I guess what struck me the most about this assignment was that it took me away from my family for three nights, but some of my subjects wouldn’t see their families for months on end. Three days was hard enough for me … I can’t imagine what it must be like for those who come here to work and leave their families behind. I’m not sure I could do that, but then, I’m not faced with same circumstances they are.

ANDY SAWYER/Yakima Herald-Republic A passenger says a final good-bye as bus doors close and the trip north begins.

All in all, it was a great assignment. It was a challenge for sure, since the photo opportunities were limited, and editing was even tougher because the story became one that is both impressionistic and literal, and cutting photos out was easy to a point, but then the story line took over, and I found myself keeping photos that I normally would have thrown out early.

I think we ran more photos than a story like this would usually require, but given the linear element, I really believe what we ran was what it took to give readers the full story of the bus ride. I mean, it’s a long ride, and my knees ached by the middle and onto the end … I need to try to convey that ache, too, even if it’s just that a reader is sick of looking at my pictures.

–Andy Sawyer