Tuesday, April 16, 2013

Boston Marathon Bombing Aftermath

Boston, MA 041513 Two explosions spaced apart by seconds tore through the finish line at the 117th Boston Marathon in Boston. Authorities confirmed three dead and more than 100 wounded. (Essdras M Suarez/ Globe staff) BEHIND THE SCENES: On this day I had been assigned to be on the women's elite media truck ahead of the female runners. I got to Hopkinton close to 7:00AM. The race itself was the predicted outcome: A Kenyan runner pushed forward and won. Once I arrived at the finish line I saw no reason for me to stick around there since we already had two staff photographers on site. I went back to the office, filed and went home to see if I could catch some well-deserve shut eye. This was shortly after 2PM. My wife called me a bit after 4PM as I was taking a shower and she asked, "Why are you home and not out there shooting the bombing? I told her I had no idea what she was talking about. She told me what happened and I immediately tried to get back into the area I had just left a couple of hours prior. The city was shut pretty tight so I ended up parking my car a couple of miles away from the epicenter of the blast. I walked in and spent the rest of the day while not being able to get images of the scene aftermath itself. I kept trying to tell the story of how the City of Boston had changed at a moment's notice by showing the heightened security and the reaction of those I encountered. Thus, the two friend embracing after a couple of hours of not knowing each other whereabouts. The firefighters on this picture were first responders on site. Off the record one of them told me what he saw and how he helped the people. The only thing he told me before being off the record was, "See my pants, that is blood and skin all over them."

1 comment:

Unknown said...

Glad you were safe at home. :)