It is a bit late, but actually it does not matter for what I have to say, as unimportant as it may be. To photograph people, places and things, as unassuming and banal of an act that is nowadays, sometimes leads to images which carry more than what they show. There is something delicate and fragile in this group of young people, partially owed to their age and the place they find themselves in their lives while I took their image. The preparations for their Quinceañera, they are at a crossroads of their life.
The picture was taken 15 years ago and I assume that by today most of the kids on this photograph have become parents themselves. I try to imagine how they talked and felt and how they have tried to explain to their own kids what happened inside one of their malls and shopping places. And how different it must feel for them to be on the other side of . . . being the target of a madman sanctified by another madman, different from us who just see another mass shooting, another crazy tale from the America we think we know.