James Nachtwey wouldn't have typically been in New York the morning of 9/11 but that is where he happened to be when just after coffee he found himself looking at the World Trade Center, north tower, in flames (Strauss 2011).
Nachtwey was a war photographer and he recognized war when he saw it. He grabbed his cameras and all the film he had and ran toward the flames (Strauss 2011).
His story from ground zero is both moving and emotional. He watched firefighters and policemen doing their jobs and looked at his camera- that was his job and he focused on that.
His images captured history.
"People need to know and they need to understand in a human way. Photography is a language, with its own limitations and strengths, but these are my tools, so I have to try and use them well" (Nachtwey in Strauss 2011).
James Nachtwey is just one example of many photographers that witnessed history and turned their camera to capture it. It is not always planned, and usually unexpected, but photography is a 'language' just as Nachtwey says, and it is a universal language of imagery.
Figure 1. David STRAUSS. 1971. Twin Towers. Available at: https://time.com/3528699/revisiting-911-unpublished-photos-by-james-nachtwey/ [accessed 31 March 2020].
STRAUSS, David L. 2011. Revisiting 9/11: 'Unpublished Photos by James Nachtwey'. Time. September [online]. Available at: https://time.com/3528699/revisiting-911-unpublished-photos-by-james-nachtwey/ [accessed 31 March 2020].
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