On 9\/11, an Australian photographer was working in NYC.\u00a0 He’d been covering the US Open.<\/p>\n
He was planning on taking the day off, but he was called after the first plane hit the World Trade Center.\u00a0 He was arriving in the area when the 2nd tower collapsed.<\/p>\n
He spent the rest of the day documenting the attack and its aftermath.\u00a0 Many of his photos that day were of NYFD personnel involved in rescue operations.<\/p>\n
Near the end of the day, something caught his eye.\u00a0 It was a dusty photograph of a mother and her toddler daughter amid the rubble.<\/p>\n
Leaving it in place, he blew the dust from that photo.\u00a0 He then took a photo of the photo amid the rubble.<\/p>\n
He then took the photo with him and turned it in to authorities.\u00a0 Its precise location today is not known.\u00a0 It may be among the items catalogued that day, or it may have been lost.<\/p>\n
His photo of that photo ran in the New York Post<\/u> the following day.\u00a0 It ran on page 12.\u00a0 He didn\u2019t know the people in the photo.<\/p>\n
The photographer was affected by 9\/11.\u00a0 He returned from Australia for the 10th Anniversary.<\/p>\n
He met many of the firefighters he’d photographed during that 10th Anniversary visit.\u00a0 He got to know some of them, and their stories.<\/p>\n
But he still didn\u2019t know anything about the lady and toddler in the photo from the rubble.<\/p>\n
He kept looking.<\/p>\n
. . .<\/strong><\/p>\n It turns out that the lady and her husband were out-of-town on vacation on 9\/11.\u00a0 She indeed worked in the North Tower, and had lost friends.\u00a0 But they were safe \u2013 as was their daughter.<\/p>\n They heard about the photo in the Post<\/u>.\u00a0 It caused many of their friends to attempt to contact them.<\/p>\n They too wondered about the photographer who\u2019d taken the Post<\/u> photo.\u00a0 But due to the confusion surround the events of 9\/11, they were unable to determine who he was.<\/p>\n They later moved away from NYC.\u00a0 But a copy of that Post<\/span> photo stayed with them.\u00a0 It served to remind them that life is precious, and that the “small stuff” is exactly that – small, and not really important.<\/p>\n Each year, the lady used the Post<\/u> photo on Facebook.\u00a0 It was her way of giving thanks for life, as well as a tribute to lost friends.<\/p>\n And she still wanted to know who\u2019d taken that photo of her photo.<\/p>\n . . .<\/strong><\/p>\n The photographer continued to search.\u00a0 And eventually, fate was kind.\u00a0 He found the picture the lady had posted – his picture.<\/p>\n He also found out she\u2019d been looking for him, and that she and her family wanted to meet him.<\/p>\n The photographer traveled from Australia to Florida, where the lady and her family now live.\u00a0 They met in person earlier this year.<\/p>\n Afterwards, the photographer and the lady\u2019s family traveled to NYC, and visited the 9\/11 memorial.<\/p>\n