Remember 9/11 – Photo Essay
Today is the anniversary of a day I will never forget. For many reasons, 9/11 is a day that will be permanently etched in my mind. I’ll never forget where I was when the first news came in of a plane hitting the World Trade Center buildings. I thought it must have been a small plane that lost control. I as well as the rest of the world learned very quickly that was not the case. As the day unfolded I remember it was hard to comprehend what was happening and more so of what it meant for our country and our future.
What was hard for me was as it began to sink in I worried about my boys. My oldest son was scheduled to report to the San Diego Marine Corp boot camp that Saturday. He obviously enlisted well before this terrible day. But it was quite obvious as the hours passed that he was most likely going to be seeing action as our country prepared to retaliate for this terrible tragedy. Today, he is still serving this country proudly in Special Forces.
While I won’t go into detail, by the end of the day I was involved in this tragedy. It took many years before I could visit the site again. In 2015 I visited the site for the first time. I was misty-eyed during that visit. I saw others that were the same way and knew they too shared something regarding that day. It was hard to stand on the grounds where years before this terrible tragedy took place.
As I do with a lot of things I expressed my feelings that day by making photographs. Today I will share a number of the images I made that day. If our paths cross I would be happy to share my story over a coffee or beer. Today I hope you enjoy and more than anything else remember that day and honor those that we lost. Our world changed that day.
This morning I took some time and pulled the box of memories from that day off the shelf. I opened the box and for a little while paid my respects to my friends who never came home that day. I sent my thoughts out to all the first responders that day and all the others that defined what America was all about, selfless giving.
Never Forget!
Kevin Raber
September 2020
Kevin Raber
Indianapolis, IN
Photography is my passion and has been for 50 plus years. My career in photography has allowed me to travel the world, meet some of the most interesting people on the planet and see things I could never have dreamed of. My goal is to share the passion of picture taking through photographs and teaching with as many people as I can, hoping it brings them as much joy and happiness as it has me. I do this through photoPXL.com, this site, as well as Rockhopper Workshops, and other projects, as well as teaching as Artist In Residence at the Indianapolis Art Center.
