Did anyone go out to record their thoughts on film or to record history?I know a lot of NewYorkers shoot every thing to do with their great city and i would like when you are ready to share your experiences.(photographic) Thinking of you all from Australia TIM

-- Tim Robinson (timphoto@ihug.com.au), September 14, 2001

Answers

Tim

I contemplated it, but quite honestly the whole experience is too awful for me to feel inclined to go out and be a "voyeur" at the moment. I think many people feel the same. Of course, you cannot get near to ground zero anyway. I am bringing my Leica to work, but have not taken anything yet. I think though that I do need to see the view soon without the towers to get some kind of "closure" (I rather dislike that term actually). I was too far uptown (62nd street) to see much, but the shock and emotional impact of the whole thing is overwhelming. As a Briton who has been in the US for ten years, I am "used" to bomb scares and bomb attacks in London, but the sheer ferocity of this attack with the intention to kill as many as 50,000 people plus the Washington attacks is in another league altogether. The perpetrators have a deep and appalling hatred to do such a thing - it is incomprehensible to all normal people. Even today there is news that more suspects are arrested on suspicion of trying to continue terror hijacking.

-- Robin Smith (smith_robin@hotmail.com), September 14, 2001.

My office is on the 4th floor directly accross the Hudson River from what used to be the WTC. I witnessed everything on Tuesday and brought my camera to work Wednesday but could not take it out of the bag. I can't wait to shoot the construction of the new building(s) that will take it's place.

-- Brooks (bvonarx@home.com), September 14, 2001.

I attempted to submit a response to Lutz Konermann's thread on yesterday, but the submission failed, probably due to the enormous number of responses. My wife and I were in NYC on the day of the attack. We had ridden Amtrak the day before. We had planned this brief junket to the city back in January. My wife had never been to New York and we just wanted to sample a little taste of the city for a couple of days. This was our first trip since purchasing my new Leica equipment. Our first and only full day was on Tuesday, the day of the attack. We had just emerged from a confusing subway ride that we had hoped would carry us to the Guggenheim Museum on 5th Ave. at 89th St. . The time was a couple of minutes past 9:00 a.m.. As we stood on a corner attempting to get our bearings, we heard a siren. Instinctively, we turned in the direction of the sound and glanced upward. I spotted an enormous amount of smoke emanating from a distant building. We neither knew the location nor source of the fire. A very few minutes later our cell phone rang. An anxious voice responded when my wife answered: "Mom, where are you?" It was our son calling from Atlanta. He knew before we did. We assured him we were fine. Now we knew, at least in part, that the situation was serious. Gradually, people around us began to realize that some dreadful thing had happened. A motorist stopped, opened his car door, and turned up the volume of his car radio so that pedestrians could hear what was happening. There was shock and disbelief on the faces of all who heard, but there was a comforting calm that pervaded the scene. The Guggenheim was closed just as we arrived. We stood with others and looked south. The smoke now was heavier than before and rising higher and higher. Some around us, who had friends that worked in the World Trade Center, wept quietly, yet controllably. My wife and I decided to walk back to our room located on 37th St.. As we made our way south for 52 blocks, we met thousands of people making their way north, away from the devastation. I do not think I have ever been more impressed with humanity than on that day. In the midst of the uncertainty and horror I never heard an obscenity, racial/ cultural/ religious epithet; or witnessed an unseemly act. People were calm, composed, and considerate as they walked resolutely nothward, many without any idea as to where they would spend the night. It was a scene I will always remember with great respect and appreciation. I attempted to take a few photographs, but my heart was not in it. I do not make my living as a photographer, and I did not have a sense of great urgency to record the event for my personal use. That being said, I now have even a greater appreciation and respect for those professionals who, often in harm's way, render such a significant service to all of us with their photographic record. As an army chaplain assigned to a combat unit in Vietnam, I had, and continue to have, a high regard for the many photographers of that era, many of whom died while covering those tragic days of war. I believe my hope in the indomitable will and purpose of the American people will be realized in the coming days.

-- Max Wall (mtwall@earthlink.net), September 14, 2001.

Tim, I was in my office at 120th Street, when I read the news on the Net. Two of my friends work near the WTC, one was yet at home, the other one was very lucky and only covered in dust. I walked down to 8th Street after 11:30am to see if I can contact them (telephone broke down) or just to be near them. I had my Leica with me and took some photos. The situation was as Max described it: lots of people in the streets, but no panic or violence. It took me two hours to get to one friend and then we had news from the other that he had just taken a shower to clean off the ash and dust. On my way I passed crowds who listened to car radios or watched TV, placed on tables or iron boards on the pavement. Postal offices, FedEx locations and banks were closed, people were in line at ATMs and started buying bottled water. All subway stations were closed and guarded by police. Water was distributed at churches, further downtown a guy informed the crowd where to donate blood, he waved a makeshift poster, made out of cardboard. Later we saw caravanes of trucks heading downtown with water and tools on them as well as the National Guard. I didn't feel much voyeristic, because I was also shocked and affected by that event, I took the pics more automatically. Actually I'm still in a kind of disbelieving mood. Once I have my pictures processed I'm sure they will show what I also read in a newspaper yesterday: The Big Apple can handle the bite.

Sincerely,

Dietmar

-- Dietmar Moeller (moeller@phys.columbia.edu), September 14, 2001.

I took the camera in to work at the paper Tuesday evening and shot some newsroom activity while waiting for work to be assigned. Butchered a lot of the exposures because I - uhh - had my mind on other things. I guess I need to work on my professional composure. Subject matter obviously a far cry from anything that happened in the 'real' (or psychotically unreal) world that day, but I felt our response needed documenting, too.

-- Andy Piper (apidens@denver.infi.net), September 14, 2001.

Robin, Brooks, Dietmar and Max:

First off, I am very happy to hear that you are all okay. Second, I would like to encourage you to take the opportunity to record this incident. I am not necessarily suggesting that you photogrpah from the aspect of being a voyeur to the violence of the act, as I believe that I too would have difficulty with that. However, given what Max and Dietmar have reported, I think you may find an opportunity to photograph fellow humans exhibiting great courage, humanity and random acts of kindness. These are all traits that have been in notably short supply in the imagery we have grown accustomed to receiving from our modern media over the past several years.

I can further imagine the four of you perhaps collaborating on a show, or even a book, chronicling the strength rising out of the rubble created by this insanity. All this just IMO, of course...

-- Jack Flesher (jbflesher@msn.com), September 14, 2001.

As a survivor of the 1995 Great Hanshin Earthquake I understand the feelings of photographers wanting to document and feeling reluctant about shooting the aftermath of Tuesday's horror. I had a sense I was committing a violation every time I pressed the shutter after January 15, 1995. I also felt that I had to keep pressing the shutter before the wreckage was trucked away so that the victims could be remembered in some way. There were times I pressed the shutter with eyes closed or averted. I shot in black and white. I've still not had my shots printed.

-- Alex Shishin (shishin@pp.iij4u.or.jp), September 14, 2001.

Alex , I ,like you have a few rolls of film unprinted of various things. -My grandmother a few hours before she died and a portrait of my mum the day i left home etc. Small things I know but I am glad I have them. Photography is what I do, sometimes people don't understand that.

-- Tim Robinson Photography (timphoto@ihug.com.au), September 14, 2001.

FYI: CNN has a gallery of pictures taken inside the WTC during the evacuation. Go here and scroll down to a clickable item:

Gallery: Escape from the WTC.

It's Java so I can't link to it directly.

-- Andy Piper (apidens@denver.infi.net), September 15, 2001.

Max: Glad you and your wife were not downtown Tuesday morning and have managed to make it home safely.What a nightmare.I am certain your next trip to New York City will be enjoyable, not a horrendous experience as it was this time. GOD BLESS AMERICA!

-- John Alfred Tropiano (jat18@psu.edu), September 15, 2001.

Since I live and work in the Philly area, I went to NY Saturday. Took NJ transit to Penn Station early morning. Had my Leitz M6/Elmar-M, and a lot of T-Max 400. And I walked, and walked, and walked. It was incredible; heart wrenching and exhilarating all at once. As I walked, and shot, I also stopped to write down my thoughts. I'm going to do a small book for myself. I talked with a lot of New Yorkers. I urge everyone to go to NY. The courage and caring of New Yorkers should be an inspiration to us all, I know it was to me. Everyone had a story, and wanted to tell it. I suppose if only to vent. I shared many touching moments with complete strangers, who are strangers no longer. I especially remember talking with a displaced young woman from Battery Park, who rubbed my back when I got chocked up. All Leica aficionados should go, and give a business card to those you take pictures of so they can contact you for a print. Please, go to Central Park on the 23rd to show solidarity with our brothers and sisters. If we are liberty loving citizens of the free world, then we too are New Yorkers. I might add, that this is the type of drama that Leica's are made for and the best means available for sharing a life defining moment.

-- Leicaddict (leicaddict@hotmail.com), September 17, 2001.