Searching . . .

Anywhere you live you hear now and then of a missing person. In some cases that search becomes a national story such as the search for Caylee Anthony or Natalee Hollway.

Last week, I had an assignment for one of my editorial clients to shoot Tim Miller, founder and director of Texas EquuSearch, for a feature story the magazine is doing on him.

TES is helping search for Tracy Ocasio who has been missing now for several weeks. And being a typical search through the underbrush, blue jeans are a necessity. Of course it’s Florida, it’s June and oh we are having record heat, so the index was pushing 110 degrees. Water, I must drink and carry lot’s of water I kept telling myself.

Texas EquuSearch (TES) is a search and rescue organization dedicated to searching for missing persons. It has increasingly become involved in high-profile abduction cases, including that of Natalee Holloway, working through local law enforcement agencies. TES is headquartered in Dickinson, Texas, a suburb of Houston.

Originally named Texas EquuSearch Mounted Search and Recovery Team, TES was founded in August 2000 by Miller after the abduction and murder of his daughter, Laura. The all-volunteer organization originally conceived as a volunteer mounted search and rescue group to assist local law enforcement personnel in searching the areas outside the city of Houston for missing individuals. Although TES has relatively few permanent members, many thousands of volunteers have since assisted in searches throughout the United States and in other countries.

The writer and I met up with Miller and his team outside of Apopka, Florida where they were setting up the command center and planned on searching during the morning. After a quick briefing to the volunteers, we headed out into and open areas with waist deep weeds, anthills and of course no shade.

I looked around as we waded through the weeds and eventually think underbrush in the hot Florida sun, I began to notice how much time Miller spends on the phone. He is constantly getting updates and calls on other cases of missing people. Between puffs on a cigarette Miller talks and listens to the phone calls.

To me it seemed at times searching can be a lonely walk, and I wanted to make a photo of Miller searching with the vastness around him to illustrate just what his group has to got through to sometimes find just a fragment of clothing or remains. I found a spot and waited for him to pass.

And though the frame is from behind, I like what it says about him and his group’s quest.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, October 6th, 2009 at 7:57 pm and is filed under Feature and tagged with Casey Anthony, Equu Search, Miller, Nikon D3, Orlando, Photo, Scott A. Miller. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.