My role in 9/11 was to be a historical photographer.
There was four of us, two still photographers and two videographers
to support urban search and rescue.
At which time they closed Ground Zero to the media and they looked to us
to be the historical team and help provide images to the greater public.
So once we got there, we sat up with the teams in the Javits Center,
and then Andrea and I, the two still photographers coordinated
that we would come at this from two different perspectives.
She would come at it from a local angle, from New York firefighters
and NYPD, and I would come at it from the USAR teams.
And we knew we had a task that was bigger than the two of us.
So we- we stayed in separate areas and kept photographing as much as we could.
It was overwhelming. It was a lot.
And I stayed focused on taking pictures and getting my work done.
Every day was a different experience.
We were working 12 to 16 hour days and
just trying to document as much as we could.
It was a sensory overload.
The sounds, the cranes, the machinery, the smell.
The smell is like no other
between the mix of diesel engines, everything.
The sounds and energy down there gave you pause and kept you going.
I felt very proud to be along with the teams
and being down there and trying to do my part.
There's one image that really comes to mind.
I was standing at an observation area just at Ground Zero.
And I looked over and I saw this New York firefighter with the helmet,
and he had a little flag in the back and he was looking out over his team.
And I took that image.
And I know actually when I took that image that this image is going to stand out.
And I know that image has been used far and wide.
And I know a lot of the images we shot have been used far and wide.
And that's one of the wonderful things about this work.
We're documenting history for
the greater public to understand and for teams to look back on.
One thing wonderful about historical photography is those images we shared
with the teams allows those team members to tell their stories
and to help relate what it really felt like to be there.
It's always a hard experience when you try to tell
someone who wasn't there what it was like.
When we came back together as a team in the region
and we went through a debriefing, and one of the things
that really stuck with me- the lady that ran the debriefing was-
you guys are all the keepers of stories.
And this project you guys did- and how you
deal with those stories and how you relay those stories are now up to you,
because you never know down the road where those stories are going to be needed.
And as we gain further and further on our perspective...
Those stories become more and more important.
So I've made a point to try to go out
and tell people about it and what we did in New York.
All the work the teams and everyone did and how we came together...
I just can't stress that enough.
We all have differences, but we really need to pull back together,
get things done.
And remember the love.