By Denis Balibouse
If I had my dream life as a photographer, it would be a mix of working like Ansel Adams, Michael Kenna and Hirochi Sugimoto, contemplating nature and shooting landscapes in black and white. However, I am a photojournalist, and I cover news: mostly sport, politics and finance, but sometimes heart-breaking events.
Last week in Sierre, western Switzerland, a bus carrying 52 people crashed in a tunnel, killing 6 adults and 22 children.
Last Tuesday night I was at home, after a quiet day doing mostly administrative stuff. At 10.31pm I received an SMS. The message was brief but described an accident involving a foreign bus in a tunnel on a motorway. It mentioned multiple casualties and forbade the media from entering the tunnel.
After a short phone call to the duty police officer to assess the situation, I grabbed my equipment, told my wife that I would be back as soon as possible and drove the 120km (74 miles) to Sierre. Usually, these stories are over quickly, and often not deemed newsworthy, but I had a bad feeling about this one.
During the drive I had time to think about how to approach the job. I tried to prepare as much as I could, knowing that on the scene things could change quickly. I arrived shortly before midnight and took a safe position on the bridge of the way-out of the motorway, overlooking the entrance of the tunnel, some 400 yards away.
