In my family we think of Sept 11, 2001 often because we lost my brother-in-law Robert who was a NYC fireman and because my other brother-in-law Doug, is still (thankfully) in the NYFD. Today, I remembered a letter I had written to family and friends not long after the event. I haven't looked at it since I wrote it, but today seemed like a good day to share it again:

Date: Tuesday, September 25, 2001 5:50 PM
Subject: ground zero

I was scheduled to go with my brother in law Doug and Squad 252 down to "the pile" last night and help out and if possible shoot some pictures of the scene. Doug got rescheduled...

so I went myself... determined to see what has forever changed our lives.

Dressed in an official NYFD shirt and cap and a pass around my neck and in my windshield identifying me as a fireman (provided by Doug) I drove through the barricade of Policeman, Military police and State troopers at the corner of Canal Street and Broadway. I was honest about my intentions and who I was lest I be arrested for impersonating a fireman. They all spoke to me as if I were one of their own. Down Broadway I drove in in total darkness except for the flashing orange and red sirens. It was unbelievably eerie and quiet until the light from the pile started to glow and all the vehicles working began to get larger and larger.

Parked my truck across the street from the side streets leading to the trade center and walked through another barricade of Military guys with automatic rifles. I wasn't present to the street names as I usually am in NYC they all blend in at ground zero all seeming to draw you towards the same place. Policeman are everywhere as are the volunteers and workers but it's strangely quiet except for the sound of the generators for the lights and equipment.

As I rounded the corner to ground zero or "the pile" my jaw dropped. the TV crews who are blocks and blocks away cant give you an accurate picture of the devastation. I was standing in a war zone.

All the buildings left standing have no windows and look like someone shot them up with a barrage of missiles. Cloth, glass and concrete hangs from the open gashes everywhere, they are burned out hulks and debris is all over the ground. there is a major pile of debris south of building number 5 that is 6 stories high still smoking with crews in cherry pickers spraying water. It's like midday down there even then at 7:30pm. there is another pile that was the north tower that fell across West street, you cant see down the street because of the size of this "dam" of debris and it would take 5 minutes to climb up it. To the right of that is the remainder of the North tower going up, up, up probably a good ten stories... its pure dirt and is being dug away by a huge crane that looks like a matchbox car sitting on it. That pile extends an entire city block down the avenue and is being worked on from the other side as well. Words cant really describe this scene it's too big and evil for me to describe it accurately.

I stared for a good 20 minutes unable to even then grasp the enormity of the destruction except for the fact that above me was only open space, no towers, it was really sad. It took me some time to reach for my cameras unsure of how to portray this scene. When I did a policeman came over and "suggested" I put it away.

Having been right there has made this whole event a little more real, but it is so mind boggling that I can't seem hold on to it for long. The magnitude alone makes it seem like a bad dream. As I stared at was once a marvelous landscape I also couldn't help but think of Robert as the building came down all around him... and I know he was still trying to save people even as it was collapsing.

Thank you all for your support through this difficult period. Remember to always love your family and friends every single day you are alive.

Love,

Heath

We are in the midst of producing imagery for the HR wordplay winner smasHRecord. We went through a number of concepts, narrowed it to two, and are producing one of those. We have shot the food portion already but the lifestyle shot is a very large production. We're gathering the crew and props as I write this blog entry! It has to be done outside, with an entire set so it is weather dependent, but I have to shoot it before I leave for South Africa in October. The promo will be complete and emailed by then.

The one we are not producing (but I still may shoot down the road, because I love the idea) was a shot of a boxer in a ring, one of those old classic dingy gyms. One large light overhead and lots of shadow all around the ring. The focus is on one boxer down and out for the count on the mat with a big black eye and his opponent in the background out of focus gloating/celebrating. The food shot was to be a raw steak. Classic.

By the way anyone know of a good place to rent a cotton candy concession trailer in New England.....?

That's what my son said looking at the foundation hole being dug. That was two days ago and they were digging again all day today.

It's been really great watching this project start to gain momentum after a year and a half of planning. They are moving really quickly now and our contractor says we should have foundation walls by the end of day on Wednesday.

I'm having a ball shooting this every morning and night. Not sure what I'm going to do when the excavator leaves, pounding nails just isn't the same thing....

The day has come. We knew it would happen. Stuff happens, a lot. A lot of stuff happens. Particularly with three kids and a dog... and it accumulates. Before you know it there is stuff in the attic, stuff in the basement, then the garage and then one day you simply have no more room and you either move or add on. We knew this was coming when we bought the house - we bought it more for the land than the house and knew we would be adding on...one day... in the future...when we needed to.

That time has arrived.

This was the largest tree on our property a huge white pine

It wasn't my favorite tree anyway, but I love this picture of Dick Stoner up in the tree after he toppled it

It broke our hearts, however, to take down this Maple tree but we couldn't figure out how to keep it. Lisa did a small Feng Shui ceremony and promised plant more.

Our garage: too small for both of our cars, had carpenter ants throughout, and so many holes in the roof it literally rained inside

Our barn: I called it the bird house because there were at least 3 different nests and you almost had to cover your ears when you went in because the chirping was so loud

Since it was coming down anyway, we did what comes naturally to all boys...

I loved our lilac bushes...

I really wanted to play on the excavator but the contractor wouldn't let me...probably a smart move on his part

This image evoked such a sadness given the dreary weather and the posture of the kids. Funny thing was no one was sorry to see it go. FYI those are not all my kids....

That's just so cool....

and there you have it... like it never existed, it took a day and a half. Now we have to dig a really, really big hole.

My son Spencer is 9 and quite an athlete, which makes me extremely proud and yet at the same time it sometimes surprises me as I watch his skill level excel past many of his friends (except his best friend Cam, of course, who was born to be a professional athlete). It shouldn't be that much of a surprise, I guess, because I'm an athlete as are both of my brothers and we grew up as a family always doing sports or something that required physical exercise and some skill. We all became and still are exercise junkies.

It's a surprise, to me, because I never came into my own in team sports until probably high school and college. As a kid his age I was just not aggressive enough. In fact, in sports like baseball I was downright timid (I was small and got hit 14 times at the plate my first year of little league). So when I watched some of the ways he did and approached things when he was very little, I just assumed he was going to be the same way. .... because Spencer is in many, many ways just like me.

Except in sports. Particularly baseball.

I love playing baseball now particularly with Spencer. What I love even more though is when I'm watching Spencer play with his team, I'm reminded not to assume you know things about people, even those you think you know really well.

Because while just like me, Spencer is also one of those kids that intimidated me when I was 9.

One of his coaches calls him "wheels"

welcome to the bench... I spent some time here in little league

Here's Spencer's friend Cam. He also knows more sports statistics than your average bookie.

Then there's lacrosse... I wish we had had this sport in my town growing up

Spencer is in the blue #10

I love this shot of Spencer and Cam: focused and 9