Responses to the controversial 9/11 image.

Thomas Hoeper, the German photographer who captured image at 9/11. He chose not to publish this picture at 2001 but instead he kept that picture to himself for 5 years when finally in 2006 he published this picture. A lot of people complained about this picture but none of them really knew what the meaning behind this picture was or what is really happening. At that moment when that all happened he thought that there is something not right in it  and this is the reason why he kept it to himself for 5 years. People who look at this picture can only see young Americans not caring about the world or anything, but picture is not just a picture, it is work of art and if people are looking at it as the photographer who took this picture was looking at it, then people would have different opinions. This fantastic photo is whatever the photographer explicitly wants it to be and viewers can’t really tell the meaning or what it is really showing.

‘’ The picture, I felt, was ambiguous and confusing: Publishing it might distort the reality as we had felt it on that historic day. I had seen and read about the outpouring of compassion of New Yorkers toward the stricken families, the acts of heroism by firefighters, police, and anonymous helpers. This shot didn’t “feel right” at this moment and I put it in the “B” box of rejected images.’’ – Thomas Hoeper

This picture also had some different sides, other than we can see. Two people of this picture responded to this picture because they said that it is not true what people are saying and it is not correct and if Hoeper would just come closer to them and talk to them, he would see completely different side of these persons.

The man on the far right of the photo, emailed ‘Slate’ telling more about what is happening in that picture. He said that it is not true that they didn’t care in fact they were in state of shock and unbelief. He also said that they weren’t just relaxing, but they were talking about what is happening. Also he stated that Hoeper took this picture without their permission and he didn’t know what they were taking about and he definitely didn’t what they were feeling in that moment. At the end of his email he said that ‘A more honest conclusion might start by acknowledging just how easily a photograph can be manipulated, especially in the advancement of one's own biases or in the service of one's own career.’ This is true. It is very easy to manipulate with photography and it is easy to tell what you can see in the photo, but not always you can tell what people are feeling.

Also woman second from the right in the photo responded them with an email. In her email you can see that she was not happy about this picture and she did not like that the picture was taken without their permission. She also stated that she is photographer as well but that day she didn’t touch her camera (unlike Hoeper) because there might be something she could do to help someone instead of taking her camera and taking pictures of people without their permission. Same as the man on the far right of the photo said, this picture didn’t show her true feelings and in fact, her mother worked in World Trade Center and she said that there was no way that she would not be affected by this event.

[Source for both responses: http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/culturebox/2006/09/its_me_in_that_911_photo.html Date: 27/09/2012]

Thomas Hoeper himself also did response to this photo. In this response he talks about how he tried to get closer to twin towers to get close up picture of the event. He was scared but still, he followed his photographer instincts and tried to get as close as possible. After he found out that subway was closed he decided to take car to get closer. After a while he decided to go next to river to take this photo and he found these five young adults sitting next by river and he saw the colours of flowers, sun shining up on them and this horrible cloud of smoke in background. He quickly took his camera and took some pictures. He didn’t know what they were taking about or what they were feeling. After he got back to his job, he saw a lot of different pictures of this event and they decided to publish a book about this event and when he was looking through his pictures and other his college pictures, he decided that it doesn’t ‘feel right’ and he put the picture in B box where he puts all rejected pictures.

After 4 years he was looking through his B box and was looking at all the pictures that were there and there were some 50 years old pictures as well. He looked through them and this picture of 9/11 took his attention because of the colours and everything else in this picture. He started to think about his emotions that he had that day.

The picture ended up on a wall of my retrospective exhibition in his hometown and many people who walked passed that picture, asked a lot of questions about it. Everyone seemed really interested in this picture. This picture ended up in 15 newspapers in Germany and in some other newspapers as well. At the end this picture was on ‘Slate’ as well and it hot really popular really quickly.

[Source for Hoepers response http://www.slate.com/articles/arts/culturebox/2006/09/i_took_that_911_photo.html Date: 27/09/2012]

 

Profile of Thomas Hoepker

A brilliant German photographer who took some pictures of 9/11 and one of them now is well known all around the world. He took pictures for 40 years, but that one picture changed his whole career. He was quickly trying to get somewhere and that picture was just something that he decided to take, he didn’t think much of it and he definitely didn’t know that this picture is going to change his career and make him a famous photographer. He is also a member of Magnum photos and he is known for stylish colour photo features.

 

Thomas Hoepker was born in 10 June 1936 in Germany. He first became interested in photography when he was only 16 years old. He really enjoyed photography and he liked how you can freeze one moment and makes it a perfect memory. He developed his photos in bathroom or kitchen at home. He liked to take a lot of photos and with time it turned into his hobby and job. He got a little more money from his friends and classmates who decided to buy some of his pictures. By selling his pictures he started to earn more money to help finance his education. Time was passing and he got a lot of different jobs as a photographer and in some jobs he was able to travel around the world and take pictures in different countries and cities, he could see the entire world and show it to other people through pictures. Most of the pictures he tried to show them as they are, without editing them or changing them. Just showing people/readers what he can see. He liked to keep them as realistic as possible without changing any fact by changing picture. He didn’t want to make his pictures perfect by asking someone around to pose in his pictures or something similar, instead he liked to wait for that true moment when he can take a picture and show the world what he can see. He always liked to wait for that special moment or situation when picture should be taken and when that moment should just be captured in picture and memory.

When he is planning to take his photos he always tries to relax and just be patient to wait for that special moment or situation. Patience is one of the most important things for him because if he wouldn’t be that patient then he would not be able to wait for something to happen and he would miss out some things that he might capture if he waited. He wouldn’t be what he is now and wouldn’t have picture he has now, if he wouldn’t be patient enough to achieve it. He loves observing everything around before he takes a picture because that way he is able to know what is happening around and when is that perfect moment to take that picture. If he doesn’t like that picture he has captured, then most likely he is going to go back to where he were and take that picture again just to make sure that he likes it and that his readers will like it as well. This happens if he thinks that he is missing something in his picture, that special element, or if he thinks that there is something wrong that should be changed or it’s just not good enough.

Hoepker likes to use Leica or Canon cameras for his photos and he learned his skills by going to different museums and seeing real art which inspires him to do something as pretty as that or something as beautiful. Thomas also thinks that there are no rules in photography. When he takes his photos, he forgets all the rules of photography and he just does what he thinks is right. He sees the world around him changing and that is another inspiration for him. He takes pictures of everything that is important for him and he takes pictures of things that he thinks are worth taking picture of.

Thomas Hoepker 9/11 photo

In this picture it seems like there are almost two pictures put together and edited. Below the water there are 5 young adults sitting and just having a nice day. And the colours make the picture look very happy. They have red bike, orange t-shirt, white vest and nature looks really green. Also there are shadows on the ground that tells that the sun is really shining and water looks lighter which also shows that there is a bright sun. Also people looks very relaxing like a normal summer day. You can see someone also with chair just sitting and relaxing and chair is showing that they are there for a long time or have been there for a long time already also one woman is just lying almost like sunbathing and just having a great day. It seems like she has a smile on her face and they all are looking away from the tragedy that is happening right behind them. In my opinion this kind of explains that people always turn their backs on something they don’t like, and this is what exactly they are doing. It seems like they are trying to ignore what is happening and just live their life because in the end – there was nothing they could do.

But then all picture changes when you look above the water, because there are skyscrapers and a huge cloud of smoke. Also if you look at top left corner you can see that clouds are changing colours because on the right top corner you can see bright blue sky whit almost no clouds, but when you look at the top left corner the sky looks grey almost as if the day is really bad and there is no sun.

Overall this picture can express a lot of feeling/emotions. It can show sad and happy but it all depends on how you look at the picture. There are different ways how you can look at this picture and each time it looks different and has different meaning. Pictures can capture moments that cannot be seen or lived twice and this is one of these moments that are one in a lifetime moment and there might be a lot of different meaning about this picture, but only people in this picture will know the true meaning behind this picture.

Photojournalism

Photojournalism 

Photojournalism is a form of journalism, but in photojournalism they create images to tell a news story. Usually it is referred to still images, but it can also be referred to video used in broadcast journalism. Like a writer, a photojournalist is a reporter but they instead of writing, uses images. They often make decisions instantly and they must carry photographic equipment, often while exposed to significant obstacles, for example; weather, crowds, danger and more.

Henri Cartier Bresson
(1933)

Henri Cartier Bresson is French photographer and well known as a godfather of photography. He is very popular because of 'decisive moment'. Bresson always liked to wait for a decisive moment that would complete his photo and make it just perfect. He believed that you can control most of the picture you are taking and those are buldings and things that don't move around, however small part of the picture are random element (humans, cars, animals) that moves around and you don't know at what time and what exactly will come in your photo. He always liked to set up his camera to make most of picture as perfect as possible and then he would sit down and wait till something will come and complete his picture. He believes that ''in to the space the time will come'' and that was what he always kept in his mind when he did his photos. He is very significant in photojournalism because his photos inspired a lot of photographers and the way he took his pictures started something new.

Bersson used Leica DBP camera that was designed in very interesting way. This camera had a little window in the side so you could see your picture you are about to take, but the other eye is free so you can see what is happening around.

Cartier-Bresson's first Leica


This is picture that Bresson took in France, Paris (1932). 

This picture shows French man jumping from stairs that are lying on the ground, over a huge puddle. This picture was taken couple years before WW2 and he happened to be in right time and right place. This picture has a man jumping almost like in to the unknown who describes WW2 very well because people didn't really know that that would happen and it was almost like unknown.

''The photograph itself doesn't interest me. I want only to capture a minute part of reality. '' - Henri Cartier-Bresson

Robert Capa

(1936)

Robert Capa is really known photojournalist because of his war photography. He was always ready to risk his life to capture reality with his camera. He liked to get really close to action to capture the best pictures. Capa took a lot of pictures of soldiers dying in front of his camera. After he came back from war with all of his pictures, the magazine he did pictures for rushed to get them done and to publish them as quickly as possible and because of some mistake his photos got destroyed and only some negatives were still left. Most of his pictures were for nothing and he took a lot of risk for them.
Robert Capa is really good photojournalist because he was ready to do what other people would never do and he was ready to risk his life to capture reality and to show the world what happens in war. He was ready to do almost anything to get his pictures as good as possible.

Unlike Vaccaro, Capa tried to capture only one side of the battlefield because he knew that it wouldn’t be good idea to take pictures of dying American soldiers. Capa's pictures showed only one side of the battlefield instead of both.

 

The falling soldier
Capa got known around globe because of this picture 'The falling soldier'.  This picture has soldier who has just got shot and he is falling to his death. This picture shows a lot of emotion and it really showed the realty of how horrible war is. I think this picture opened eyes for a lot of people and for those who just sat at home hoping for the best, while soldiers tried to change something.

Tony Vaccaro

(1945)

Tony Vaccaro worked for Army and he took some of the best pictures of World War II. Tony always carried his camera on a strip around his neck so he had easy and quick access to his camera. This way he was able to get his camera out as quickly as possible to capture some action or something that was going around. He always kept his camera close to him just like soldiers kept their guns close to them. Same as Capa, Vaccaro took pictures of dying soldiers, but the pictures he had was different. He took pictures of dying American soldiers and this is the reason why most of his pictures got censored.
Vaccaros pictures got destroyed because they had dying American soldiers and those where not the right choice for American public.
Some of his pictures he made himself in soldier's helmets and the negatives he hand on the nearest tree. Next day when he woke up those pictures where done and looked like normal pictures.
Tony Vaccaro is very good photojournalist because same as Capa, he did something that no-one else would like to do and he was ready to do whatever he had to do, to get those pictures perfect. He also was always ready to take a picture.

Unlike Capa, Tony Vaccaro was more about taking pictures of reality for all, not just for what he was asked to do. He was taking pictures of American soldiers dying and that is something that also happened in the war and he needed to take pictures of war so he tried to capture both sides of the war. He tried to show reality of war and how terrible it is.

Vaccaro pictures are really strong and they show whatever he saw when he was in war. He said: 'I wanted to collect evidence against the war, the futility, the destruction ... I said to myself, don't worry about how good the photo is. When the eye sees it, do it.' and i think he did his work very well. He did capture reality of the war and showed it to the world, so the people who thought that everything is fine at least would think about what a stranger would do to make sure that their country is safe to live in.   

This picture shows dead soldier lying in snow. This picture shows the reality of war which is that if you died, no one is going to try to get you back on their side and make sure that you will get buried like everyone else, instead you are left where you died. Also you can see that snow is over dead soldiers body which means that he is lying there for a long time. 

Photo documents real events? 

I think that photo can document real events however, pictures are really easy to change and if people change the picture, they can change the real meaning of the picture. In some way picture can document real events but not fully. Picture is what you make of it, for example: if you see a picture that you don’t know anything about and you haven’t read anything about it, you are going to make your own meaning to it, but you will not know if it is real, if what you made of it is true. Picture is what people make of it and what people think of it instead of real event.
Overall, I think that picture can’t really document real event, because people will make their own meaning for it when they will look at it. Without facts and story that support that picture, it will be what you will want it to be instead of what photographer tried to show you.