The day Kobe Bryant died it was overcast here in Newport Beach, and I wasn’t surprised to find out later weather was the most likely reason he and eight others were killed that Sunday.
I first learned of the helicopter crash from a text my son sent from the East Coast. He saw the news on TMZ and initially could not confirm it on other news sites. I was initially skeptical but then it was soon confirmed.
Kobe’s family lives in the Newport Coast part of the city which is about five miles away but people still ran in to him all around town. I saw him one night late at the my CVS after he had played at Staples, and know they frequented shops all over town. His family was a part of the town and lots of people know them.
The atmosphere in Newport Beach, Los Angeles, and Southern California after the helicopter crash was something I had never seen before here. In the Newport area so many people had some connection to one of the nine killed. In a smaller community the shock is understandable. But the atmosphere which gripped all Southern California, and most of the world, was incredible. Kobe was obviously larger than life, vibrant, and successful at everything. For him to be gone, and at that point in his life, shocked the world. I think it brought everyone’s own mortality in to view which is never fun.
With this event I knew I was present at an important moment in history and I wanted to find an appropriate way to photograph it. I had no interest to intrude on grieving family members, or capture images from private services, but I wanted to try and document the impact on the community, the atmosphere I was feeling.
What I decided to do was photograph the pop-up memorial at LA Live across the street from Staples Center. It was the most obvious subject and I was going up there to Kings games anyway so I had good access to the area.
These photographs are from LA Live. It was incredible to move through such an eclectic and diverse crowd where everyone was so reverent in unison. No one shoved or pushed, no one argued, it was quiet with the exception of the occasional “Kobe” chant, and everyone was basically one. Guaranteed there were folks in the crowd who normally would not be cordial with one another who stood side by side without an issue.
With a loss like this there are lots of lessons, I was thankful to have the opportunity to document it because I think these images can speak to that, but obviously I wish there wouldn’t have been a memorial to photograph.
