Of course it's 9/11 again and unless you're a hermit or live in another country, you know that today is the 5th anniversary of the terrorist attacks on the world trade centers and pentagon in the U.S.
I'm usually not very patriotic (AT ALL), but most people in America were affected in some way by 9/11. I remember I was 13 in 8th grade and it was just the scariest strangest thing I had ever seen. Not only the attacks, but people's reactions. I had never before seen such love and patriotism for America, and it stunned me.
I remember on 9/12 I had to walk to school because my mom's car was locked down in SFO (she had been traveling in oregon and had to drive back to CA). So I'm on my way to school and turn the corner onto the next block and see someting that has since stuck in my mind forever. Someone had put miniature american flags on every lawn of every house for about 4 city blocks. That really stuck out to me and I tried to portray that somewhat in this photo. My hands and the flag being so small can be seen as holding someting small and precious, or you can interperet it your own way.
Got the dirty grunge look by smudging myself with eyeline and mascara. Sorry to say that the tears aren't real. It's contact solution, and my eyes are red b/c they were irritated by the eyeliner (plus, they're always a little red). Hope you like it even though the angle and crop is a little weird.
*Also an outtake for the "Best of 2006" challenge.
Yea, I know, had neighbors who never came home from work that day...I guess next time try not blinking for 5 minutes, thats how actors cry in hollywood:)
even those in another country would be well aware of it. i was in botswana, and home from school early. my husband called me and said; turn on the radio. we kept it on bbc world service, so the news was continuous that day. prettyquickly, everyone without a tv was congregating at the golf club, as they had satellite there. so we could watch the horrible images, commiserate, and drink. due to the prevalence of 24 hour news networks, i think there are very few places in the work that didn't know about 9/11 instantaneously.
a great photo, my dear. i'm also not a huge fan of flag waving, but manage to lok past it for this shot. well done.
Wow! Just stumbled across this, and it touched me very deeply! Thank you for this beautiful remembrance of such a dark painful day in the life of our country -- but by paying tribute to something beautiful that happened out of those ashes: Patriotism. Togetherness. A united country. . .if only for a short while. It was beautiful, wasn't it!
Oh, this is a great shot. Very emotive. I agree as a couple of the commenters said, not overdone at all, but yet still very strong, and quite touching. Your 'weird' angle and crop actually really help drive the interest of the shot, it is quite engaging. Your story is great. Yes, many people could connect with that very well. But even apart from the story, the image allows the viewer to go in many different directions in their intrepretation, and I really like that in a shot. I could go down several different paths with it myself! Very good photography. This is going in my favs now :-)
A topic I avoid, as I can get a little political sometimes, and as much as I can be against the american-patriotic stuff sometimes, this photo has touched me. Thank you for a wonderful description. This photo just hits me. Perfect.
Moving tribute. Thanks for relating the story also. I remember that day VERY clearly - it was one of the very few times I had the TV on that early (west coast) in the AM and I watched the second plane hit on live tv and it knocked the wind out of me.
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