WGLT traveled all over Bloomington-Normal and McLean County in 2025 to show you some of this year’s most memorable moments. From arts and cultural events to protests, feel-good stories, and the beginnings and endings of community staples, WGLT was there to capture the moments that shaped our community.
WGLT digital content director Emily Bollinger and photo and video intern Sami Johnson documented it all, telling the stories of our community through powerful images. Check out the photo gallery above, and find more of WGLT’s award-winning photography on Instagram.
Reflection from digital content director Emily Bollinger
2025 was a strong year for visual journalism. It began with stories rooted in homelessness, as I covered street outreach groups working through extreme winter conditions to deliver warm meals, propane tanks and supplies to people living outside.
I followed God’s Mission Ministry into its basement and Home Sweet Home Ministries into a storage facility, photographing the groups packing items and distributing them directly to residents of local encampments. Documenting these moments emphasized how much behind-the-scenes work goes into community care, and how essential building trust is when visually telling these stories.
A few weeks later, immigration protests popped up across the Twin Cities. I photographed students and community members marching at Illinois State University [ISU] and Illinois Wesleyan University.
In late February, Bloomington was deeply affected by a triple murder-suicide that left four people dead. Bloomington Junior High students gathered to honor one of the victims.
Photographing these types of stories need to be handled with sensitivity, and serve as a reminder of the responsibility that comes with documenting grief.
Stories like these can weigh heavily on both journalists and audiences. To balance the harder news, I sought out moments of warmth and happiness in the community.
Families had fun on an unexpected snow day earlier in the year, Bloomington-Normal residents made cards for natural disaster victims and a lunar eclipse illuminated the night sky. These lighthearted images offered space to breathe in a fast-paced news environment.
Spring
When the cold snap of winter was over, the community gathered to welcome spring at Holi Moli. In Uptown Normal, I watched dozens of participants toss vibrant powdered color into the air, creating images filled with movement and joy.
Just before summer, a tent encampment near AutoZone in Normal was cleared to make way for a major sewer construction project. Before the dispersal, I photographed and spoke with several unhoused residents who had been living there, listening to their stories and documenting a moment of transition.
Summer
My coverage of homelessness continued throughout the summer as I followed the development of The Bridge, an in-progress shelter village near downtown Bloomington. Returning to this issue repeatedly allowed for deeper context and emphasized that housing insecurity is an ongoing reality for some.
Summer also brought visually engaging assignments such as an international soccer match at Bloomington High School, the unveiling of a renovated skate park and the ISU Office of Sustainability’s Freecycle event, where ISU students ran to get free furniture and clothes for the upcoming school year.
Fall
When fall semester began at ISU, intern Sami Johnson made an immediate impact with her photos and video coverage of the Sweet Corn Circus in Uptown Normal.
Johnson continued documenting life around Bloomington-Normal, capturing ISU football, an event honoring an ISU alum who was fatally shot, an extension of the Constitution Trail, and WGLT’s 20th Radio Faces event. Her work added, and continues to add, a fresh perspective to WGLT’s visual storytelling.
Throughout the fall, I photographed manufacturing companies across the area for WGLT’s Made in Bloomington-Normal series.
I witnessed electronics being assembled, food waste being transformed and the beer-making process from start to finish. These visual assignments highlighted the craftsmanship and labor that sustains the local economy.
Year-end
The year ended with the changing seasons coming full circle. When the first snowfall arrived in late November, I traveled throughout the Twin Cities to capture the beauty of winter settling in once again.
Looking back, this year reinforced why visual journalism matters. Not just to report the news, but to humanize the stories. I am grateful for the ongoing trust of the community and the opportunity to tell these stories. I look forward to continuing to create meaningful, impactful images for our audience in 2026.
