grain bin accident in sigel

this afternoon i was called out to sigel, near neoga, illinois to photograph an accident involving a large grain bin.  upon arriving on the scene i was stopped by a sheriff’s deputy half a mile away from the scene, too far to photograph anything.  apparently the cops didn’t want too many people crowding up the scene, which i totally understand.  what i don’t understand is why they wouldn’t let me walk the rest of the way keeping my car down the road.   realizing that i would be stuck there until it was dark, i decided to try something else.  the farm was located between route 45 and highway i-57.  taking a chance, i decided to drive around to the highway and pull over on the shoulder.  luckily my bet paid off and i was able to see the scene.

as the emergency personnel searched for the accident victim, i moved in closer.  i was wearing my fluorescent press vest and in clear sight.  standing in an open field i was way out of the way.  as my hands started to freeze the workers found the body.

hoping for a happy photo of someone being rescued, i kept shooting only to be run off the scene by a few firefighters and to be saddened that the victim didn’t make it.  i of course did not use a photograph of the body being moved, but caught daggers from the eyes of the people on the scene for taking them.  not many people understand why we photograph scenes like this.  it’s a rough part of the job and makes me feel like a vulture.  in this instance the point is to show other people that accidents like this do happen and to be more careful in the future.  hopefully preventing accidents like this from happening in the future.  here’s the story.

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