repairs. She also followed the McCann campaign watch party on Election night and took more portraits of San Diego’s homeless residents. Di Stefano got a detail shot of a necklace newly-elected County Supervisor Paloma Aguirre wore after her victory. And Cruz-Fejeran captures a touching photo of a woman feeding a banana to her dog. The woman had recently secured housing after living in her car.

August

In August, environment reporter MacKenzie Elmer learned that San Diegans were having trouble composting. In fact, they were so bad at it that the city hired people to pick trash from compost piles at Miramar Greenery.

Since then, the city has sent out staff to educate residents on what trash goes in which bins.

Meyers went out the the greenery to capture the city’s efforts to reduce contamination in compost.

Here’s what Meyer’s said about the photo: “Photos often come together through a lot of patience. As photographers we try to put ourselves in the right position so that when an interesting moment comes together we are there to capture it. I took this photo after taking many others of the crew sorting through compost at the Miramar Greenery that didn’t really work. When Ayinde Oyeilumi picked up and held this trash bag though as compost fell out I thought, ‘Finally! I got something.'”

More from August:  Drehsler took portraits of individuals who live in their recreational vehicles and park in Mission Bay. Di Stefano watched as reporters questioned the newly-appointed Imperial Beach mayor about his priorities for the city.

September

School board meetings can be lively, but for photographers it often means taking photos of people talking. Not this meeting.

Drehsler captured some joyous moments at a community meeting at Bethune K-8 school after school district officials told parents and students that they would not close the school’s middle school grades.

More from September: Cruz-Fejeran watched the Lincoln Park High Hornets rush out for their first football game on the school’s new field. Former County Supervisor Nathan Fletcher and his wife spoke at a press conference this month. This was his first public appearance since he resigned from the board following allegations of sexual assault and harassment. Drehsler captured a moment while they spoke to the media. Di Stefano got an inside look at National City Mayor Ron Morison’s office. Drehsler also captured moments while city crews and contractors cleared a homeless encampment near a freeway.

October

As I said before, di Stefano knows how to make buildings look cool.

We wanted to get images of vacation rentals near the beach and tourists walking around. Di Stefano delivered this great shot.

Here’s what he had to say about it: “The assignment was to photograph rental houses on the Mission Beach boardwalk in regards to short-term residential occupancy issues and was given a few addresses to check out. As I got to the boardwalk to check them out, this structure design really stood out visually and I wanted to get people strolling by on the boardwalk in the foreground. So I crouched down to get the low angle for about 6 minutes to capture people as they went by. I saw the subject jogging and tried to capture him in stride. The photo gods answered the call and fit the subject perfectly inside the structure.”

More from October: Meyers spent days documenting life in communities that would be affected by redistricting efforts in California. She also visited a car wash to help us diversify images for our stories about water. We couldn’t keep using the water faucet shot. Drehsler captured campus life at UC San Diego and a haunted trail at a school in South County.

November

Drehsler spent time with Kevin Denczek as he went about his day. He lives in his camper with his dog Eko and spoke to our reporter Martinez Barba about the trouble he was having with parking tickets. Drehsler took photos of Denczek and Eko while they walked around the camper, but she this moment when they sat inside.

More from November: Cruz-Fejeran captured a stunning portrait of a woman as she was going through her husband’s immigration documents. Her husband was taken from outside their home by immigration agents. Di Stefano watched the construction of a water purification plant in Santee. Drehsler took portraits of a father and his daughters on their way to school. The family told our environment reporter that the smells from the Tijuana River impact their quality of life.

December

Drehsler toured a school with our environment reporter in December to talk to school officials about how air pollution and smells from the Tijuana River Valley area impacts students.

They visited classrooms and spaces where the school has air monitors, but Drehsler was limited to the kinds of things and kids she could photograph. When they walked past these backpacks she saw a moment to capture that they were at a school without including images of the children.

More from December: Di Stefano toured a new detox facility in downtown San Diego. Cruz-Fejeran watched as Nicholas Pierce, assistant director for border security at the Customs and Border Protection San Diego Field Office, addressed a crowed of educators and elected officials.