I will never forget the last two days as long as I live.

Yesterday was one of those surreal experiences most people never even experience, thankfully. It started out when I got to the gym and the news was tuned in on the locker room TVs. It started out with reports of one fatality and several injuries in a Virginia Tech shooting. But by the time I had finished swimming laps, there were over 30 people dead and numerous injuries in what turned out to be the deadliest shooting ever in the history of the United States. A shocking event that had stunned the country.

Yesterday I pretty much stayed glued to the TV and decided to go to Blacksburg today to see the campus and try to reconcile some of this so that it felt at least somewhat real.

I got to Blacksburg at about 8:30 am and came in on the Prices Fork exit, passing by the new Alumni Center which had turned into a sea of news satellite uplink dishes.

I proceeded downtown which was eerily deserted, then parked near Mike’s Grille and began to walk toward campus. When I got to Squires, there was the first indication of what had happened…a black poster with white lettering on the doors…..

On to the War Memorial which overlooked a near deserted Drill Field, a place which would normally be full of people crossing to classes at this time of the morning.

As the day progressed, I wandered about a campus that was deserted by students and filled with assorted media reps from all over the world. They were all looking for their story and apparently there was not much success to be had as the students who were milling about were reluctant to talk.

I spent a lot of time photographing those places that are so familiar to me. But today, they were just different. There was a feeling of sadness that dripped from the air, a stark contrast in mood to the backdrop of a beautiful sunny spring day complete with the usual Blacksburg wind whipped up by the tail of an almost passed Nor’easter. That storm had actually made the task of saving the lives of the most severely injured that much more difficult as it precluded the use of Lifeguard 10 to transport them to Roanoke.

I was photographing the lobby of Burrus Hall, trying to capture the two half staff flags framed by the front doors, when a figure quickly appeared in the viewfinder and rushed through the door. It wasn’t until I had taken the shot and looked up that I realized it was President Steger on his way to his office to begin what was likely the most difficult day of his career. I realized that I had captured Dr. Steger in one of the sequence shots. I always take sequences of flag shots because it is difficult to capture the best moment of their unfurl.

Later, as I was shooting the breezeway that tunnels through Burrus Hall from the exterior sidewalks, Dr. Steger left the building on his way to a meeting in Williams Hall and I got this shot. I just can’t help but think how alone he looks here. He’s did a great job yesterday answering reporters questions at the news conference, making it apparent that he is an accomplished leader.

The rest of these shots speak for themselves for the most part. As I finished up near the VT memorial set up for last night’s candlelight vigil, I signed the memorial and took this picture of it..

Afterwards, I got three requests to be interviewed by reporters who had apparently taken footage of me signing the memorial. Answering their questions really brought home what all this had meant to me. It has been a sad, sad two days and I’m pretty sure I will think about this everyday for a while.

This campus will never be the same.

Norris Hall is in the far background….Burrus Hall is to the far left…