9/11 and the Power of Photography
Claire Berlinski, Ed. ·
Sep 7, 2011 at 10:05pm
I've been avoiding reading anything about the upcoming anniversary, in part because I know too much about the way these essays get written: Editors commission the anniversary issue months ahead, and writers (me included) spend weeks trying to find something new to say, and largely fail. So much of what was written in the wake of it was grotesque, and so much will be now.
These newly-released photos by James Nachtwey prove that sometimes, photography has the power to say something new when words no longer can.
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Jul '10
Re: 9/11 and the Power of Photography
"Let's Roll."
Edited on Sep 7, 2011 at 10:18pmMay '10
Re: 9/11 and the Power of Photography
If I got into my car and started driving now it would take just a little over eight hours to get to the tip of lower Manhattan. In an instant, that city, that atrocity reached out and touched us in our small town.
A young man from our church was working in Tower One, trying his hand at Big Finance in the Big City. From time to time his parents greet us on Sunday mornings. We shake hands, exchange smiles and you walk away grieving, still ten years later, because you know the blasts just didn't create a hole in the ground, but blasted a hole in these lovely people's hearts. You can rebuild the city but you can not make these people whole again.
Only God and men like Father Mychal Judge can do that.
Re: 9/11 and the Power of Photography
On a good day, the memory of 9/11 is three heartbeats away. Maybe four.
Jul '11
Re: 9/11 and the Power of Photography
I will never forget my first day of high school here in San Diego because it was the 9/10 and the juxtaposition of the two days is impossible to forget. At 13 years old I was struck, as I continue to be, by the surreality of the experience.
My mother worked for Marsh McLennan, the company which lost the largest number of employees in one of the towers. In an instant, she lost five friends whom she had never met or seen in person. That loss made the event 'real' for her, and for my family.
In short Claire, Thank you for posting this.
Agreed, four heartbeats represents a very good day.
Edited on Sep 7, 2011 at 11:40pmSep '11
Re: 9/11 and the Power of Photography
Claire, Dear,
Lovely piece, for which I thank you from the bottom of my heart.
Having been struck by the overwhelming power of those sear photographic images to which you referred, I maintain they will remain in our individual consciousness "for all the time there is" for each of us.
And just so I would posit that the playing of, the listening to, and the remembrance of music also relentlessly impacts our consciousness, in a somewhat similar manner. Music gently but firmly reminds us of the stark reality we will forever carry of the horrific killings and sufferings visited upon all of us, both the quick and the dead, on that day.
And so all of us scarred, "poor, banished children of Eve" who remember what it is to have witnessed September 11, 2001 could well use music as well as photos to commemorate the suffering of the dying and to assuage the grief of the survivors.
Thus, in appreciation to you both, I wrote ( in the Member Feed today) an essay partly inspired by your comments and partly by Michael Burke's essay in today's WSJ which you may find of interest,.......or not.
Anne R. Abler
Mar '11
Re: 9/11 and the Power of Photography
Thanks for posting this, Claire!
Apr '11
Re: 9/11 and the Power of Photography
I agree that ten years on memories have gotten kind of gauzy and have lost their sharp edges. So why not read something written contemporaneously with the event? When I got home from Afghanistan in the early summer of 2002 my mom sent me a copy of Peggy Noonan's book A Heart, A Cross and a Flag. It might make good companion reading while looking at James Nachtwye's photographs.
May '11
Re: 9/11 and the Power of Photography
"Unfortunately, the Bush administration used the emotional power of the images of 9/11, including mine, to justify and gather support for an ill-conceived invasion of Iraq, a country that had absolutely no connection to the attack on 9/11." - James Nachtway
The pictures are a stark reminder of the devastation of that dark day, but in politicizing this attempt at a "remembrance", the photographer and, of course, Time Magazine, showed their true colors.
May '10
Re: 9/11 and the Power of Photography
man...what you can do with just a few words. You are a miracle, James.
My memories that day were colored by the fact that I was a receptionist for the school where I now teach and one of the students was panicked because her parents had planned to go to the observation deck that day with some friends. They had been late getting going, and were safe, but it was almost 24 hours before we found out. Going through the halls and seeing every classroom watching the events in real time, with teenagers who can't grasp a world where this can happen, was a special kind of hell. The knowledge that the collapse meant your were watching the worlds largest live-on-TV mass murder was mind-numbing.
My wife still can't stand to look at low-flying planes coming into our airport...
Edited on Sep 8, 2011 at 5:54am