There was a bomb scare in NYC subways this past week.
Living in Manhattan and riding the subways 4-8 times a day, I wondered what I would do if I was riding the subways and a bomb detonated.
If I wasnt killed, would I record and post it?
It reminded me of 4 years ago when there was no videoblogging.
At that time, I was obsessively taking photos with my digital camera.
I had put down my video camera because I didn’t know where to put the work.
I took thousands of photos that I would print and make books for my friends.
On the morning of 9/11/01, I had just gotten to work downtown.
I was checking my email.
My co-worker, Lucas, came in and said "A fucking plane just hit the World Trade Center".
So my friend, Tori, and I went to go look…
The buildings were on fire.
Like moths, we started walking towards them.
We got about 6 blocks away when the first tower fell.
Anyway, here is a slideshow of 9/10, 9/11, 9/12.
Monday. Tuesday. Wednesday.
If it happens again, of course ill fucking record it.
Now I know where to put the video.
i’m speechless. so shocking to re-remember this and through your close view. powerful. my face is numb.
brings it all back…
A bomb scare develops chain reaction: still images are alive…
I think that vloggging is great because it’s, more or less, a diary but – what is the most important for me – it’s really about time and how time change everything… it’s all about memory.the same image seen after few years looks different… because we are different
I think it will be really interesting experience to watch vlogs backwards after few years.
Thank you. This one gets saved.
I too would be running towards the chaos and videotaping it.
That took me back. You LIVED that in such a different way than I did. So many emotions. Thanks for sharing those moments.
Amazing. Not that I ever want to experience something like that as close as you did, but videos like this help others understand and feel what that must have been like. Thanks for sharing your experience.
Wow!
I just realized is that you and I both felt compelled to document this day — but in totally different ways.
You were actually in NYC, and at the time I was in my suburban apartment outside of Baltimore.
You walked closer to the towers taking these photos from the on-the-ground perspectitve, and I stuck an extended VHS tape in the VCR and recorded what I was observing on the TV news for the next 8 hours…
Great music and beginning and ending photos. Well done.
I hadn’t thought of this till now — but maybe I’ll dig up my footage from that day and do something with it sometime in the future.
wow — that’s incredible Jay.
you know our kitty died recently, and it was really sad having her put to sleep, also interesting in a way just to see how quickly a living creature can die and what they’re like after that.
the thought certainly occured to me to document this experience. one thing is, it happened very fast… she started having seizures, next thing we’re in a cab. but also, i think we wanted this experience to be private. i don’t personally feel the need to document everything. i’m sure somebody will document everything one day, but of course i don’t have to do it all. you and ryanne got it covered anyway right? (j/k)
something like a disaster though… thank god we have people whose first instinct, one of them anyway, is to document.
thats the big fat cat?
we saw your new cat..it looks just like ours.
theres so much i dont record.
but so much of it is important…even its just my future grandkids. history can now be told by the people.
every experience should be remembered and shared at some point.
thats how we learn.
Jay
REALLY nice video, and the music was perfect … I like to think that, when the drama happens, I will have a video, and I will know where to put it … I liked this a lot and will add it to richards picks …
approaching an anniversary
reasonably intense
…
This is so strong! I have linked it from my blog.
Great post Jay. Sept. 11, 2001 -It was about 10:30 AM- I had slept through my eye doctor’s appointment and immediately called in for a reappointment. I got an answering machine though, so I left a messege. I then saw my phone with 2 Yahoo text messages, both stating the FBI had linked airplane hijackings to terrorrism. I turned on WNYC AM and heard the announcer say “The World Trade Center is no more.” I was shocked. After 30 seconds or so I kneeled and prayed the rosary. My landlord upstairs had a TV and I watched in horror.
What an emotional piece – it’s amazing how still images in succession can capture an experience in powerful ways that moving images can’t. Really hit me in my gut. It’s still hard to believe this actually happened.
I had the same instinct, but I couldn’t get as close. I actually shot a bunch of video and put together a little documentary which I never put online. I remember the intensity of it all. The heightened awareness. Only a few days later did I feel the horror.
Powerful imagery, still shocking, still etched deep into the common psyche.
Glad you went no closer. Glad you’re still here to show us these.
For the first time I have a sense of what this might have felt like in those moments. Seeing it in relief against the continuing workday for New Yorkers is a shock after all these years. Really captures “This Is Really Happening This Can’t Really Be Happening”. So glad I finally saw this.
creative and moving . I liked it alot
I was with you that day
Thanks for sharing this with me. Powerful.