On September 11, 2001 I lived three blocks east of the World Trade Center. That morning I ended up commandering the police van you see in the first picture with a few civilians. We took it upon ourselves to help in anyway we knew how. That meant gathering supplies from all over the City and bringing it back to the site. Every now and then I would stop, frame a shot, fire it off and get back to helping. Not really taking into consid-eration the historic importance of what I was capturing.

After I finished off my three rolls of 120 film. I put my camera away and went back to helping. I didn’t process the film for two and half months. Even viewed through the eyes of a layman, you see the importance and uniqueness of what was captured. But, I simply shelved the film and didn’t think about it for 9 years. In 2011 for the ten year anniversary, I wrote a book about what I experienced that day as a first responder and the heroism I saw first hand from not only the government employees, but the incredible bravery I saw from the local citizens that day and the weeks that followed.

I put this up here not only so no one will forget. But also as a reminder about the many that are still suffering from
untreatable, unrecognizable, undiagnosed and ignored illnesses. Which the government still wishes to sweep under the rug. Please take this time to research the various charities and do what you can to help. Whether that is financial help, or lend a helping hand, to a suffering first responder, in this, their most urgent time of need.

On 9-11 they weren’t asked to do anything, but they did it anyway. Today, they don’t ask for anything, but we should do it anyway.

To see all the images captured please visit Richard Agudelo's website www.richardagudelo.com/my9-11project.

For further information email contact@my9-11project.org