Sept. 11 had a unique impact on the life of Sea Cliff resident, Brian Rogers. His job as an Administrative Assistant for a company working on-site at Ground Zero following the attacks gave him an up-close-and-personal look at the aftermath.
In October, 2001, Rogers started out compiling daily reports from companies working to clean up and document the remnants.
His responsibilities eventually changed, and he was instructed to take photos of the work site, making three trips per day. Over the course of ten months, he documented the progress of the workers and their machinery.
“I also just shot images of what I thought should have been shot, a lot of stuff you need to see to really grasp how much of a mess this site was,” said Rogers. “Makes you feel pretty small standing amongst the pile.”
Taking photos of the World Trade Center was an “overwhelming” experience, according to Rogers (who was 19 at the time), and he cannot begin to imagine how the victims’ families felt that day.
“I walked past countless parking garages that had cars still in them from that [Sept. 11] morning,” he said. “It was rough...knowing that most of them probably belonged to the people in the buildings. Same goes for the hundreds of missing persons billboards and posters of loved ones I would pass.”
Rogers said his colleagues acted as a support system, as they continued to document the results of the attacks.
“We were all down there together, so we all helped each other get through it,” he said.
