Tragedy Photography: Framing 9/11

            September 11, 2001 was a day that forever changed America.  That morning Islamic terrorist group al-Qaeda launched four coordinated attacks on the United States.  Four commercial airliners were hijacked by al-Qaeda operatives determined to crash them into iconic American buildings, dealing a terrifying blow to their existential enemy.  Two of the planes, United Airlines Flight 175 and American Airlines Flight 11 disintegrated in massive fireballs when they plowed into the towers of the World Trade Center in New York City, causing them to collapse.  A third plane, American Airlines Flight 77, flew into the Pentagon, causing considerable death and destruction.  The final plane, United Airlines Flight 93, which was targeting the Capitol Building in Washington, DC, crashed into a rural field in western Pennsylvania.  Nearly three thousand people died in the attacks on that fateful autumn morning.  Many of the horrific scenes from the attacks were captured through the lenses of both professional and amateur photographers, making it one of the most recorded disasters in history.  Out of all the recorded media the still photographs ultimately proved the most powerful.  Many local photographers and others who happened to have a camera present as the terrifying events unfolded snapped spontaneous photos, capturing the intense and shocking events in a raw and unfiltered fashion.  The only immediate intent was to document the terror and destruction as well as the courage and sacrifice of the first responders. However, despite the fact that the photographers who would capture these historic images were shooting in the moment, devoid of any well-designed agenda or plan for their camerawork, the still images they created took on vastly different roles of depiction and representation in the aftermath of the terror.  Furthermore, they sparked moral questions about the appropriate use of these images. While the motives of professional photographers were not questioned, amateur photographers were suspect.  Shortly after the attacks New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani ordered a ban on amateur photographs of Ground Zero, explaining it was a crime scene and not a tourist attraction.

                 In her essay Kodak Moments, Flashbulb Memories: Reflections on 9/11, Barbara Kirshenblatt-Gimblett argues that most amateur photographers saw the attacks as little more than a perfect photo opportunity.  She calls them ‘kodak moments.’  “By implication, the attack on the World Trade Center was the ultimate Kodak moment.  The term evokes amateur snapshots, candid images of everyday life or special events, not spectacular pictures of Ground Zero…That said, was the attack on the World Trade Center no more than a Kodak moment for the thousands of amateur photographers who shot the disaster and its aftermath?”(Gimblett, pg. 14)  The incessant photographs prompted one angry protestor to hold up a sign saying, “I wonder if you really see what is here or if you’re so concerned with getting that perfect shot that you’ve forgotten this is a tragedy site, not a tourist attraction…I kept wondering what makes us think we can capture the pain, the loss, the pride & confusion-this complexity-into a 4x5 glossy.”(Gimblett, pg. 14) Some images were controversial due to their graphic and disturbing content.  People deemed others to be in poor taste, and other photographs were unmasked as manipulated or fictitious depictions of personal or communal horror.  This essay will use these disputes as a critical framework in order to examine the photography of the 9/11 attacks, including those images that proved most controversial.    

             In Sonia Baelo-Allue’s essay The depiction of 9/11 in Literature: The Role of Images and Intermedial References she examines the role that images played in the trauma process in the aftermath of 9/11.  When discussing the use of graphic photographs in 9/11 associated literature, specifically Jonathan Safran Foer’s 2005 novel Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, she writes,

           

            “Images prove especially important in the trauma process since to be traumatized is to be possessed by an image or event not assimilated or understood at the time.  Precisely because the experience cannot be assimilated and put into words when it   takes place, it is arranged on an iconic level and returns in the form of hallucinations, nightmares, and images that haunt the traumatized person.  Thus a traumatic experience is reenacted belatedly through a series of images that cannot be assimilated, preventing the linguistic retrieval.” (Allue, pg.188)

These photographs are principles in literary pieces that constitute a narrative of trauma.  Just as images instill empathy in those who were not present that cruel September morning, they offer incredible insight into the traumatized mind of a character who has witnessed something so astonishing and abhorrent.  However like many 9/11 photos some observers considered their use little more than a callous exploitation of trauma.  Allue also argues that in the wake of 9/11, images took on two major roles.  Firstly, they worked to act out trauma by recreating the past.  Secondly, they acted as a means of working through and accepting trauma, with the ultimate goal being to move beyond the nightmarish events.

             9/11 photography was also used to craft and promote political and social claims.  In the aftermath of the attacks, the most popular and iconic images were those portraying the courage and sacrifice of first responders as they risked their lives to save victims of the gruesome attacks.  These images play off the narrative that the attacks were an assault on bedrock American values and freedoms.  While partly true, this storyline ignores the full range of aspects that must be considered when assessing extreme violence and religious fanaticism.  American culture prides itself on triumph - winning, and overcoming the odds.  More complex and nuanced narratives strike a discordant tone.

www.atlasshrugs2000.typepad.com/.a/6a00d8341c60bf53ef01539134fa05970b-500wi

 

www.examiner.com/article/sep-11-through-my-eyes



www.cnn.com/2010/POLITICS/12/09/senate.9.11.responders/index.html

 

The image on the left depicts three New York City firefighters raising the American flag amidst all the rubble and destruction at Ground Zero.  The image closely resembles Joe Rosenthal’s World War II photo, “Raising the Flag on Iwo Jima.”  The photo instills in the viewer a powerful sense of patriotism, and reminds us that just like the brutal fight to capture the island of Iwo Jima, in the end no matter what we endure as Americans, we will always persevere and ultimately prevail as a nation.  In the right photo five first responders carry a body out of the debris.  They are clearly exhausted from the work they are so dedicated to accomplish.  In the bottom image a single firefighter gazes into the camera’s lens.  His uniform nearly white from the dust, the mask around his neck, and his expression are a testament to endurance and quiet nobility.  These are only three of countless photos that display the first responders at Ground Zero in a heroic light.  These courageous images provide motivation for the nation to rebound.  Without images like these, a society struggles to cope with such tragic and traumatic events.

                Likely the most controversial photograph, Thomas Hoepker’s shot, was published on the fifth anniversary of 9/11 in author David Friend’s 2006 book “Watching the World Change”. 

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His photo depicts five young friends lounging on the Brooklyn waterfront and enjoying the sunshine while they chat amongst themselves.  Across the water in the background a lingering plume of smoke engulfs Lower Manhattan as it rises from the ruins of the World Trade Center.  The subjects appear unreservedly indifferent to the horrors unfolding within view.  Hoepker’s photo rouses ideas about the general attitude and apathy of young Americans.  Many people were furious when they saw the photo.  Shortly after the release of Friend’s book, the subjects in the photo responded to critics that Hoepker took the photo without their permission, misrepresenting their feelings of horror and disbelief.  In an online Slate article written by one of the spectators, he asserts that Hoepker, “did not ask permission to photograph us nor did he make any attempt to ascertain our state of mind…He then chose to publish the photograph that allowed him to draw the conclusions he wished to draw…A more honest conclusion might start by acknowledging just how easily a photograph can be manipulated, especially in the advancement of one’s own biases or in the service of one’s own career.” This quarrel sheds light on the fact that a carefully executed, or even effortlessly captured photograph can completely misrepresent a situation.  Photographic considerations such as framing, lighting, and positioning of the subjects can have a titanic effect on the message the photograph projects and the responses that it ignites.  However the fact that these young spectators did not know Hoepker was photographing them captures them in their natural state and likely more accurately reflects their true demeanor. Of all the photos of this horrific event, this is the only photograph that has real artistic value due to its distant and ironic aspect.  This photo reminds us that the world does not come to a screeching halt when something terrible happens.  As hard as it may be sometimes to cope with tragedy, life must go on and life does go on. The picture is no longer about judgment, but about history and memory. In a New York Times OP-ED article entitled, “Whatever Happened to the America of 9/12?” by critic Thomas Rich, he writes, “Traumatic as the attack on America was, 9/11 would recede quickly for many.  This is a country that likes to move on, and fast.  The young people in Mr. Hoepker’s photo aren’t necessarily callous.  They’re American.” Stirred or not by the dramatic backdrop, these young people were already prepared to carry on with their lives.

          Among the disturbing images of death and destruction, images of men and women jumping from the burning towers of the World Trade Center stood out as some of the most controversial.  Dubbed “The most famous 9/11 photograph no one has seen,” Associated Press photographer Richard Drew’s “The Falling Man” also fueled enormous anger and criticism due to its upsetting content.  As a result it only appeared once on September 12^th, in the New York Times.  The photograph depicts the horrific scene of a man falling from the North Tower of the World Trade Center. 

 

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The man in the image was one of many people trapped on the upper floors, who chose to jump to their death in order to escape the hellish inferno.  The man in the image appears to be falling straight down headfirst.  Beyond the graphic composition of this image- the parallel lines and the light on one of the towers- is the fact that the subject looks so composed.  In this horrific moment, the photographer manages to capture complete calm.  The jumper’s relaxed body almost looks like that of a doll as he plummets thirteen hundred feet towards the ground.  People were drawn to the photo because it captures the very last moments of a life.  While a photograph like this is never easy to look at, it is crucial in fully understanding the horror of that day.  While Richard Drew’s photo was almost graceful, other images of the same man falling illustrate a different perspective. 

 

www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/multimedia/archive/00206/Drew-05a206004b.jpg

Similar to images of the other jumpers, his limbs in this photo are flailing as he falls, leaving us to think that “The Falling Man” is misleading. However we must remember that by nature a photo is misleading.  It is simply a frame in time, with no knowledge of what is happening outside, before, and after the frame. 

               The September 11, 2001 attack on the United States by Islamic extremists stands as one of the most devastating moments in U.S. history.  It was also one the most mediated events in history.  The events of the day were captured through innumerable still photographs.  Amateur and professional photographers alike used their cameras to capture the destruction and chaos as it unfolded.  Some took photographs of admirable citizens and first responders as they attempted rescues while others shot dramatic photos of sheer destruction.  But the often-graphic content and arguable misuses of these photographs led to constant controversy.  Certain photographs shed light on the various debates surrounding tragedy photography including the ability for photographs to inaccurately portray human reaction.  Some images such as “The Tourist Guy” that surfaced in the aftermath of 9/11 ultimately proved to be fakes. 

 

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Shortly after 9/11 an image of a man standing on the roof of the World Trade Center seconds before a visible plane would collide with the building became available on the Internet, supposedly from a camera found in the debris at Ground Zero.  However due to inconsistencies it was quickly judged a fraud.  The creator of the photograph was trying to create an image of 9/11 that would cause astonishment and trepidation.  With his fictitious photograph he was attempting to show a man seconds before meeting his fate.  As proven by “The Falling Man,” images capturing the last seconds of a human life often inspire awe in the viewer.  Perhaps the creator intended to say something more about 9/11 with this photo, but most likely it was simply to cause bewilderment among its viewers.  With many of the 9/11 photographs considered taboo, the media chose to favor more hopeful images such as the raising of the American flag, which “came to represent loyalty and resilience.” (Allue, pg. 191)

Works Cited

Baelo-Allué, Sonia. "The Depiction of 9/11 in Literature The Role of Images and Intermedial References." Radical History Review 2011.111 (2011): 184-193.

Hyman, Jonathan. "The Public Face off 9/11: Memory and Portraiture in the Landscape." The Journal of American History 94.1 (2007): 183-192.

Kirshenblatt-Gimblett, Barbara. "Kodak moments, flashbulb memories: Reflections on 9/11." The Drama Review 47.1 (2003): 11-48.
 

Rich, Thomas. "What Happened to the America of 9/11?" New York Times. N.p., n.d. Web. 13 May 2013. <http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/10/opinion/10rich.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0>.