Valley of the Shadow of Death

When I visit New York, I always swing by the International Center for Photography to see what's on. In addition to a big Garry Winogrand exhibition [NYT review] that includes his famous photo taken at the 1964 World's Fair, they have some WTC photos taken by the only working photojournalist who was killed there on Sep. 11, Bill Biggart. Biggart was covering the WTC disaster when he was killed in the second tower collapse. All his film was destroyed, but the chip in his digital camera escaped unharmed. The ICP displayed the resulting stunning images.

There are two utterly remarkable pictures. In one, the collapsing south tower is seen in juxtaposition to the north tower (which was the first to be attacked, but the last to fall); an unscathed portion of the latter fills the left half of the frame while the right half is utter chaos -- it's like a Before and After shot all in one image. The other unbelievable photo is the last one he ever made; the time stamp on the digital image indicates he was killed literally seconds after he took it. It shows the smashed Marriott hotel after it was hit by the south tower and before it was utterly destroyed moments later by the north tower.

I didn't argue with myself very long about whether Biggart showed courage or just stupidity by getting so close to the devastation after one tower had fallen and it should have been clear that the second one could also go. There was a quotation on the wall from Robert Capa that Biggart is said to have used as his guideline -- something like "If your pictures aren't good enough, you're not close enough." To the extent he was obeying that maxim, Biggart obviously showed true courage in venturing into danger to get the best pictures.