Casualties at WTC attacks
include photojournalists
They came on foot, by cab and via subway to record the horrific scenes that unfolded 11 September 2001 at the New York's famed World Trade Center.
In the process, some became part of the story as they were covered in the soot made of pulverized concrete that fell from the sky.
New York-based freelance photographer Bill Biggart died in the aftermath of the terrorst attack. He was 53.
"He was likely killed with a large group of firemen he was with after the first building at the World Trade Center came down. The family sees a silver lining by at least being able to know he has been identified, and they can now go on to grieve," friend Chip East told photo writer Rob Galbraith in a story on his web site.
Other photographers narrowly escaped death.
One of them was David Handschuh, a staff member of New York's Daily News.
Handschuh followed a police radio call to the World Trade Center, where the first jet plane had just struck the north tower. He photographed the second plane as it crashed through the south tower, then felt the rumble of the collapsing building.
"Instinctively I lifted the camera up, and something took over that probably saved my life. And that was to run rather than take pictures. I got down to the end of the block and turned the corner when a wave — a hot, solid, black wave of heat threw me down the block. It literally picked me up off my feet, and I wound up about a block away," he told PDNonline.
"Handschuh was thrown under a vehicle, which probably saved him from the falling debris, he said," according to the PDNonline story.
Fellow Daily News photographer Todd Maisel pulled him from the area, and moments later that same spot was buried in debris.
"I just won the Powerball of life," said Handschuh, a former National Press Photographers Association president, in a Poynter.org story by Kenny Irby.
But a city as densely populated by photographers as New York has many more stories about close calls.
PDNonline included several of these accounts, among them New York Post photographer Don Halasy’s recollection of the north tower's collapse:
"As I turned to run, a wall of warm air came barrelling toward me. I tried to outrace it, but it swept me up and literally blew me into the wall of a building. By the time I regained my footing, a hailstorm of debris was falling from the sky."
The Boston Herald identified two more photographers who were among the passengers of the hijacked airliners. They were Berry Berenson of Los Angeles and Bernthia Perkins, 53, of Wellfleet, Mass.
Robgalbraith.com reports: "Editorial Photographers, Advertising Photographers of America and American Society of Media Professionals have established a relief fund "to provide much needed support to photo industry professionals and their families who have been injured or killed in this tragic event." Donations may be made by credit card or cheque; for more information, see the Editorial Photographers' web site."
[2001.09] TOP
Related links
See David Handschuh's photograph, as well as the image of him following the injuries he sustained, at the National Press Photographers Association web site.
Photographers Lucian Perkins of The Washington Post and Travis Fox of washingtonpost.com talk about capturing the events of the World Trade Center terrorist attacks and rescue efforts.
Photo editors and some readers claim they saw a face in the smoke from the World Trade Center, according to a story at Poynter.org. "Members did inquire about the transmission and some saw the devil's face in the picture," said John E. Hall, bureau chief/photo for the Associated Press office in Washington, D.C.
The New York Daily News published a photograph of a severed hand on a web slideshow and in a late edition of the newspaper. According to a story in Poynter.org, editor-in-chief Ed Kosner told The New York Times, "You can't do the story without doing the story, it's no time to be squeamish."
Among the most widely used photographs of people falling to their deaths from the World Trade Center towers were images by Susan Watts of the Daily News, Richard Drew of The Associated Press, and David Surowiecki of Getty Images. "We did not take this lightly for one moment, but we agreed to run both of these images. As a general rule we know that people see us a being gritty, but there were 20 or so people in the room when we made our decision," said Eric Meskauskas, Daily News director of photography, said in a Poynter.org story.
Tom Franklin, a photographer with the Record of Hackensack, N.J., tells how he came upon the image of three firefighters hoisting a flag amid the rubble of the World Trade Center.
An exclusive collection of images by James Nachtwey for Time magazine.
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A Vietnam War victim
tells her survival story
Asked to think of two photographs from the Vietnam War, most people will recall two black-and-white images: Eddie Adams' picture of a Viet Cong officer's execution at point-blank range and Nick Ut's picture of children fleeing a napalm attack with American soldiers on the road behind them.
Phan Thi Kim Phuc was 9 years old when the world came to know her, a child full of terror running from the village of Trang Bang, the site of a napalm attack June 8, 1972.
Now, a new book by Canadian journalist Denise Chong chronicles Phuc's life from that moment, through her recovery and the ordeal of being used as a propaganda tool by her country's Communist regime. The book, The Girl in the Picture: The Story of Kim Phuc, the Photograph and the Vietnam War, follows Phuc through her and her husband's defection to Canada. [2000.09] TOP
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New York photo agency
announces its closure
Impact Visuals, the independent, New York-based editorial photo agency, plans to close its doors after 15 years in business.
Members of the cooperative voted to shut it down in the face of increased competition, rising costs and a lack of leadership, according to a story in PDNews.
Founding member Michael Kaufman told PDNews that the agency couldn't afford to hire an executive director, so it depended upon volunteer members who "didn't have the skills" to manage it successfully. Kaufman tried to merge the agency with The Image Works of Woodstock, N.Y., but that effort failed.
The agency, which billed itself as, "a photojournalism cooperative for social change," took on photographers from around the world, including such far-flung nations as Burkina Faso, East Timor and Myannmar. It dealt with subject matter that included AIDS, treatment of ethnic minorities, racism and health issues in the United States and abroad.
"The exact closing date still remains open," read the agency's web site in mid-September.
Photo editor Andreas Schindler said photographers with images at Impact Visuals should call (212) 807-6622 to reclaim their work. [2001.09] TOP
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Exhibit features Pulitzer
photos from 1945 to now
The largest collection of Pulitzer Prize-winning images in a single show are on display at an exhibit in New York. Through 23 September 2000, the Newseum brings together more than 100 of the world's most memorable photographs, beginning with the 1945 scene at Iwo Jima that became an icon.
Hear the photographers talk about the stories behind the images at the web-based exhibit. Requires Shockwave. TOP
Related books
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