"Kids & Animals...? It's Just Cute..." Callicoon, NY 24•Sept.•11

Alessia Lentini (5) of Swan Lake views female alpacas during National Alpaca Farm Days at Nature's Reserve Alpacas in Callicoon, NY on Saturday, September 24, 2011. Nature's Reserve Alpaca is home to 40 alpacas. © CHET GORDON/Times Herald-Record

Panos Pictures (UK) at 25.

Some incredible images here during a discussion with Panos Pictures' photographers and staff on their 25th. Anniversary... ~cg

Conversations in Photography: 25 years of Panos Pictures from panos pictures on Vimeo.

"Back in the Black..." Army - Northwestern Football. September 17, 2011

Thoughts on working again down at Michie Stadium for my first game of the 2011 season covering the Black Knights of Army. Football for me is similar to covering other sports at any level of competition, and is truly a game of inches. Particularly at the Division I College level. My choice of shooting positions throughout the game is usually from my knees 99.5% of the time, lens and camera choices (usually 3 bodies & at least one stadium remote installed above the stadium for the overall wide view - below), and even the clothing I wear for the day is all predetermined. Well usually. Nowhere was this theory put to the test as it was during Saturday's game against Northwestern. *(Note to self: remember carpenters knee pads & full rain suit in the car's trunk. Change batteries in the Pocket-Wizards to insure consistent firing of remote camera, and attach PW receiver in remote camera's hot-shoe to avoid radio reception interference for that camera atop Kimsey Hall.)

Army and Northwestern on the field in front of 35,784 fans during their game in Michie Stadium at the United States Military Academy in West Point, NY, on Saturday, September 17, 2011. Army defeated Northwestern 21 - 14. CHET GORDON/Times Herald-Record

We all dodged a bullet as the rain held off for the day and the stadium lights were on the whole time, which helped with exposures. With game time kickoff at 3:30PM, I knew it'd be a long afternoon and the workday would spill over into the evening. I certainly didn't want to be leaving the ballpark after 9 or 10PM I kept reminding myself... It wasn't a great game for making peak action images, although Army QB Trent Steelman ran for three touchdowns (2 of them were one - yard 'bang-bang' plays into a scrum at the goal line), so that meant working to stay keyed on just about every play in the second half, because any routine run or pass play could be a game-breaker. By the time the fourth quarter rolled around and the score tied at 14, I remember at times drifting into my "work zone": No crowd noise, no distractions, no talking to fellow photographers along the sidelines or end zone. Fortunately I didn't miss too many pictures on Saturday. All in all it was good to be working back in the big stadium, and working hard to offer full day coverage going into my fifth season of Army Football... ~cg

"Blood Work..." FBI Gang Raids - Part III. Newburgh, NY 13•Sept.•11

Heavily armed FBI agents leave the scene at 433 Third Street in the City of Newburgh, NY, on Tuesday, September 13, 2011. Multiple law enforcement agencies, including the FBI, Orange County Sheriff's Office, NY State Police, DEA, and Newburgh Police arrested suspected Bloods gang members wanted for murder and other violent crimes, during coordinated pre-dawn raids throughout the city. CHET GORDON/Times Herald-Record

*More on this in a bit. I have been sorting out coverage of my third pre-dawn raids here in my city over the last 16 months or so... ~cg

September 11, 2001. - "My Day Ten Years Ago..."

SPECIAL TO NEW YORK DAILY NEWS-- American Airlines aircraft sit idle at the gate at Boston's Logan International Airport, Tuesday, Sept. 11, 2001. Logan was the airport where two of the four hijacked planes took off from, both hitting the World Trade Center in New York. (Chet Gordon for the NY Daily News/THE IMAGE WORKS)

Everybody remembers where they were on this date, just as folks from an earlier generation can recall where they were on November 22, 1963 when President John Fitzgerald Kennedy was gunned down in Dealey Plaza in Dallas, Texas. Since I couldn't get any further south than Yonkers, NY by car while the events were unfolding in lower Manhattan, (I was living in lower Westchester County near the CT border at the time), I was instructed by the photo desk in New York to "Go to Boston...!" I can still hear those frantic orders from the photo editor at the time, on a gas station pay phone - as there was no cellular service. I'll never forget how quickly I made it to Boston's Logan airport for the back story of where two of the hijacked American Airlines jetliners took off from, and eventually crashed into the World Trade Center towers in lower Manhattan. I was able to make a few images on an original Nikon D-1 series camera from the paper, but back then I had no way to transmit or email my images back to New York. There was no readily available wi-fi or hotspots to access the internet. In fact, I don't think I had all the proper software on my Apple G3 laptop to edit and transmit images remotely anyway. I'd only been shooting and scanning film negatives to email via a phone DSL modem. I had to find the Boston office of the AP, so they could move my images. I think we moved only three or four images from the airport and the following press conference at one of the big name hotels near the harbor. Then after winding down in Boston that evening, I was told to head back to New York, and "Be ready to go to work tomorrow..." Talk about a day. Nothing near what some of my colleagues in the business experienced, saw, and photographed, but it's a day seared in my memory as well... ~cg.

September 11, 2001. - "Now It's Been Ten Years..."

An American flag flies atop the crumbling facade of the south tower of the World Trade Center's South Tower on Monday, September 24, 2001. A terrorist attack on Tuesday morning, September 11, 2001 destroyed to the two worldwide known icons in lower Manhattan when two jetliners struck the towers. The facade was brought down by construction crews on Tuesday, September 25, 2001. © Chet Gordon/THE IMAGE WORKS

When I finally made it downtown to the site known as "Ground Zero", two weeks after September 11, 2001, I remember thinking I didn't really need to make a lot of images. I wasn't competing with anyone or racing against some imaginary deadline in my head. I just needed to see and witness the scene. I remember the unnamed attorney who tapped me on the shoulder and asked if I'd really like to see the view from his 44th. floor office (below), the horrid smell of death rising like a cloud through the sewers, the eerie calm of an area of Manhattan that was always bustling during business hours, and the overcast rainy day it was on that day ten years ago when I made these images. There isn't even a need now to seek out any more of my outtakes from the day or subsequent visits downtown through the years. It's been ten years since that day and look where we all are in this world... ~cg.

Smoke still rises from the rubble and the crumbling facade of the World Trade Center's South Tower can be seen from the 44th. floor of an office building at 140 Broadway on Monday, September 24, 2001. A terrorist attack on Tuesday morning, September 11, 2001 destroyed to the two worldwide known icons in lower Manhattan when two jetliners struck the towers. © Chet Gordon/THE IMAGE WORKS

New York Army National Guard soldiers and an NYPD policewoman gather together a few blocks south of the crumbling facade of the World Trade Center's South Tower A terrorist attack on Tuesday morning, September 11, 2001 destroyed to the two worldwide known icons in lower Manhattan when two jetliners struck the towers. The facade was brought down by construction crews on Tuesday, September 25, 2001. © Chet Gordon/THE IMAGE WORKS

*(It's) TIME... 1•Sept.•11

It's not much, but a file image of mine from Rye Playland over in Westchester County, NY appeared last week in TIME Magazine's website. If memory serves, I believe I made the image while on a story during my days at the NY Daily News, when there was a fatality at the amusement park. It's what we sometimes call a "GV" (general view) or the dreaded "real estate" of a location, building or landscape. I'm not sure if it also appeared in the actual magazine. The bigger question is, who do I invoice for this usage...? ~cg.

Click HERE to see the actual story.

More Hurricane Irene... Aug. - Sept. 2011

A selection of my work on the cleanup this week after Hurricane (Tropical Storm) Irene. "Like a mini-Katrina, or so it seems in places..." ~cg.

A WWII era American flag (with only 48 stars) dries in the bed of a destroyed pickup in the driveway of Virginia Mina's flood damaged Barnes Avenue home in Washingtonville, NY on Saturday, September 3, 2011. Many Washingtonville area residents endured raging floodwaters after Tropical Storm Irene passed through the Northeast last weekend. CHET GORDON/Times Herald-Record

Virginia Mina surrounded by destroyed household items and debris in the driveway of her flood damaged Barnes Avenue home in Washingtonville, NY on Saturday, September 3, 2011. Many Washingtonville area residents endured raging floodwaters after Tropical Storm Irene passed through the Northeast last weekend. CHET GORDON/Times Herald-Record

A cow has a drink in a flooded pasture at the Bettinger Bluff Farm in Montgomery, NY on Thursday, September 1, 2011. Areas of the Hudson Valley are still without power after Tropical Storm Irene passed through the Northeast last weekend. CHET GORDON/Times Herald-Record

Dave Ibbetson (left) and his brother Ray (right) remove a damaged couch from his flood damaged Brookside Acres home in Washingtonville, NY on Thursday, September 1, 2011. Many Washingtonville area residents endured raging floodwaters after Tropical Storm Irene passed through the Northeast last weekend. CHET GORDON/Times Herald-Record

Laszlo Bodak walks back into his flood damaged summer home in Mt. Tremper, NY on Wednesday, August 31, 2011. Mt. Tremper is still without power after floodwaters from the Esopus Creek caused by Tropical Storm Irene passed through the Northeast three days ago. CHET GORDON/Times Herald-Record

(3) Mt. Tremper, NY

Bridge Street is littered with downed trees, power lines, and roadway damage after flooding from the Esopus Creek in Phoenicia, NY on Wednesday, August 31, 2011. The Hamlet of Phoenicia is still without power after Tropical Storm Irene passed through the Northeast three days ago. CHET GORDON/Times Herald-Record