An Uncommon Field: The Flight 93 Temporary Memorial. The title is based on the logo line developed for the Temporary Memorial, located outside of Shanksville, PA.: A Common Field. Uncommon Valor. The photographs of the series are a work in progress, begun in the spring of 2005 and continuing until the Temporary Memorial is replaced with the permanent installation.

The crash site of Flight 93, in which the passengers rose up against their hijackers during the events of 9/11, is located in a large natural bowl several miles in diameter that was once the site of a strip mine. It is a place of undeniable power. An uncommon field.

People who visit the site are compelled to leave something of themselves behind, from affixing personal items to the sections of cyclone fence erected for that purpose, to writing with pens and markers on the parking area guard rails. On a ridge overlooking the site are two draglines, mammoth seven-story tall movable cranes that were abandoned when the strip mine closed. The people who work at the site call these draglines “The Guardians,” because the machines keep watch over the site. The Guardians witnessed the events that day, watched as the airliner came over the ridgeline only 50 feet above the ground, flying upside down; watched as it disintegrated into the earth.

The photographs are approximately 10” x 10” carbon-pigment images, printed on 13” x 17” archival Somerset Velvet unenhanced watercolor paper. This series of images is for exhibition purposes only, not for purchase.