Analysis of the Image - Thomas Hoepker

This is a picture of the 9/11 attack in New York. The Photographer, Thomas Hoepker, captures a photograph that was proved highly controversial. He banned the image up until 5 years after the 9/11 attack because of the response he knew he would get, this must of meant Hoepker notice the offence in this image and what some people might say about it.

The image was controversial because the people in the photograph look as if they are enjoying the pleasant weather, and look rather relaxed. The people also act like nothing has happened and are just generally have a day out. The colours are vibrant and stand out looking fresh however not one single person out the group is looking at the destructive chaos behind them. In 2006, 5 years after the attack, when the image was revealed, ''Walter Sipser, identifying himself as the guy in shades at the right of the picture, said he and his girlfriend, apparently sunbathing on a wall, were in fact "in a profound state of shock and disbelief". ''Hoepker, they both complained, had photographed them without permission in a way that misrepresented their feelings and behaviour. '' Said the Guardian with a quote from Sipser.

Life had to carry on, and people did have to go back to the normal life routines despite what tragic event happened in New York. The picture had shown a frozen image at certain time of the day, so you can't really know what happened before or after the photograph had been taken, so should we really judge the people? ''As an image of a cataclysmic historical moment captures something that is true of all historical moments: life does not stop dead because a battle or an act of terror is happening nearby.'' Quoted from the Guardian. The quote set a great explanatory of the photograph and that it has two sets of emotions. First the bright vibrant colours, the greenery also the people very relaxed, dark shadows from the sun beaming down followed in by a tragic event of smoke and destruction.

In photography images tend to have titles, headings or even a little description however this picture came with no explanation just on its own which opened up the meaning. The people in this picture may look like they have no idea what is happening or just don't care and enjoying the day in the warm sunshine or might be in shock, without any text or description about the image we see the picture how we interpret it. For example when I first looked at the image I thought the people didn't care about the tragic event going on behind them and were just enjoying the glorious day. Once I had some research I found out that the people in the photograph were in shock, and potentially stunned by what they could witness, but because of the sun was out and the bold colours and they the people were sitting in the image, I interpreted in a completely different way to the actual moment. This is because there was no text to inform us of the actual situation as we don't know what happened before or after the image was taken.

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