September 11th 2001: Through My Lens

On that morning of September 11th, I was getting ready for my second day at Magnum Photos as an intern. That all changed at 8:46 am when the North Tower was struck.  The next 121 minutes unfolded in surreal pace. We were under attack.  By who?  It was shocking and confusing, scary and so surreal. After the towers came down and the other 2 flights had crashed in DC & PA.. I emerged from my apartment building.  I walked down 7th avenue towards lower Manhattan. Not even 24 hours prior I had made this same walk except the skyline looked much different. As I approached downtown,  there was security but much was left open due to so much confusion. Towards the remains of the WTC.

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 my first time walking onto the Brooklyn Bridge looking back at Manhattan.  This image is burned into my mind's eye.  Every time I'm on the Brooklyn Bridge to this day..  I remember this sight.  The clear blue sky pierced by thick black smoke covering the sun.  People crossing the bridge to Brooklyn as the only means of transportation was by foot. It looked like Doomsday.

This was but a few blocks from the WTC. As I approached, the air grew dense with ash and smoke. This was not happening.  The people who emerged from the heavy cloud .. the look on their faces was dazed.. shock.. confusion. Many missing shoes. Dressed in work clothes.  Holding a briefcase. 

After walking back from the Brooklyn Bridge, just outside of City Hall, anyone who could help- we began building stretchers.  As fast as they could cut the wood, we were assembling the stretchers. A mere 24 hours prior I had been sorting through images of WWII.  This image made me stop. French fisherman on Omaha Beach following the D Day Landings looking down at stretchers of dead bodies.  Little did I know what I would witness and take part in the next day. I only shot a few photos here as I realized I wanted more to help than to take photos. That was a defining moment for me to realize the kind of a photographer I wanted to be. 

Once we finished building stretchers, we loaded them into these dump trucks.  They needed volunteers to join in to unload all that we'd build. We then climbed into the back and drove into the area what would become known as Ground Zero. If you look closely in this image, a man is giving the peace sign.  I don't think I was prepared for what I would see next. We were in the next truck to enter.. 

... after this I have several rolls of film yet developed.  The landscape was scarred with bare remains of two massive buildings. Enough office space for all of Atlanta .. gone.  The air grew thick.  Cars were on fire.  Police, firefighters, EMTs, rescue workers.. organized chaos. There was this calmness in all of it.  It was the shock.  Moving fast, we unloaded the stretchers. Eager and willing to help.  Just direct me.  Abruptly we were stopped.  We weren't needed.  We had to leave. Immediately.  We couldn't be there. But what about all the people who needed help.  Then I began to really look around.  The ambulances all had stretchers out ready to help.  And yes there were those who were being assisted but shouldn't there be more? Then..  the reality began to sink in.  There were no bodies.  Those buildings became a massive inferno- people were incinerated. The air I was breathing. ..  the people.  Get me out of there.  I needed out.  That walk back to my apartment in Midtown was the longest walk on my life.  No one knew what was going to happen.  Should you sleep that night?  The city was on lock down. Where there to be more attacks? 

On that day, I had only been in New York City for 48 hours.  On that day I became a New Yorker for those few months. I don't know the city before 9/11.  But it became a part of me.

The days following, the city was wallpapered with faces of those missing.  Street corners, outside hospitals, bus stops and inside subways stations, even mailboxes would be covered with faces. People still clinging to the hope that their missing one would be found..  

I didn't know anyone that day.  But after seeing these faces all over the city...  they became known to me. I started to learn their names and seeking out faces that became familiar.  Personal photos from birthdays, christmas, family gatherings, wedding photos.  Such personal photos.  Lives gone. 

September 14th was declared the National Day of Mourning.   It was also my 22nd birthday.  I spent the day photographing memorials around the city.  These were taken in Union Square.

Christmas 2001.  Time Square.  

The Empire State Building closed it's observatory deck following 9/11.  They re-opened late October. This photo was taken on Oct. 24th 2001. They were practically giving away tickets.  No one was going up.  There were maybe a dozen of us up there.  I stayed until after sunset. This would be the new skyline of the city for the next ten years with it's...

Scar in the Sky

N E V E R    F O R G E T  //  SEPTEMBER  11TH  2001

{all images taken by Kyle Anderson. May not be used without permission}