I have finished my first term at Photography college and have learnt an incredible amount already, not only about how to take better pictures, but also how to read images. Its a fascinating subject and I have inundated myself with biographical books about photographers and their lives. Also, of course, I am devouring tv programs and films on the subject.
I recently watched an incredibly moving documentary on Channel 4's online site, 4od, which shows that a single image really does speak more than words: The Falling Man.
A single image, captured on the horrific day of 9/11, was published only once and to me it has become the iconic image that captures the magnitude of the terror. As you can see though , the image is also strangely beautiful. The man, one of many who jumped from the World Trade Centre, rather than face a lingering incineration, looks almost balletic and serene as he plunges to his death. The composition is perfect. The Light and Shadow are split through the middle of the frame by his position in the centre. The parallel lines of the World Trade Centre increase the sense of vertigo...and yet there is a quiet, deathly calmness to the shot.
The photograph was printed in one newspaper on Sept 12th 2002 and led to an angry backlash from the American public, who felt that the image was too graphic and that it demeaned the victims. It was simply Too Much. It was never published again, and furthermore, from that point onwards, there was a concerted political effort to deny the fact that so many people jumped to their deaths from the ill-fated Twin Towers.
But thankfully the picture has survived to tell the truth about the day that forever changed America, and in a small way serves as a permanent monument to the life of the unfortunate subject, and to the fact that a single photograph can send shock waves around the globe.
