Remember The Towers

Today we were following the replay of September 11 with Katie Couric on MSNBC. It is time to remember the dear souls who perished and their bereaved families. And I also believe that we need to remember the Towers and what they meant to us up until that day. Bill and I always had a special connection to them as photographers.

Driving by the World Trade Center one evening at sunset, Bill made a quick exit from the car with his camera and strobe. He came back 15 minutes later after taking this



stunning shot, looking up from the Plaza. It reminds us of how the Trade Towers might have looked on September 10, when the world seemed a much simpler and safer place.



What a view we had from the Towers. Bill shot this at a slow shutter speed toward the New Jersey sunset. I was just fine sitting calmly by the window. But if I stood up and looked down it was VERTIGO .... we were on the 107th floor!



Standing on the roof deck of the South Tower was always a thrill. Now, looking at Bill's video of a sunset or his photos of a distant horizon at twilight brings back the experiences intensely, especially this view north to the George Washington Bridge.



We loved viewing the Brooklyn and Manhattan bridges from above and seeing Coney Island and beyond, laid out to the east. Click on the website below for more about the Observation Decks. The page was taken down after 9-11 and brought back by popular demand. Some people still need to know what it was like before the disaster.

http://www.fieldtrip.com/ny/24357379.htm

This view to the Towers from Staten Island during Fleet Week in 1986 became a challenge to me. My shot evolved into a “what if” project.



I started to "work" the natural highlight in the sky to create a protective bubble for the Towers. Wishful thinking, of course.



Bill caught the New York skyline from Hoboken with the after glow of the sunset. On another day we went back early to get the sunrise.



The Trade Towers were great beacons of our freedom and I hope that remembering them will keep alive the joys we felt pre-9/11. Now the Towers are permanently part of a cautionary tale. The message is, "Be prepared, so this never happens again."

This evening we watched with interest the History Channel's story about Rick Rescoria, Security Chief of Morgan Stanley at the South Tower. He is the hero who heeded the danger present after the bomb attack of 1993 below the North Tower. "The Man who Predicted 9/11," describes how this platoon leader and Colonel from the Vietnam War diligently prepared the employees for the inevitable with evacuation drills up until 9/11. Then, on this fateful day eight years ago he shepherded close to 3,000 to safety from over 20 company floors. He went back upstairs, only to perish with the six or seven individuals from his group who could not make it down.

I highly recommend the program, described in the synopsis below:
www.history.com/shows.do?action=detail&episodeId=481958

Tips of the day: Remembering is a gain. Forgetting is a loss.

Be hopeful, Leora

All rights reserved © 2009 Leora Long and © 2009 Bill Long