Shortly after the 2018 shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, Lou Bopp, a commercial photographer from St. Louis, got a call from an old friend, longtime CBS News correspondent Steve Hartman, asking if he’d like to join him on a unique assignment.
They would be photographing the bedrooms of Parkland victims just as the teens had left them, down to the indentations their bodies had left on the sheets in their beds.
Bopp (pronounced BOPE), whose commissions have taken him around the world, typically doesn’t do news photography. But this was different. Given the gravity of the subject matter, this felt more like a calling, one that triggered “a maelstrom of emotions,” he told The Trace. “There’s not one home that I visited where we didn’t all cry together.”
Over the ensuing eight years, Bopp and Hartman visited the bedrooms of eight victims of school shootings, not just in Parkland, but also in Saugus, California; Uvalde, Texas; and Newtown, Connecticut. The project is now the subject of a documentary, “All the Empty Rooms,” directed by Joshua Seftel and premiering on Netflix December 1.
“Nothing prepared me for this,” Bopp said. “With all the rooms, my goal was to take a picture of somebody who wasn’t there, to make a portrait, capture the essence of a person who’s not in front of the camera. That is the opposite of what I usually do.”
Below, Bopp talks about what it was like to be in front of the camera for a change, how the team approached victims’ families, and whether he’ll ever truly be finished with this project. The conversation has been edited and condensed for clarity.
Photo courtesy of Netflix
You’ve said this is the most difficult project you’ve ever worked on, and it is so different from your other work. Do you feel like you were called to do this?
Figuratively and literally, yes. There was a kind of a maelstrom of emotions — I didn’t want to do it, but I did want to do it. If anybody else would have called, I don’t know what I would have done. I probably wouldn’t have done it. But Steve called, and I didn’t even think about it. I just said yes, like, “Bring it on. Let’s do this.”
Did you think a lot about gun violence before you got that call? Was this an issue that you’d been paying attention to?
Like all of us, I paid attention to it. But then I became numb to it. I was around during Columbine, and the Aurora, Colorado, shooting, and Parkland. But then there were some that didn’t make the front page that I didn’t see until later. Now I have a 17-year-old daughter. She’s in school. So that hits home.
After one of the shootings — I don’t remember which one — there were some copycat threats going on, and one of them hit her school. So they went into lockdown one day. And it’s like, what the fuck? Sorry for the language, but that’s how it felt.
Photo courtesy of Netflix
What was it like for you to be in front of the camera?
It was definitely out of my comfort zone. I like being behind the camera. But I also had a job to do. In the movie, I am behind the camera a lot, so I’m not thinking about being in front of it. We shot numerous interviews. I think three or four sentences made the final cut, just because of the direction that the film took, which is about the families, about the shootings, but also the narrative is about Hartman and how he does happy, feel-good feature stories mostly. [Hartman hosts a weekly CBS feature segment, “On the Road.”] In this, he steps out of his comfort zone, and there’s no happy ending. It’s a stark contrast.
As the parent of a school-age child, seeing these parents and what they’ve done to keep their child alive, did you ever think, “What would I do if I was in their situation? Would I also preserve this space?”
I’ve thought about it; I’m present with those thoughts. I’ve had family members that were older that have died, and I know what I did. I can’t say for sure what I would do. I’d probably keep the room the way it was for a little while, then document it, and then repurpose it.
Gracie Muehlberger’s room, including a box of letters to her future self. (Photos courtesy of Netflix)
What do you think these families are ultimately going to do with those rooms? Do you think that’s a lifelong thing? Like, that room is not going anywhere?
Some of them, yes. Some of them have already moved on. And what’s nice about it is, my pictures helped them move on because they’ve been documented, and we sent them books.
Each family got their own book of their own child’s bedroom. And a couple of them said, “We have moved on because of these.” I thought that was amazing.
One or two of the rooms, the father goes in there every night and sits with his daughter.
Alyssa Alhadeff, who was killed in Parkland, didn’t even have time to put the cap back on the toothpaste. She had no reason to think she wasn’t coming back home.
That was the first room I photographed. The first three rooms were all in Parkland, and I did those on my own. Steve wasn’t there; the documentary crew, they weren’t there. And I’m terrified. I couldn’t sleep the night before. I’ve been to a war zone. I’ve shot poachers in South America. I’ve been on the side of erupting volcanoes. I’ve been in some pretty dicey situations. But nothing prepared me for this. When I went into Alyssa’s room, it looked like there was a child just there, and she ran out — and she’s coming right back.
With all the rooms, my goal was to take a picture of somebody who wasn’t there, to make a portrait, capture the essence of a person who’s not in front of the camera. That is the opposite of what I usually do. I take pictures of people. It’s a little easier to capture their essence when the person is there.
Photo courtesy of Netflix
This started as a photo series, and then was featured on “CBS News Sunday Morning” and “60 Minutes.” Now it’s a film. Where does this project end for you? Is this something that you’re going to be working on for the rest of your life?
I don’t know. When it started, I really didn’t think it would get off the ground because I didn’t think anybody would let us in. But Steve and his producers, over seven or eight years, got into eight rooms. If somebody called me now and wanted me to document their kids’ bedroom, I would in a heartbeat. Everything was self-funded, I would jump on a plane and go do it for them. It wouldn’t make the movie, it wouldn’t make CBS, but I would continue to do it. It’s the least I can do.
How do you find them? Or did they find you?
No, we found them. I hesitate to even say “we” because really the idea came from Steve. He wrote the letters and, through his producers, mailed them to every parent whose child was killed in a school shooting. When another school shooting occurred, those parents got a letter — after many months, not right away. Steve is about the only person that could pull that off, because of his reputation.
The bedroom of Hallie Scruggs, a 9-year-old who died in a 2023 shooting at The Covenant School in Nashville. (Photos courtesy of Netflix)
So if a family wanted to say no, they have a letter, the ball’s in their court.
Yeah.
Did anyone ever respond to you in anger?
Not that I know of. One family, they were on the fence. Ultimately they chose not to because the siblings weren’t comfortable with it. But Steve and I went over there and met with them and hung out and had a very positive, nice conversation, over a few beers.
When I have to speak with a survivor, I also can’t sleep the night before. You said you felt the same way.
It’s probably different for everybody, but I know for me, I’d say there’s some socially awkward components about me. I always want to say the right thing. And I think I have with them. Contrast that with somebody like Steve. He can say anything to anybody, but his delivery is so, I mean, he just puts it out there. Some people just have that gift.
Photo courtesy of Netflix
When news breaks of another shooting in the U.S. that involves children, does your heart sink knowing there will be more parents like this?
Yeah. It hits my radar. I mean, it always did, but now I have a lot more insight. There have been shootings that, frankly, I hadn’t heard about, like the one in Saugus, California. Where was I when that happened? When you forget about them or they don’t hit the radar, it’s not right.
So what’s next with the film?
Hopefully, the film makes it to Washington, and policymakers see it and experience it and feel it. That’s something that I hope comes out of this. I mean, I’m pretty realistic. I know this isn’t going to change anything overnight. But hopefully it changes something, somehow, for the better.
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