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WTC - Before September 11th
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The World Trade Center - Before September 11, 2001
Select any thumbnail image to see a larger
photo.
Before
There are those who found the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center ugly and graceless. You can't count me among them. I loved the Twin Towers. Their clean and soaring lines -- rising up to dominate the skyline of lower Manhattan -- were powerful statements of the ability of men to create beauty in steel and stone.
Looking back through my photo albums, I see that there were all too few instances where I took the time to try to capture the Towers on film. So many times I took a friend or family member to dinner at Windows on the World. So many times I included the Observation Deck on tours when out-of-town friends wanted to see the sights. So many times when business or pleasure took me into lower Manhattan, or along the New Jersey waterfront. So few photographs... I guess, like so many others, I thought there would always be time... the Towers would always be there.
I wish now I had taken the time... Fortunately, I did take some, and there are other sources as well.
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The National Aeronautics and Space Agency (NASA) takes some terrific photos from satellites and space stations. In April 2001, this image of lower Manhattan was captured by the Expedition 2 Crew of Space Station Alpha. The orientation is north=up. Even at that distance, the Towers stand out, overshadowing everything else. (Photo ISS002-E-6333, Earth Sciences and Image Analysis Laboratory, Johnson Space Center)
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The photo on the left is taken from the southwest; the one on the right from directly across in New Jersey. The photographer for the photo on the right, Skip Van Lenten, sells copies of the print, with a portion of the proceeds going to relief funds. Click here for more info,
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| Perhaps nothing so well shows off the World Trade Center as this photo, with Lady Liberty -- the Statue of Liberty -- in the foreground. It has to have been taken from the area of Liberty State Park with a long lens. I wish I could take credit for the photo; I can't, and I can't find an original shot on the web that credits the photographer either. If anyone knows who took this photo, please let me know. I'd love to properly credit the photographer. |
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My friends Harold and Scotty Ruvoldt invited me to join them on their sailboat for OpSail 1992. It was a misty overcast day so that the sailing ships of yesterday seemed to emerge as if from nowhere from the fog and pass in front of the Twin Towers. It was wonderful and a day, now, I'm glad I didn't miss.
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OpSail 1992, of course, was part of the Fourth of July celebration in New York City, and no Fourth of July is complete without fireworks. These photos will forever be among my absolute favorites, as the fireworks burst in front of the Twin Towers in joyous celebration of our nation's birth.
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