Quick Shot: World Trade Center Memorial
This weekend I travelled to New York City to spend a weekend taking in the sights and sounds of the Big Apple before our upcoming move to the United Kingdom. Our trip was complete with all the normal sights - Times Square, Lady Liberty, B&H Photo (ok, it's a sight for photographers) and the World Trade Center Memorial.
Although I've been to NYC post-9/11, it was before the memorial pools had opened, so I was looking forward to seeing the completed memorial and paying my respects. Like many Americans, 9/11 represents a turning point in my life - I probably wouldn't be where I am in life today without that fateful day. Words cannot express the emotion experienced at the 9/11 memorial.
I wanted to photograph the memorial in a way that showed off the former WTC towers, but also highlighted that New York has continued to grow and thrive post-9/11. I knew that any image I took was going to be in black and white, I just needed to find the angle that I liked. As I walked around the pools, I looked for a location that let me tell the story of 9/11 while also showing how NYC has re-built from these attacks. When I arrived at this point in the pool, where the words "World Trade Center" appeared on the memorial, I knew I had my spot.
I shot on a tripod with a neutral density filter to get a long exposure to capture the flowing water. The final image was edited in Nik Silver Efex to create the black and white photograph you see here.
Creating this photograph was a very emotional experience and I hope this photograph reminds you to honor and remember the victims of September 11th, 2001.
The 9/11 Memorial at the site of the World Trade Center in New York.