" (Sontag, 88) America was on the unfortunate receiving end of a hoard of wrath on 9/11. Steve Ludlum, one of the accomplished photographers included in the New York Times prize winning 2002 Pulitzer Prize took a photograph of the twin towers on fire. The first tower hit was smoking while a huge fireball erupted from the second tower as the plane hit it. In the foreground of the photograph is the Brooklyn Bridge. Besides the inconceivable wrath going on in the picture, the viewer realizes in the pit of his stomach that the Brooklyn Bridge will never enjoy the same backdrop of the awe inspiring twin towers.
Another photograph in the same New York Times collection, by Brian Manning, shows a person standing all alone in the middle of the gaping, black hole of nothingness that was caused by the plane in the north tower of the World Trade Center. The picture emphasizes the solidarity all those who died that day shared no where to run and no hope of being rescued. Sontag also said when describing pictures of war that "a photograph has only one language and is destined potentially for all." (Sontag 86) The language of this and all the photographs that were taken that day provoke the same response in everyone that looks at them utter anguish, severe disbelief in this loss of humanity.
Literature Professor Judith Butler believes that a photograph "brings us closer to an understanding of the fragility and mortality of human life, the stakes of death in the scene of politics." (Butler 96) No better example of this is the victims caught on film representing all lives lost on 9/11. David Surowiecki, of Getty Images is another photographer that shot some amazing images of the loss of life on 9/11. He captured many images of "the jumpers". One photograph shows four tiny bodies falling from the towers. The photograph is amazingly balanced because there appears to be exactly the same amount of space between each of the four small hurling objects.
