Write about where I was the morning of September 11th 2001

Having been in New York this week I went to Ground Zero to pay my respects. I wasn’t sure how I would feel but it was a very moving experience. I had no intention of taking the “Dark Toursism” shots and found it hard to watch others smiling as they posed. Somehow it didnt seem right in the same way that the souvenir sellers seemed so out of place. I guess in years to come maybe, but right now its all far too raw.

Instead I took a series of 3 photos and in doing so tried to capture the mood, and the emotion felt by all. This cross was welded together out of two iron girders that once formed part of the Twin Towers. In some ways a sad image but it also stands proud and defiant, as do the people of New York.

I’ve posted two more photos under comments.

I just read that entry of Michelle’s under 43places and thought maybe people would like to read a Brits view …

First about the photos. I agree. It doesnt seem right to do the big cheesy smile thing. I was talking to a girl the other day who works for M&S but she also makes documentaries in her spare time. her latest was on what she called “Dark Tourism” and obviously the WTC site was high on the list.

I will go to see it when I’m in New York but out of respect. I had a friend of mine who went a couple of years back and took some photos. I helped her do the most amazing double page in a scrapbook. She gave me the photos and I gave them a sepia appearance. I also added the following words at the bottom of the page …

“Repair the waste. Rebuild the ruins.
Heal the wounds. Crown the victors.
Comfort the broken and broken-hearted.
There is the battle we have won to fight.
There is the victory we have now to win.
Let us go forward together.”

Former New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani
11th September 2003

We turned the photos into a tribute to all those impacted, and i very carefully say that because there are many many people who still have to live those horrors.

I have already thought about some of the images I want to take when I’m there and have one picture in particular I want to try to capture.

So where was I … in a workshop and I remember it was just after lunch that a guy walked in to tell us. No one could really believe it, and we then just sat and watched in silence on one of the TV’s at work. My biggest concern was for the people I knew in New York. Like many I spent days on my mobile, and email trying to contact them. One thankfully survived, the other sadly did not and i guess it is for them that I want to go to the site.

By coincidence it was also my secretaries birthday on that day, and it really impacted on her. In many ways Mayor Giuliani’s words could apply to her at a personal level. She was having a tough time, and was on a slippery slope. The events that day kicked her into action as she realised just how precious life actually is. I am so proud of what she has achieved in the last 5 years.

I’m sure there are many sad stories, but hopefully many that give us hope too.

Above all we should always remember that day, and the people that never came back from a days work.