One of the hardest things to photograph, for me, is the grief of those who have so recently, and often unexpectedly, lost one of their family members. On Monday night, seven of the 10 people who were aboard a small Cessna plane were found dead at the site of the wreckage. Tuesday morning, family members, friends, rescue workers, and the Yakima County Sheriff’s office held a press conference at the command center.
Television crews and reporters from around the region crowded together while rescuers, family members, and supporters stood across from them, a stand of microphones in the center of the circle.
After various agencies told about the facts of the rescue , members of the Craig family stepped forward to talk about their son and brother, Casey, who was one of the skydivers who was killed in the crash. Casey’s brother, Kelly, stepped up to the microphone to talk about how his brother died doing what he loved. His sister, Ivy, joined him.
Later, Ivy would show me a family photo taken two weeks ago as the three siblings jumped together, wide grins as they hold onto each other in the air. Ivy says her brother was a funny man, and despite a morning of tears, laughs at the memory of his antics. His mother holds up a photo to the television cameras of her three children and behind them, Casey’s friends and the family of the skydiving community hug each other and wipe tears away.
The stereotype of the journalist as heartless “vulture” is one of the things that almost kept me from becoming a journalist. Capitalizing on other people’s pain and grief is, I think, an immoral act. However, as I photographed the Craig family, and in the past as I have photographed people in their grief, I believe that the act of witnessing can be a way to help: to help families remember, to help communities understand and connect, to memorialize those lost in tragic events. I don’t believe that grieving or loss must remain hidden, and that not showing it is the only way to deal with emotions we have all felt.
Casey’s family wants him to be remembered for the vibrant, wild, and funny man they knew, not just a victim of a tragic accident. As they stepped up to the microphones and later talked to reporters in small groups, they talked about what kind of person he was, and gave us a glimpse, through them, of the hole his absence will leave. As they grieve, their community, our community grieves with them. Photographs let us know that we don’t grieve alone. Photographs remind us that the price of disasters can’t be told in maps or charts, but is only apparent in those left behind.
Living their grief in front of a mass of journalists and sharing their memories of Casey, was a gift — to Casey and to our communities. It took bravery and stamina on what has likely been one of the worst times of the Craig family’s lives. Thank you.
–Sara Gettys
