'It was like we’d known each other our whole life': A photographer and his subject met two decades after a shared moment on September 11, 2001. Both say they’re humbled by what happened to them on that day and what followed
Stapleton, then a freelancer for Reuters, took a few frames of a group of people emerging from what remained of the building’s lobby. In the middle of the group, a blonde woman clutches a jacket to her face. The corners of her mouth are turned down, her eyes downcast.Bergeron and other people are helped away from the World Trade Centre tower.
Around the same moment, Stapleton looked at the screen of his digital camera – the first he had owned – and, pleased with his pictures, decided to deliver them to his editor. Minutes later, after the two left the area, the North Tower collapsed. Stapleton thinks that if he had been using his usual film instead of having the immediate confirmation of good digital images, he might have stayed on the scene and been there when the tower fell – and become another victim.
“She’s a big junkie on celebrity stuff, and she sees the picture and can’t believe it,” Bergeron recalls. “I was like a bit binge drinking, OK? I knew something was wrong, but not what. If I would drink something, I wouldn’t feel that anxiety.” “The first time I went to that farm, there was this big, beautiful mare,” she recalls. “Her name was Lily. I’m just talking, petting her. I’m not really paying attention. All of a sudden, she put her head right on my shoulder. And all of a sudden, all that energy that was wearing me down, it was like it was released into the atmosphere.
He documented Hurricane Katrina’s devastation of New Orleans in 2005 and the 2010 earthquake in Haiti. He worked in Lebanon during the 2006 Israeli invasion and in Iraq. He’s covered many horrific mass shootings, including the 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre that left 20 children and six adults dead.
Eventually, he says, he couldn’t even work and took some time away from the viewfinder to seek counseling and therapy. It was a slow process, and when he returned to work, he avoided the office and his coworkers as much as possible. His boss, Reuters North America pictures editor Corinne Perkins, would meet him at restaurants around the city to keep tabs on him.
“I went out into the parking lot. I smoked like five cigarettes, bawled my eyes out and called Corinne, and she was crying with me. It hit me really, really hard. Death again and again.”
Malaysia Latest News, Malaysia Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
Michael Jackson almost died on September 11 before bizarre twist of fateOn the 20th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, we look at some of the famous figures who have fate to thank for not becoming one of the 2,997 victims of the horrifying tragedy
Read more »
September 11 attacks fuse photographer and survivor in traumaWARNING: GRAPHIC CONTENT - At 9:59 a.m. on Sept. 11, 2001, the World Trade Center South Tower fell and photographer Shannon Stapleton scrambled over debris, peering through dust and smoke for pictures near the still-standing but crippled North Tower
Read more »
Air Traffic Controllers Look Back At The September 11 U.S. AttacksIt's twenty years later, and while there are many heroes and quick-thinking actions from that day, highlighting the FAA's tremendous ability to shut down U.S. airspace completely without a roadmap to follow should be part of that conversation.
Read more »
What’s It Like When Your Birthday Is September 11?There’s a Facebook group for that.
Read more »