I was born and raised in New York City.
I was living in Washington, DC on September 11, 2001.
Both of my homes were attacked.
I will never forget.
Every year on September 11, twin towers of light are sent into the heavens from downtown Manhattan to commemorate the 9/11 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center
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I will never forget the feeling of helplessness as I watched the news for at least 3 days straight.
I remember joining my friends in my buddy Jon’s at 3am the night after September 11, 2001. We stuck an American flag in the sunroof and drove out to Northern Virginia to see the Pentagon burning with our own eyes. We had to.
Smoke rises from the United States Pentagon nearly 18 hours after the attacks of September 11, 2001
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We made it out to the highway next to the Pentagon, leaned out the window, took some video and photos (all three of these images were taken by Jon that night) and moments later were lit up by a police car. “What are you doing? Get out of here,” they said over their speaker.
It’s tough to see, but the Pentagon is the building in between the two cars on the right side of the photo. The smoke rising from it late night after the 9/11 attacks is much easier to see.Smoke rises from the United States Pentagon nearly 18 hours after the attacks of September 11, 200
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Next thing we knew, we were being escorted back into Washington, DC, with the police car right behind us until we reached the abandoned streets of Georgetown.
On every corner, we saw military Hummers with soldiers holding fully automatic weapons. Sandbags were set up in front of key buildings and the Nation’s capitol was a ghost town.
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Visiting Ground Zero in Manhattan
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A few weeks later I finally returned to Manhattan and was immediately shocked by the gaping hole in my skyline while driving alongside the City on the BQE in Brooklyn.
This view of downtown Manhattan once had the mighty Twin Towers of the World Trade Center standing tall where the memorial pillars of light now shine every year on September 11
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All of downtown Manhattan was off limits to the public due to the rescue efforts, but I had to see it with my own eyes.
My plan was to head downtown with my video and film cameras. If someone tried to stop me, I would tell them that I was making a very important documentary.
Thoughts like “what if they ask for a permit” didn’t even occur to me. The date was October 5, 2001. I was 20 years old, in a state of shock, and determined to see it with my own eyes.
Construction cranes were used for digging through the rubble of the Twin Towers
A screenshot from the video of my walk around Ground Zero on October 5, 2001
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I hopped on the E subway train and got off one station before the World Trade Center station. When I asked someone if that was the last stop they said, “yeah…didn’t you hear? They blew up the Twin Towers.”
This view of the remains of the Twin Towers is one of the most famous
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When I reached the top of the stairs, it felt like I had entered a war zone. Dust, debris, and shocked people filled the eerily-silent streets;
Words of prayer were traced by hand onto shop windows still covered in World Trade Center ash; and
hundreds of fliers wallpapered building facades showing photographs of those still missing.
Words of prayer written by fingers in the dust on downtown Manhattan storefronts in the weeks after 9/11
Dust from the collapse of the World Trade Center covered nearby storefronts in downtown Manhattan
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What really shocked me was how many entrepreneurs were standing on the street corners selling NYPD and FDNY baseball hats. Also for sale were postcards and photo books of the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center before, during, and after the attacks.
To me it seemed quite horrible. But, the fact that people had the constitutional right to do it was a testament to just what makes the USA great!
One of the flyers I picked up near Ground Zero
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I continued to walk until I found myself about two blocks from Ground Zero. There were police officers everywhere and – faux-documentary or not – I couldn’t get any closer. It didn’t matter. Two blocks away was enough.
The scoreboard at Shea Stadium in Queens placed this memorial ribbon over the Twin Towers portion of the New York skyline after 9/11
Buildings were still burning.
Smoke was still rising.
People were still crying.
The smoke was still thick.
Despair was still in the air.
Rescue workers’ trucks and vehicles filled downtown Manhattan in the hours, days and weeks after September 11
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I snapped my photos. I recorded my videos. But mostly, I just took it all in.
I felt violated. I felt personally attacked. I felt helpless. I felt like I wanted to do something but couldn’t. So I documented.
Now, 11 years after September 11, I am ready to share that experience with the world.
The September 11, 2008, Tribute in Lights as seen from Brooklyn, New York.
Every year, the annual 9/11 Tribute in Light memorializes the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center by shining two massive flood lights from their former location.
All photos of the twin beams of light were taken in 2008 from Brooklyn, New York
The grainy images of downtown Manhattan are screen grabs from a camcorder video I shot documenting the aftermath on October 5, 2011.
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Where were you on September 11, 2001?
Please share any memories, thoughts, or reflections you have in the comments section.
Thank you for sharing this. I keep thinking I should be “past this” but every year I am reminded how much of a shock it all was. Thank you for the photos. I didn’t take any in the weeks that followed and now wish I had.
If you are interested, here is my account: http://blisshabits.com/2011/09/september-11-2001-a-remembrance-and-a-request/
Thanks Kathy. I loved your post too. Especially this line: “I wasn’t sure I would write a post about September 11, 2001 and now, as I am doing so, I wonder if I’ll ever hit publish.” That’s how I felt about this one. I actually wrote it for September 11, 2011, and only now published it a full year later. It’s also fascinating about how if we just say 9.11 or September 11, without including 2001, that it really does make it timeless and continues the fear and anxiety that day caused.
Thanks for sharing this. It’s good to know people still remember the tragic events from September the 11th. Some young people simply forget about what happened back then. I love your night photos of the city.
Thanks so much Agness. Being a New Yorker, it’s tough to ever forget. Where were you on 9/11?
Powerful images here, Greg!
Thanks Christian. I can still remember that day walking through Ground Zero like it was yesterday.