Lubbock photographer recalls documenting 9/11 from New York rooftop - KCBD

Umstot grew up in Lubbock. On that morning he found himself frozen in place while first responders ran toward the towers and everyone else ran away, camera in hand, capturing a moment he wasn't sure he could process at the time. "I felt like I was there documenting a historic moment. But I was also sitting there watching people die," Umstot said. "And that's brutal. Especially when you feel like your hands are completely tied."

Today you might spot him behind a camera at major Texas Tech events, a long way from that rooftop and 24 years removed from the day that shaped his career. For a hometown guy, the distance between shooting Red Raiders games and shooting history in real time says something about how one morning can follow a person for decades.

People here know Umstot's work without always knowing his story, and that's the part worth sitting with. Somebody in Lubbock held onto proof of the worst day most Americans ever lived through for a decade, waiting until he was ready to see it himself.