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