Boston photographer forges bond with wounded subjects
BOSTON -- The day the bombs went off at the Boston Marathon, veteran Boston Globe photographer John Tlumacki took more than 200 photos.
He was especially haunted by the images he took of 17-year-old Sydney Corcoran and her 48-year-old mother, Celeste. Shrapnel severed Sydney's femoral artery and destroyed Celeste's lower legs.
"By photographing people the way I did -- Sydney on the ground, helpless, and Celeste -- I felt like I took advantage of them," Tlumacki says. "Even though I was doing my job, that I was guilty of maybe depriving them of their dignity."
Tlumacki felt compelled to meet them. Two weeks later, when he finally did, he apologized.
They grew closer as he documented their recovery.
Tlumacki witnessed milestones, such as the day Sydney left the hospital.
Five days later, Celeste came home.
"They wheeled me in, and I threw up my arms, just like she did," Celeste says. "And was just like, 'Yes, I'm home.'"
Another favorite was the night of Sydney's senior prom.
"There were times when we didn't think we'd be that happy again, or just be here physically," Sydney says. "To be able to look back and see that, there's a certain triumph in it, because you've overcome that obstacle."
Tlumacki says he now feels absolved of his guilt.
"I remember Celeste saying to me, 'John, I don't want you ever, ever to feel that guilt ever again. Whatever you did, people wouldn't have known the horror that day, what terrorism does, and you captured that for the world to see,'" Tlumacki says. "That's all I needed to hear. That was closure for me."
After experiencing the bombing as strangers, they are healing together as friends.