War Photography

Record photographer Thomas E. Franklin had just gotten back from an assignment in the Dominican Republic. As soon as he arrived in The Record photo office, an editor immediately informed him of what had just happened. He started driving down to the World Trade Center on the Turnpike when he heard the second plane crash. Franklin hitched a ride on one of the tug boats across the Hudson River, arriving at the scene around noon. He took pictures of the scene for about an hour. He was “expecting to see death, but mostly saw mangled metals, overturned cars and ambulances, and everything covered with dust.” At around 4:30 that afternoon, while catching his breath and drinking some water, he decided to walk back to the debris. He was 150 yards away and standing under a pedestrian walkway across the West Side Highway, which connected the World Trade Center to the World Financial Center at the northwest corner, when he saw the three firefighters raising the flag. He immediately readied his lens, and took the picture. As soon as he shot it, he claims the have “realized the similarity to the Marines raising the flag at Iwo Jima.” This was the photograph he had been waiting for, and he knew it. Throughout the day, he was afraid that something was wrong with the camera and that the once in a lifetime picture was ruined. Thus, he immediately took the photo card out of the camera and secured it in his pocket.
Puerto Rican photographer Ricky Flores, a staff photographer for The Journal News, a daily paper based in Westchester, N.Y for the pasted 8 years, was attempting the cross the Bronx-Manhattan Bridge trying to get past the police when the first tower fell. He parked his car somewhere around Canal Street, and was able to find his way into the perimeter set up by the police. As he walked closer to the site, the dust got higher and the noise got louder. He felt that the only way to get past the shocked that overwhelmed him was to shoot something, it did not matter what. As