These 65 photos from May are our Orange County photographers’ favorites

Graduates celebrates as they join hundreds of fellow Los Alamitos High School seniors in a car parade through Rossmoor in unincorporated Orange County, CA, on Wednesday, May 27, 2020. The Graduation Celebration Parade was organized by The Rossmoor Homeowner’s Association and twisted its way past four elementary schools. (Photo by Jeff Gritchen, Orange County Register/SCNG)

The Air Force’s Thunderbirds demonstration team flies over Anaheim and various medical facilities in Southern California, on their way to the Inland Empire on Friday, May 15, 2020, in tribute to medical workers and other personnel responding to the coronavirus pandemic. (Photo by Mark Rightmire, Orange County Register/SCNG)

A couple relaxes by the lake on a sunny afternoon at Yorba Regional Park
in Anaheim on Sunday, May 17, 2020. The day before, Orange County officials opened county parks and wilderness areas as restrictions ease amid the coronavirus pandemic. (Photo by Leonard Ortiz, Orange County Register/SCNG)

Crowds gather on the beach as bioluminescent waves from the red tide roll on shore at North Beach in San Clemente on Wednesday evening, May 6, 2020. (Photo by Mark Rightmire, Orange County Register/SCNG)

Counter-protesters, top, clash with George Floyd protesters near the Huntington Beach Pier on in Huntington Beach on Sunday, May 31, 2020 during a demonstration in response to the death of George Floyd, who died in Minneapolis last week after a police officer knelt on his neck for more than eight minutes. (Photo by Leonard Ortiz, Orange County Register/SCNG)

Tammy Croy takes pictures at Castaways Park in Newport Beach on Sunday, May 24, 2020. She and about 40 family members from around the country have gathered for the last 45 years for a Memorial Day park picnic. This year less than a dozen of them went on a bike ride instead, she said. (Photo by Mindy Schauer, Orange County Register/SCNG)

Herds of goats roam fields, eating grass near multi-million dollar homes, in Laguna Beach on Wednesday, May 27, 2020. They are part of the city’s fire prevention measures. (Photo by Mindy Schauer, Orange County Register/SCNG)

Ganka Brown backs away from eager goats wanting her watermelon treats in Laguna Beach on Wednesday, May 27, 2020. The herds eat grass along the hillsides as part of the city’s fire prevention measures. (Photo by Mindy Schauer, Orange County Register/SCNG)

Saddleback College fashion design student Maya Horikawa in Dana Point on Wednesday, May 27, 2020 wears a dress she designed and made from recycled materials. Horikawa’s design which won 1st place in a competition, was inspired by the immortal jellyfish. It is made from plastic bottles, plastic netting used to package vegetables and avocados and a crown made from an old Christmas ornament. (Photo by Leonard Ortiz, Orange County Register/SCNG)

Protestors in Santa Ana hurl fireworks at police on Saturday, May 30, 2020. Hundreds gathered to protest a Minnesota police officer’s killing of George Floyd, an unarmed black man. (Photo by Mindy Schauer, Orange County Register/SCNG)

Two women enjoy a evening chat as they sit under the glow of a setting sun in Orange Plaza Square Park in Old Towne in Orange on Tuesday, May 19, 2020. (Photo by Leonard Ortiz, Orange County Register/SCNG)

The northbound lanes of Pacific Coast Highway in Huntington Beach came to a standstill late Friday morning and into the afternoon as hundreds of cars, most filled with people, angry after California Gov. Gavin Newsom ordered all beaches and state parks in Orange County to temporarily close due to the coronavirus pandemic. The gridlock began south of Beach Boulevard and continued north toward the Huntington Beach Pier. It took as much as a half hour just to move forward a couple hundred feet. Many waved American flags from their car windows or hung posters wanting the beaches to open. Some got out of their cars and trucks, standing on the roofs waving flags.
in Huntington Beach, CA on Friday, May 1, 2020. (Photo by Mark Rightmire, Orange County Register/SCNG)

A few people were going through campus at Cal State Fullerton in Fullerton, CA on Wednesday, May 6, 2020. (Photo by Paul Bersebach, Orange County Register/SCNG)

Thousands of people gather at the corner of Main Street and Pacific Coast Highway to protest coronavirus (COVID-19) closures in Huntington Beach, CA, on Friday, May 1, 2020. (Photo by Jeff Gritchen, Orange County Register/SCNG)

A woman begins to cry as she drops to her knees and raises her arms as she joins others protesting the death of George Floyd near the Huntington Beach Pier on in Huntington Beach on Sunday, May 31, 2020 The demonstration honored George Floyd, who died in Minneapolis last week after a police officer knelt on his neck for more than eight minutes. (Photo by Leonard Ortiz, Orange County Register/SCNG)

Police check out a protester driving by the corner of Main Street and Pacific Coast Highway during a protest against coronavirus (COVID-19) closures in Huntington Beach, CA, on Friday, May 1, 2020. California Governor Gavin Newsom closed the beaches in Orange County due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak. (Photo by Jeff Gritchen, Orange County Register/SCNG)

Jin and Jessica Kim celebrate after getting married at the Honda Center in Anaheim, CA, on Tuesday, May 12, 2020. The Orange County Clerk-Recorder’s public offices have been closed since March 17 because of the coronavirus outbreak, but Clerk-Recorder Hugh Nguyen’s staff have started marrying people from the protection of ticket booths set up in the Honda Center parking lot. (Photo by Jeff Gritchen, Orange County Register/SCNG)

Jacaranda trees line Linwood Avenue in Santa Ana, CA, on Tuesday, May 19, 2020. (Photo by Jeff Gritchen, Orange County Register/SCNG)

Jacob Welsh, left, takes a photo of Chapman graduate Emily Cintron, 23, in Williams Mall at Chapman University in Orange on Tuesday, May 19, 2020. Cintron graduated with a degree in television writing and production. (Photo by Leonard Ortiz, Orange County Register/SCNG)

Justin Frazier takes a knee with a protester after he stopped an angry flair up against police and a counter protester in Orange on Saturday, May 30, 2020. “If we get violent everything we’re here for won’t matter,” he told the crowd. (Photo by Mindy Schauer, Orange County Register/SCNG)

Graduates get their photos taken beneath the projection illuminated clock tower at Fullerton Union High school in Fullerton on Tuesday, May 26, 2020. Fullerton Union High senior, Sam Bradbury, and other seniors worked with the FUHS administration to light the clock tower with a projection of the school colors, a firework burst and the word senior 2020. (Photo by Leonard Ortiz, Orange County Register/SCNG)

Natalie Khay is all smiles as she joins hundreds of fellow Los Alamitos High School graduates in a car parade through Rossmoor in unincorporated Orange County, CA, on Wednesday, May 27, 2020. The Graduation Celebration Parade was organized by The Rossmoor Homeowner’s Association and twisted its way past four elementary schools. (Photo by Jeff Gritchen, Orange County Register/SCNG)

Bob Erickson added flags and a Star of David to the Memorial Day front yard display outside his Seal Beach, CA, home on Thursday, May 21, 2020. (Photo by Jeff Gritchen, Orange County Register/SCNG)

Puppy pals Mini Mac, left, and Sugar Pie, frolic at the Orange Dog Park in Orange on Tuesday, May 12, 2020. It reopened on Friday. (Photo by Mindy Schauer, Orange County Register/SCNG)

Protesters in Santa Ana hurl fireworks at police on Saturday, May 30, 2020. (Photo by Mindy Schauer, Orange County Register/SCNG)

Hazy conditions make tankers anchored off-shore near the Seal Beach Pier look like a mirage while beach goers enjoy a day at the beach in Seal Beach on Sunday, May 24, 2020. (Photo by Leonard Ortiz, Orange County Register/SCNG)

Chapman graduate Keana Barrios, 25, center, bursts out laughing when UCI graduate Gregory Garcia, 24, whispers something in her ear as photographer Alexander Arucan, left, takes their photo on the steps of Memorial Hall at Chapman University in Orange on Tuesday, May 19, 2020. (Photo by Leonard Ortiz, Orange County Register/SCNG)

Rick Wood, co-owner of The BarberHood in Laguna Hills, CA, cuts hair on Tuesday, May 5, 2020. The shop is one of the first to re-open and defy the state’s stay-at-home order during the COVID-19 (coronavirus) lockdown. (Photo by Paul Bersebach, Orange County Register/SCNG)

A nearly empty beach just north of the Newport Beach Pier in Newport Beach on Saturday afternoon, May 2, 2020, during day two of the temporarily ordered closure of all beaches and state parks in Orange County by California Gov. Gavin Newsom due to the coronavirus pandemic. (Photo by Mark Rightmire, Orange County Register/SCNG)

Cyclists stop and talk with a California State Park Peace Officer where the boardwalk is closed in Huntington Beach on Friday, May 1, 2020, after California Gov. Gavin Newsom ordered all beaches and state parks in Orange County to temporarily close due to the coronavirus pandemic. (Photo by Mark Rightmire, Orange County Register/SCNG)

A man kneels and raises his arms as he joins other protesters near the Huntington Beach Pier on in Huntington Beach on Sunday, May 31, 2020 during a demonstration in response to death George Floyd, who died in Minneapolis last week after a police officer knelt on his neck for more than eight minutes. (Photo by Leonard Ortiz, Orange County Register/SCNG)

A cyclist makes his way along the boardwalk past an empty Huntington Beach city beach and parking lot on Friday, May 1, 2020, after California Gov. Gavin Newsom’s ordered all beaches and state parks in Orange County to temporarily close due to the coronavirus pandemic. (Photo by Mark Rightmire, Orange County Register/SCNG)

Teachers from Weaver Elementary School cheer on former student, and current Los Alamitos graduate, Gavin Poetsch, as he rides by during a car parade through Rossmoor in unincorporated Orange County, CA, on Wednesday, May 27, 2020. The Graduation Celebration Parade was organized by The Rossmoor Homeowner’s Association and twisted its way past four elementary schools. (Photo by Jeff Gritchen, Orange County Register/SCNG)

Mounted police keep an eye on protestors during a “March to Open California” at the Huntington Beach pier in Huntington Beach, CA on Friday, May 1, 2020. Protestors were calling on officials to relax the state’s stay-at-home orders for COVID-19 (coronavirus). The previous day Gov. Gavin Newsom ordered all Orange County beaches closed.(Photo by Paul Bersebach, Orange County Register/SCNG)

Protesters make their way along the northbound lanes of Pacific Coast Highway in Huntington Beach on Friday morning, May 1, 2020, after California Gov. Gavin Newsom ordered all beaches and state parks in Orange County to temporarily close due to the coronavirus pandemic. (Photo by Mark Rightmire, Orange County Register/SCNG)

An osprey flies over an empty Huntington State Beach in Huntington Beach on Friday, May 1, 2020, after California Gov. Gavin Newsom ordered all beaches and state parks in Orange County to temporarily close due to the coronavirus pandemic. (Photo by Mark Rightmire, Orange County Register/SCNG)

As the coronavirus pandemic continues statewide, beach goers make their way to the water past a sign near the Huntington Beach Pier in Huntington Beach as temperatures hovered in the low 70’s with slightly overcast skies on Saturday afternoon, May 9, 2020. (Photo by Mark Rightmire, Orange County Register/SCNG)

Boy Scout Jeremy Keller, 17, of Orange, salutes a veteran’s grave after placing a flag at Fairhaven Memorial Park in Santa Ana on Tuesday, May 19, 2020. Members of the community are helping place more than 3,000 flags to honor veterans for Memorial Day. (Photo by Mark Rightmire, Orange County Register/SCNG)

With the coronavirus pandemic still an issue, hundreds of protesters wanting restrictions lifted and the state to open, wave flags and signs at passing motorists at the intersection of Main Street and Pacific Coast Highway on Saturday afternoon, May 9, 2020, in Huntington Beach. (Photo by Mark Rightmire, Orange County Register/SCNG)

A Huntington Beach police officer patrols the boardwalk near the Huntington Beach Pier in Huntington Beach on Saturday, May 2, 2020, during day two of the temporarily ordered closure of all beaches and state parks in Orange County by California Gov. Gavin Newsom due to the coronavirus pandemic. (Photo by Mark Rightmire, Orange County Register/SCNG)

Mike Vegh plays with his daughter Reverie, 3, near the pier in Seal Beach, CA on Wednesday, May 20, 2020. The city is allowing active use of the beach on the weekends and expanding hours of access. The beach will be open seven days a week, 4:30 a.m. to 10 p.m., for active use. (Photo by Paul Bersebach, Orange County Register/SCNG)

Isabel Torrices, left, and McKenna Madison share a laugh as they join hundreds of fellow Los Alamitos High School graduates in a car parade through Rossmoor in unincorporated Orange County, CA, on Wednesday, May 27, 2020. The Graduation Celebration Parade was organized by The Rossmoor Homeowner’s Association and twisted its way past four elementary schools. (Photo by Jeff Gritchen, Orange County Register/SCNG)

A woman is helped off the ground by fellow protesters after she was knocked down after clash with counter-protesters in the intersection of Main Street and Pacific Coast Highway near the Huntington Beach Pier on in Huntington Beach on Sunday, May 31, 2020 during a demonstration in response to death of George Floyd, who died in Minneapolis last week after a police officer knelt on his neck for more than eight minutes. (Photo by Leonard Ortiz, Orange County Register/SCNG)

Alysia Gonzalez, 14, of Orange said she was angry for everyone who has gone through police brutality as she marches at the circle in Orange on Saturday, May 30, 2020. (Photo by Mindy Schauer, Orange County Register/SCNG)

VFW Post 9557 Commander Alan Marcum and Fountain Valley Mayor Cheryl Brothers salute the flag during a Memorial Day ceremony at Veterans Park in Fountain Valley, CA on Monday, May 25, 2020. (Photo by Paul Bersebach, Orange County Register/SCNG)

Alan Hostetter, center, is arrested by Orange County Sheriff’s deputies behind fencing he attempted to dismantle surrounding the parking lot at San Clemente’s Pier Bowl in San Clemente on Thursday morning, May 21, 2020. A small group dedicated to opening California from the coronavirus shutdown gathered for a rally near the San Clemente Pier. Orange County Sheriff’s deputies made a number of arrests during the protest. (Photo by Mark Rightmire, Orange County Register/SCNG)

Elizabeth Ruiz, right, a graduating senior of Rialto High School in Rialto, has her photo taken by her sister, Yesenia Ruiz, center, as a friend watches on the reopened Huntington Beach Pier in Huntington Beach on Wednesday, May 27, 2020. The pier had been closed due to the coronavirus pandemic. Signs posted along the pier inform visitors to keep moving and keep a safe distance from one another. (Photo by Mark Rightmire, Orange County Register/SCNG)

Bird droppings cover the reopened Huntington Beach Pier as a woman walks along the pier on Wednesday, May 27, 2020, in Huntington Beach, after it had been closed due to the coronavirus pandemic. (Photo by Mark Rightmire, Orange County Register/SCNG)

The Disneyland rose at the home garden of Birgitta Glassen in Irvine on Tuesday, May 26, 2020. Glassen is the mother of Annika Chase, a Disneyland senior vice-president, who bought the Disneyland rose bush in 2003 and gave it her mother to plant in her Irvine garden. (Photo by Leonard Ortiz, Orange County Register/SCNG)

Mark Peter clinks glasses with his son, Tyler, left, at Las Brisas restaurant in Laguna Beach on Saturday, May 23, 2020. The restaurant just got the green light to open for sit down dining. The Peters’ were visiting from Las Vegas. “We came for the ocean. This is a bonus,” Peter said of the restaurant’s opening while sitting inside with a scenic view. (Photo by Mindy Schauer, Orange County Register/SCNG)

Aldo Mendez, 4, has fun his older brother, Anthony, 8, outside their Santa Ana home on Wednesday, May 6, 2020. Their mom Sandra says playing outside with the hose is the only option to cooling off her four young children during the coronavirus pandemic because everything is closed. Her central air is not very powerful she said. (Photo by Mindy Schauer, Orange County Register/SCNG)

Rosary’s Asia Avinger is one of the Orange County Register’s 2020 Athletes of the Year. The San Clemente High School athlete committed to play basketball at San Diego State. Photographed in Anaheim, CA on Thursday, May 14, 2020. (Photo by Paul Bersebach, Orange County Register/SCNG)

Family members watch, left, as the casket of Newport Beach Police Detective Jon Jarema arrives at Pacific View Memorial Park in Corona del Mar, CA on Monday, May 11, 2020. A procession went from Hoag Hospital to the cemetery. Jarema, a 12-year veteran of the Newport Beach Police, died following a two-year battle with cancer. (Photo by Paul Bersebach, Orange County Register/SCNG)

Rev. James Pike loads boxes of food with delivery drivers at the Lutheran Church of the Resurrection in Huntington Beach, CA on Monday, May 4, 2020. A partnership between Care Connections Network, Waste Not OC Coalition, Lutheran Disaster Response and the Lutheran Church of the Resurrection in Huntington Beach has been delivering about 85 boxes of food to individuals each week since March 23. Nonprofits in Southern California have seen need increase and resources and volunteers decrease as a result of the COVID-19 (coronavirus) shutdown. (Photo by Paul Bersebach, Orange County Register/SCNG)

Six-year-old Rubie Guerrero gets a ride around Upper Newport Bay from her mom Haley in Newport Beach, CA on Friday, May 22, 2020. The Guerrero family came for the day to try stand up paddle boarding. Memorial Day weekend finds most beaches open for active use following COVID-19 (coronavirus) precautions. (Photo by Paul Bersebach, Orange County Register/SCNG)

A fishermen sits in the shade of an umbrella as he fishes just after sunrise along the west shoreline of Irvine Lake in Silverado on Saturday, May 16, 2020, as Orange County officials reopen closed parking lots at OC parks and wilderness areas with signs posted for social distancing amid the coronavirus pandemic. (Photo by Mark Rightmire, Orange County Register/SCNG)

Army recruit Anthony Hernandez, 20, displays the tattoo on his forearm in Irvine on Thursday, May 21, 2020. Hernandez had planned to enlist in the Marine Corps but his enlistment was delayed due to the coronavirus pandemic. While Hernandez was waiting he decided to get a tattoo of Psalm 23:4 on his forearm. When he informed the Marines about the tattoo they disqualified him because the placement of the tattoo violated the Marine Corp rules. The policy is the tattoo must be at least 2-inches above the wrist. Hernandez is now joining the Army. (Photo by Leonard Ortiz, Orange County Register/SCNG)

A few hundred protestors line up near the San Clemente Pier on Sunday, May 31, 2020 in response to a Minnesota police officer’s choking to death an unarmed black man.
(Photo by Mindy Schauer, Orange County Register/SCNG)

Ten-year-old Avery Loeser looks at the 34 banners featuring military personnel killed in Afghanistan and Iraq, at Mission Viejo City Hall’s drive-through memorial tribute on Monday, May 11, 2020. Her mom Shannon took gymnastics lessons as a kid with Major Megan McClung, a Mission Viejo High School grad who was the first female Marine Corps officer to be killed during the Iraq War. (Photo by Mindy Schauer, Orange County Register/SCNG)

Ivan Pitts, senior pastor of Second Baptist Church in Santa Ana, applied for and received a federal loan which has helped it invest in staff and equipment to stream services online, on Thursday, May 14, 2020. Churches and other houses of worship are struggling financially because of the coronavirus shutdowns. (Photo by Mark Rightmire, Orange County Register/SCNG)

Employee Manny Fernando, left, and Founding Partner JC Clow, move a plexiglass shield between tables at The Winery in Newport Beach, CA on Thursday, May 14, 2020. The restaurant has installed dividers on and between tables and at the bar. (Photo by Paul Bersebach, Orange County Register/SCNG)

Kevin and Stephanie Graney, of Huntington Beach take a selfie with some of the donated grocery items at the Project Self-Sufficiency drive-thru donation station on Saturday, May 30, 2020, held at the Lutheran Church of the Resurrection in Huntington Beach. Members of the community donated various items including: children’s toys and games, hand sanitizer, paper products, liquid soap, hand-made masks and groceries, to help low-income, single parents in the program as they continue with their education in college or vocational training giving them the skills necessary to achieve economic independence. (Photo by Mark Rightmire, Orange County Register/SCNG)

A bodyboarder rides a wave at the Wedge in Newport Beach, CA on Tuesday, May 12, 2020. The south swell peaked Monday and will taper off as the week progresses. (Photo by Paul Bersebach, Orange County Register/SCNG)

Margie Wright, a fifth grade teacher at Loma Vista Elementary in North Tustin, places student’s belongings into bags in her classroom as her dog, Dolly, keeps her company at the end of the school year on Thursday, May 28, 2020. The students will pick up their bags of belongings at the school next week.(Photo by Mark Rightmire, Orange County Register/SCNG)

Herds of goats roam fields in Laguna Beach on
Wednesday, May 27, 2020, where they eat brush as part of the city’s fire prevention measures. (Photo by Mindy Schauer, Orange County Register/SCNG)