The Falling Man

An image so shocking that many were angry and disturbed.  People criticized newspapers when they ran the photograph.  Newspapers no longer ran the photograph because of the complaints of exploiting a man's death.  It was to be known as the "most famous photograph no one has seen". The self-censorship couldn’t wipe the Falling Man image and the 9/11 attacks from my collective memory. It is a photograph I remember in the newspapers the next day after watching the attacks on TV with my parents and brother.

Photograph by Richard Drew for the Associated Press

This photograph was taken by Richard Drew, an Associated Press photojournalist at 9:41 am on September 11, 2001.  Richard Drew was only twenty-one years old when he saw and photographed the assassination of Robert Kennedy.  Drew, now fifty-four years old, was dispatched by his editor to take photos of what was unfolding at the World Trade Center.  He began to take a series of photographs of those who were jumping.  The subject of this image was one of the many people who were trapped above on the upper floors of the Twin Towers because of the fire and smoke.  At least two hundred people fell or jumped to escape the unbearable heat and smoke.

While it is not a grotesque image, it has a shock value to it.  This image is one of a series photographs taken of this subject.  The image shows a man falling straight down while the other eleven photographs show him tumbling through the air.  He is perfectly vertical as if he is flying.  It is a quiet and an imitate image of a man that encapsulated the day’s horror.  Drew's photograph became at once iconic, yet its subject remained unnamed.  The photograph was run only once in the Times.  The identity of the man has not been confirmed because of the many people who fell that day.  Suggestions have been made through the years of who it may be, but I will leave that out of this post out of respect because it is only speculation.

Reference:   Esquire Article