Echo Park

Echo Park. Apparently it's the 12th novel in the Harry Bosch detective series, and now it's the last book read by a man killed in a car accident in Bristol tonight. I've photographed plenty of accidents like that over the last five years, and while it's never easy, the camera helps detach you from what you're seeing, at least in the moment.

But seeing that book lying in a parking lot, 20 yards away from where it's owner was lying under a white sheet, both of them thrown from an SUV that was broadsided by a utility van, instantly stripped away any emotional detachment I've grown accustomed to. I spend a ton of time in my car, and I don't go anywhere without a book sitting next to me in the front seat. I'm not going to get into any sort of deep introspection on a photo blog, but I will simply say that looking at that copy of Echo Park tossed across a debris-strewn parking lot is an image that will stay with me for a long time.