I recently had a particular honor to photograph a beautiful memorial in Washingtonville, New York, dedicated to five firefighters, members of the community who rushed to the Twin Towers and lost their lives, and to all the victims of 9/11. 

Vista Professional Outdoor Lighting is a California-based company that did the lighting by donating their experience and all the products necessary to bring the vision of the memorial designers to life.  

The original lights installed - when the memorial was completed - were high-intensity discharge (HID) fixtures, the prevailing technology at the time. In 2020, Vista offered to upgrade the lighting to LED fixtures that require little to no maintenance. The upgrade was completed this summer, just in time for the 20th anniversary of 9/11.

I was contacted by Vista to photograph the memorial because of my experience in photographing sculptures and art installations. After productive consultations with Cruz Pérez and Savanna Aposhian, Vista’s marketing team, we decided to capture the memorial in all the lighting conditions: daytime, sunset, dusk, and night.  

On the day of the shoot, Vista’s East coast representative Brandon Kelly raised the flag and controlled the lights, besides making sure that the memorial was spotless and the grounds were groomed. Spending the day shooting and talking with Brendan about the project was priceless. 

The memorial’s lighting truly speaks to how design can transcend the visuals and hit the emotions. We were very lucky with the weather, the sky and clouds cooperated and gifted us to some striking compositions.  

Photographing such a beautiful memorial that honors the ultimate sacrifice of five brave firefighters was one of the most touching experiences of my career, one that I will cherish forever. Many thanks to the Vista team for the privilege.

May the brave firefighters Devlin, Hamilton, Nevins, Perry, and Whitford, and all the victims of 9/11 rest in peace.