My friend took this shot on 9/11/01.

As he tells the story, he was in northern Brooklyn the day of the event. He took out his camera and snapped shots after the first tower was hit. He was busy taking extra shots with his Nikon when he saw through the viewfinder that the second tower was on fire/smoking. He saw in the saved image, this picture below. Apparently this shot was published in the center page of Time magazine's special edition regarding 9/11/01.

Really sad to think that those folks in the plane died in about 1 second after the shot.

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All I ever really needed to know, I learned from watching Star Trek.

Hurts to look at that picture.

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To me, that was "the day the earth stood still." Our lives haven't been the same since.
Thanks for sharing your friend's photo.

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Interesting composition tells a big story. The foreground city, as exemplified by the guy strolling down the street with his coat over his shoulder, seems oblivious to what's happening in the background city. For a while at least.

That is a powerful photo. I remember that morning was beautiful, the weather was perfect and I felt great as I walked up 7th Ave towards Times Square to start a television show at the Reuters building. Got there and was setting up just before the first hit. The day sure went downhill fast and became a true horror.

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JoeM

I saw it from about the same angle (crossing the bridge going to work a bit late).

what area of NYC ('burb?) is that? It seems a bit run down. I have no clue about NYC area.

Still painful to look at, another life.

That neighborhood is Brooklyn, across the narrow part of lower Manhattan and also across the East River from the WTC. I can't quite make out the street signs but it doesn't look like a bad neighborhood, simply big city working-class.

When the first plane hit, up until the moment this picture was taken, most people assumed the first collision had been caused by a small passenger plane that had gotten lost, like the plane that hit the Empire State Building. I was across the street from the WTC that day in the World Financial Center, which was often confused for the World Trade Center. Now several firms removed from my company in 2001, just yesterday I was just saying to a coworker how none of us felt any particular need to evacuate from the WFC after that first hit, and had I worked in the second WTC tower, I'm not sure I would have felt any differently.

The SECOND strike put absolutely everything in a different light. This picture exactly captures that inflection point.

It also demonstrates an ironic fact that JoeM mentioned and which kept going through my mind as I walked (and walked and walked) north out of lower Manhattan: September 11, 2001 was a beautiful fall day.

I was called in, despite having worked the overnight the night before. They called me saying that, "we are on alert." I thought, on alert for what? I turned on the tv and saw the single tower with smoke. The second plane hit the tower and the announcer took about 1 minute before saying, 'a second plane just hit!' I knew we were under attack at that point. I went in to work...Flatbush avenue was completely cleared of cars and eerily, cleared of people. It felt so strange to drive down an empty flatbush avenue.

Sorry to bring out bad memories, but this shot was one that I thought told an amazing story.

-Wowz

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All I ever really needed to know, I learned from watching Star Trek.

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wowzer
we were under attack at that point.

Except that *ATTACK* implies an organized military power with a motive, a plan, and a goal. I know I'm going to be unpopular for saying this, but having just watched Traitor last night, I can't help but think that September 11th was a tremendous stroke of luck for one of many pretty haphazard, disorganized radical groups that believes an overbroad generalization about America as the great Satan. Unfortunately, our organized, considered response has had little positive effect on our overall safety, security theater consistently restricts our everyday lives in significant ways now, and the only benefit I can see has been to accumulate wealth in the pockets of shareholders at Halliburton and its ilk.

I do not like to think back to that day many years ago; but I like the years that have followed it even less because they lack the clarifying effect of the big moment to catalyze a realization of what we've really lost.

That said, an excellent picture. The morbid side of me thinks too bad it's not higher resolution and/or that they didn't have a multi-shot mode.
g=

> Except that *ATTACK* implies an organized military power with a motive, a plan, and a goal.

No. "Attack" as it was used in all these posts means "on purpose," as opposed to "by terrible accident." The rest of your post, while I personally agree with a lot of, and maybe all of, it, is a non sequitur and belongs on the Other Side.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/08/2009 06:11AM by tenders.

Thanks for sharing the photo wowzer.