A Terrible Beauty

A few days after 9/11, Joel Meyerowitz--famed for landscapes of extreme beauty and serenity--went to the site of the World Trade Center and started taking pictures. He stayed there, day and night, for nine months, until the workers left and only “the pit” remained. During that time, he was the only photographer on site. Just those facts tell you that the 8,500 pictures he took--whatever he took--were remarkable.

Two years ago, my wife and I went to a show of this work. Like most other people, we walked through the exhibit in stunned silence, not knowing what to think. The images were completely brutal and oddly beautiful, challenging beyond our immediate ability to respond. Beyond my ability, anyway--as we left, my wife knew her mind well enough to say she thought we should buy one.

We never fight. We never yell. But I found myself on the sidewalk, screaming at Karen: “Are you out of your mind? How could you stand to see that horror every day? No one can live with that!”

We did not buy the picture. But time has changed me. I can no longer read about the people who died on 9/11. I can't look at the movies. Simply, I'm done with narratives that others create; I need to put 9/11 into my head my own way. And that leads me to photography. Yes, “every picture tells a story”--but not until I tell it to myself.

So the guy who couldn't bear these photographs on a wall was among the first to buy the massive book--15” x 11” pages, some double-spread, some that fold out--of these pictures. 340 pages of these pictures. Eight-and-a-half pounds of these pictures.

To see some of these pictures and learn about Joel Meyerowitz’s remarkable book, click here.