Voices From Behind the Lens - Ground Zero


Tom Callan:
I was watching Good Morning America when a news bulletin came on saying that a plane had apparently crashed into the World Trade Center. I stared at the image on the screen for about a minute, not believing. My brain finally kicked in and I grabbed my camera bag and ran to the Brooklyn Heights Promenade, about five blocks away. Papers, hundreds of them, were floating through the air. As I ran, I switched from a wide angle to a 300MM. From the corner of my eye, I saw a huge aircraft approaching the South Tower at a ridiculously low altitude. As I raised my camera to my eye, the South Tower erupted in a ball of flames.


 
Tom Carpenter:
The morning of the first opening bell since the disaster, we walked down to Wall Street. Everywhere we looked, there was the strange juxtaposition of signs of the tragedy, and people's attempts to get back to some semblance of normalcy. We were all still shell-shocked by last week's events, but it gave us strength to see that people were determined to return to work, that familiar systems would once again operate. It is an important part of the healing process to be able to move forward, without forgetting what has happened before. The kindness in the heart of whomever left these flowers left a lasting impression on me.


Shelly Castellano:
As events were unfolding and the shock was wearing off I decided to round up a few other female freelance photographers from the Boston area, and head to New York. We went straight into Manhattan early Thursday morning, and spent the day making pictures. After 12 hours of inhaling death we decided to go across the river and watch the lightning and thunderstorm approach the city. Then it was time to head back to Boston.


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