It's All About the Light

Photography Thoughts and Impresions

Posts tagged Manhattan

1 note

Sunrise Over Manhattan on August 23 2001 on Flickr. Like it was just yesterday, then again perhaps ages ago. There were particular scenes I experienced 10 years ago that I revisit more than others. The clarity and stillness of the predawn landscape as I was driving from my home in Loveland, Ohio to the Cincinnati Airport in Northern Kemtucky. I had an early flight to LaGuardia and I was running late. I remember looking out over a field to the left, a mile or two before the I-275 bridge over the Ohio River, and noticing this low mist that was sitting in a small depression in the landscape just as light was appearing in the sky. It was a brief moment of a peaceful vision. I thought to myself if I wasn’t in such a hurry to catch this flight - which was a trip for my employer at that time - I would find a spot to pull over, break-out the camera and tripod and capture the sun rising over this beuatiful, rural landscape blessed in the light and cool air of morning in early September. I can still see that moment and what I was thinking during the seconds it appeared to me. I managed to get to the gate in time just as my flight was boarding. The group of corporate staff I was traveling with were already seated on the plane. I felt a bit embarrassed because I’m rarely late when it comes to work responsibilities. The plane took off and we were on our way through a clear and smooth sky to New York. Just two and half weeks prior I was in lower Manhattan photographing building interiors and exteriors for my employer, a company that built and installed elevators and escalators for commercial locations. The picture included with this post was a scene that caught my eye just as I was finishing an interior of a building on the New Jersey shore. It wasn’t work related but it caught my eye and since my camera was already in-hand I snapped the shutter and then went to catch the subway. My next stop was the station right below the WTC. Another clear and distinct memory of feeling is from the Sunday morning following September 11, 2001. I had made it safely back to my home in Loveland, Ohio and I had gotten up early with my then two and half month old daughter Chloe. I remember feeding her as I was watching the news. They were showing scene after scene of all the handmade signs and pictures people were posting on fences and walls near lower Manhattan. The signs were all pleas for information about those missing. There was still hope that in all the craziness a son or daughter or husband or wife would be found. The TV camera focused-in on one sign in particular. It was a snapshot of a man with a toddler standing nearby and the words “have you seen my daddy?” That was when the emotion of that week finally flushed out to the surface and hit home, and hit home it did. Put aside all the bickering politics. Forget for a moment the meaningless agenda of daily tasks. Don’t look at schedules and caledars and dates. Just remind yourself and those around you how precious life really is and in the light of another September day see the eternal truth that will always persevere - no matter the pain, the sorrow and the hurt, love remains and all that we really have is each other. I’m thankful to be here today. Thankful. Grateful. Blessed. Today is a day to reopen our hearts to the message that remains after all these years of hurt and suffering. In that message, and in the light of morning that brings us back to it, is the true victory.  ”…but they who wait for the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint.”

Sunrise Over Manhattan on August 23 2001 on Flickr.

Like it was just yesterday, then again perhaps ages ago. There were particular scenes I experienced 10 years ago that I revisit more than others. The clarity and stillness of the predawn landscape as I was driving from my home in Loveland, Ohio to the Cincinnati Airport in Northern Kemtucky. I had an early flight to LaGuardia and I was running late. I remember looking out over a field to the left, a mile or two before the I-275 bridge over the Ohio River, and noticing this low mist that was sitting in a small depression in the landscape just as light was appearing in the sky. It was a brief moment of a peaceful vision. I thought to myself if I wasn’t in such a hurry to catch this flight - which was a trip for my employer at that time - I would find a spot to pull over, break-out the camera and tripod and capture the sun rising over this beuatiful, rural landscape blessed in the light and cool air of morning in early September. I can still see that moment and what I was thinking during the seconds it appeared to me.

I managed to get to the gate in time just as my flight was boarding. The group of corporate staff I was traveling with were already seated on the plane. I felt a bit embarrassed because I’m rarely late when it comes to work responsibilities. The plane took off and we were on our way through a clear and smooth sky to New York. Just two and half weeks prior I was in lower Manhattan photographing building interiors and exteriors for my employer, a company that built and installed elevators and escalators for commercial locations. The picture included with this post was a scene that caught my eye just as I was finishing an interior of a building on the New Jersey shore. It wasn’t work related but it caught my eye and since my camera was already in-hand I snapped the shutter and then went to catch the subway. My next stop was the station right below the WTC.

Another clear and distinct memory of feeling is from the Sunday morning following September 11, 2001. I had made it safely back to my home in Loveland, Ohio and I had gotten up early with my then two and half month old daughter Chloe. I remember feeding her as I was watching the news. They were showing scene after scene of all the handmade signs and pictures people were posting on fences and walls near lower Manhattan. The signs were all pleas for information about those missing. There was still hope that in all the craziness a son or daughter or husband or wife would be found. The TV camera focused-in on one sign in particular. It was a snapshot of a man with a toddler standing nearby and the words “have you seen my daddy?”

That was when the emotion of that week finally flushed out to the surface and hit home, and hit home it did.

Put aside all the bickering politics. Forget for a moment the meaningless agenda of daily tasks. Don’t look at schedules and caledars and dates. Just remind yourself and those around you how precious life really is and in the light of another September day see the eternal truth that will always persevere - no matter the pain, the sorrow and the hurt, love remains and all that we really have is each other.

I’m thankful to be here today. Thankful. Grateful. Blessed.

Today is a day to reopen our hearts to the message that remains after all these years of hurt and suffering. In that message, and in the light of morning that brings us back to it, is the true victory.

 ”…but they who wait for the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint.”

Filed under 9/11 2001 Jim Crotty Manhattan morning photograph photographer photography September 11 sky skyline sunrise