This is going to be a sensitive topic.

I know most people dont want to talk about it, and I am not sure if this topic will be acceptable. Anyways Ill get on with my question.


How many of you ran towards the twin towers on 9/11 for the cause of documenting it, and also, if you feel comfortable doing it would you post these pictures? I remember sitting on my kitchen counter as a 7 year old eating goldfish watching the TV, and watching the towers fall.

I know it is a hard topic and I am sorry for the losses that day. and if anyone here has lost a loved one I am very sorry and you are in my prayers, even 10 years later.


Mods/admins, if this is a problem feel free to delete it and please PM me if it is a problem.

I know Steve McCurry photographed the towers after impact from the roof of where he was in NYC, then he ventured in and go closer photographs.

If I had an editor who expected me to deliver images, I'd be in there doing my job. Not all photography is babies and butterflies.

I've been lucky so far in that I haven't been present for an aviation crash or a collision but I have no doubt that the longer I do this, the more likely that day will come. I was only about five minutes removed from the fight line when Jack Roush wadded up his jet at Oshkosh last summer so my "moment" almost dropped right in my lap.

I'd like to think I will be able to stay in the moment and do what I like to think I do best which is document what I see in front of me.

Like firemen, police and military, news photographers try to head toward what everyone else is running from. It's part of the job and the people who seek out that job probably have a predisposition for taking risks.

I can't speak of the towers on 9/11 because I was already into semi retirement in Florida, but when I was working, it was usually fun, even doing dangerous things. Covering accidents was not so much fun. Seeing a young mother die in the arms of a paramedic, while her crushed and dying infant wailed from within the wreckage put me off for a while--I asked the editor to let someone else cover wrecks. I never minded doing things that were dangerous for me, but the sheer waste of traffic fatalities finally got to me. I can only imagine that was magnified by three thousand for those shooting on that day.

If I was there, I would photograph or video it. We are doing our job, so the world know how terrorist take the one we love.

I'm sure many people saw the documentary made by the two French brothers (Naudet brothers). They were making a doco with one of the fire houses and found themselves in the middle of the 911 event.There was a scene where a Policeman yelled something at one of the brothers who was photographing and at that moment I found myself understanding both parties, ie the cops reaction to someone photographing human suffering and at the same time the photographers obvious drive to simply capture.

Choderboy wrote in post #12638410
There was a scene where a Policeman yelled something at one of the brothers who was photographing and at that moment I found myself understanding both parties, ie the cops reaction to someone photographing human suffering and at the same time the photographers obvious drive to simply capture.

Please, please folks, can we refrain from turning this questionable thread into yet another police versus photographers' rights thread.

If it does, I sincerely hope for the sake of taste and decency the moderators will lock it.

David

Woodworker wrote in post #12638991
Please, please folks, can we refrain from turning this questionable thread into yet another police versus photographers' rights thread.

If it does, I sincerely hope for the sake of taste and decency the moderators will lock it.

David

Yet the police was probably looking out for the safety of that photographer going into the danger area.

Back to the main topic. Were any of the potners there?

Wish I was but I was only 10 years old and still remember seeing it on the tv with my class.

there was a time that I would have done whatever I could to get shots that would be a record of an important event, no matter what it was or how I was effected by it personally. After spending several hours stuck behind a fatal accident with a camper full of gear and several long lenses and a tripod thinking about reasons I didn't need to get out the camera and take pictures that I knew would be the best taken that day, I am pretty sure I wouldn't run towards the towers either.
That day in traffic the cell phone crowd ruled, they had photos uploaded to the local newschannels before I got home to watch the news that night. I might have had better shots by far, but by the time I would have been able to get them to someone that wanted them, they would have been swimming in free cell phone shots. I have to beleive that if the towers fell tomorrow, all the news shots would be cell phone captures until they could get their own people on the ground- So, WHY BOTHER? nothing goes unrecorded these days, let someone else do it for free, or get a paid gig yourself. Anything less is an exercise in frustration and danger for no reward, go home, be safe.

If I had been on-site, and there wasn't an immediate need on hand for me to actually be lending a hand to someone, then I'd have been shooting like a maniac. Something of that scale, tragic or not, is newsworthy and should be recorded for history's sake, if nothing else.

More likely, though, I would have been trying to get people out of harm's way, or at least out of the real responders' way.

Stay out of the way, stay safe, do what you can to help within your abilities. Then document.

I am not an ambulance chaser, but I will follow smoke signals This past November my neighbour's house burned. I spent 8 hours documenting the event. Some people had issues with what I did, but the fire department sure was thankful to have a DVD full of images. The fire prevention officer asked me for my pictures so they could be used in the official investigation. That DVD is in the permanent file now. I gave the department a second DVD for their collection. And they are still talking about them.

The local news radio station also requested a couple of images to be used on their website. They have used my photos previously.

IMAGE LINK: http://www.flickr.com …wershutterbug/5​861957604/

Aperture1.4 wrote in post #12639451
Back to the main topic. Were any of the potners there?

I wasn't "there". I was working in midtown Manhattan. My wife was actually there. This was before I met her. She worked a few blocks away, saw the second plane hit the WTC, heard rumbling, ran for her life along with thousands of other people, got to a ferry, crossed over to Brooklyn, and had her friend pick her up. She still remembers every little detail from that day.

I think other than your dedicated professionals, whether it be Fire Fighters, Police, and other rescue workers, and perhaps people from the news and papers, the smartest thing was to run away...fast.

I wasn't into photography at the time, but I would venture a guess and say that I would have run away from the scene, not towards it. I would have thrown whatever photographer gear I had on me if it was slowing me down. My life is more important than shooting photos of that epic disaster.

Choderboy wrote in post #12638410
I'm sure many people saw the documentary made by the two French brothers (Naudet brothers). They were making a doco with one of the fire houses and found themselves in the middle of the 911 event.

I've seen this documentary (it was a good while back now), but I highly recommend it. It's videography, not stills, but it gives you a sense of what it must have been like to try to capture the moment that day. If I recall correctly, their video is the only high quality one of the first plane's impact.