Ground Zero – 11 years/365 days later
For the past 4 or 5 years I’ve had the fun job and great experience of photographing the Brunswick School Prom , which is held on World Yacht around NYC. We have usually had the good luck of great weather, so most everybody could enjoy time on the upper outdoor deck taking in the views.
For me personally, being a lover of and having grown up in NYC, it’s great fun to see the skyline from a perspective you don’t normally get to experience. After 9/11 however, sailing past lower Manhattan had, needless to say, a strangely solemn feeling. Most people on deck were rather silent as they stared at the vacant skyline, perhaps only taking a photo or 2, of which I was equally guilty.
It was as if you felt compelled to photograph what was no longer there.
I remember visiting the site about a month after the attacks to take whatever photos I could, and can to this day recall the odor that was embedded in my clothing from only spending an hour or 2 there.
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When the Twin Towers were going up I was just a wee-little-guy oblivious to what was being built, as I had my very important Saturday Morning cartoons to be concerned about. So to be able now to actually WATCH this important construction happening before my eyes, is pretty special, as this is NOT ‘just another building’ going up in NYC.
Anyhow, it’s was always a little sad for me sailing by the site for several years and not seeing any visible construction activity. I’d pass on the boat wondering if there would be ANY sign of something happening there. Each time there was nothing, and i’d think to myself, “..maybe next year.”
And so this year however, there has been a LOT of action going on down there (as i’m sure you’ve seen on the news with the opening of the memorial pools and Museum next year) While editing this years prom, I decided to revisit my shots from 365 days ago and made a pretty cool discovery….
ground-zero-freedom-tower-nyc
I had not only taken the same photo at virtually the same time of night ( the yachts’ are rather punctual) but the ‘sudden’ addition of The Freedom Tower (or One World Trade Center, or whatever they will finally decide to call it) was pretty special.
So there you have it–a little moment I thought i’d share from last night