How life changed from the view of several photographers.

September 19, 2001 4:47 PM

How life changed from the view of several photographers. The first link, about the injured David Handschuh is the most powerful story. The experiences of fellow photographers Richard Drew and Shannon Stapleton are made evident just by the giant shift in their subject matter (seen sequentially via Yahoo News) from Sep. 10th to Sep. 11th. Drew was covering the US Open on one day, falling people the next. Shannon went quickly from Spring Fashion 2002 to ground zero.
posted by kokogiak (10 comments total)

There are going to be thousands of such stories over the coming weeks and months from all over the world, as both journalists and other media personnel, as well as celebrities, politicians, and victims' family members announce to the world where they were and how they felt.
posted by ari at 5:27 PM on September 19, 2001

Every time I see that. . . I see those people jumping. . . . dammit . . . more than a week later . . . will it ever be the same again?
posted by dopamine at 5:33 PM on September 19, 2001

Hell of a life as a press photographer. You have to choose between vacuous puff-pieces or utter tragedy. Probably both of the people above wanted to be artists.

Perhaps if scientific breakthroughs and interesting new research was covered with the same frequency as sports, fashion and disaster then the transition wouldn't be as stark.
posted by krisjohn at 5:34 PM on September 19, 2001

I hope I can be pardoned for posting a link to my own site. My pictures are not as compelling as David Handschuh's but then my legs did not get broken. I was standing in front of One Liberty Plaza at the time of the explosion.

my world trade center disaster pics.
posted by lockecito at 5:56 PM on September 19, 2001

I don't have much to add, except that this was a nicely done post, koko.
posted by rodii at 6:18 PM on September 19, 2001

lockecito - can I offer to post your photos on my server if you don't find a solution to your bandwidth problem?
posted by mirla at 6:48 PM on September 19, 2001

lockecito, thanks for sharing that link. those are some amazing pictures, i'm glad you made it out ok.
posted by megnut at 7:24 PM on September 19, 2001

Great link, kokogiak. Clever to think of checking the bylines of photos in the Yahoo photo archives over time...
posted by Mo Nickels at 7:46 PM on September 19, 2001

lockecito, the line on your pages that got me was "I decided to see how close to the buildings I could get." The eternal quest of the photographer, to get closer to the action no matter what. Somehow a person always feels secure, or preoccupied, or whatever it is, when looking through a viewfinder, no matter what else is going on around him or her.

I like photos pointing away from the action, and was impressed with your good shot of the crowds of people on Broadway, transfixed. Have not seen one like it in all the photos on the web so far.
posted by LeLiLo at 8:08 PM on September 19, 2001

Thanks Mo - it wasn't deliberately clever, I just found a photo I liked and wanted to see more like it, so I searched for her name (Stapleton), and was struck that she had just finished taking snaps of models and Sarah Jessica Parker the day before all of this.

And yes, lockecito - fantastic photos, glad you're okay and thanks for sharing.
posted by kokogiak at 10:24 PM on September 19, 2001