The sound of school bells ringing and kids groaning is right around the corner, and if you live in a city, that means dealing with subway fares or traffic jams. Thing are a little different in rural areas, where school buses drive through neighborhoods in the wee hours of the morning, scooping kids up from the ends of their driveways.
When he first moved to Connecticut from New York City, photographer Greg Miller thought seeing kids on the road was "beautiful," and he wanted to take photos of them, but the shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary changed how he saw the "vulnerability" of his would-be subjects.
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Miller tells Slate that his home is an hour away from Sandy Hook Elementary. "My oldest daughter at the time of the shooting was 6 years old, the same age of many of the victims," he said. "The shooting had a particular resonance for me." After returning home from a photo assignment in Newtown, Miller began the "Bus Stop Between Two Worlds" series.
Miller writes of his experiences and the series: "I just haven’t been able to shake the feeling that we missed the point; that we have become callous and have lost our appreciation for the preciousness of life... how can anyone not see children, all children, as their own, as nieces and nephews, or even as themselves?" He describes the children as being like "apparitions or woodland creatures from a C.S. Lewis novel, waiting in the bitter cold for the rumbling school bus to arrive."
The photos are beautiful but also a bit troubling. With over 400,000 children under the age of 18 reported missing in 2013 alone, we can't help but to see them as potential victims, despite the fact that most children aren't abducted by maniacs grabbing kids at bus stops. Miller writes, "that spot where the school bus stops at the end of the driveway is a membrane between two worlds. Children and teenagers stand out there vulnerable, brave, trusting that they are safe. Trusting that we cherish life itself."
[via Slate]
