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December 5, 2008 |
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Created and Maintained by: The Photoimaging Information Council |
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Columns |
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Photography can be a very creative form of self-expression, but there are times when it can become extremely dangerous like it was for David Handschuh while photographing the tragic events that took place the morning of September 11, 2001 in New York City. A day that no one will ever forget.  David Handschuh New York Daily News photographer and former NPPA (National Press Photographers Association) President David Handschuh was on-scene shortly after the first jet crashed into the World Trade Center, and was caught in the first collapse. Firefighters saved his life. Nothing can really prepare someone for an event of this magnitude, but here are 10 insightful tips on how you can deal with the practical, physical—and very real mental demands of photojournalism.  David's Personal Account New York Daily News photographer David Handschuh was in his car the morning of September 11th, hurrying to begin teaching his class at NYU. He wasn’t due to even start work until 5PM.
But the scanner in his car suddenly came to life with word that a plane had crashed into one of the towers of the World Trade Center. “I called my office and said, “Do you want me to cover it? They said, ‘Go, go, go.’ I called the school and said I’d probably be late…. Next I called my wife, and said I might be awhile that night. At that point I had no idea that it was a terrorist attack. It could have been a light plane. So I pulled over a few miles away and took some photos from the distance.” Handschuh jumped back into his and got behind a fire truck heading up the West Side Highway. “You could see the [firemen] getting their air tanks ready, wrapping their garb around their head. A couple of guys waved to me…these are my friends….the sad thing is that they are buried there.” Handschuh was one of the first photojournalists at the World Trade Towers that day. “I knew I was covering a big news event. I knew I was covering probably the biggest fire that the New York City Fire Department had ever handled in the history of the department… but when I pulled up there I had no doubts that the fire would be extinguished with minimal loss of life…. I never once imagined that within minutes a second plane would be crashing into tower 1 or that both towers would be collapsing. “So I started documenting the scene…. Every once in a while a body—a person—would come plummeting out of the sky and land with the most horrible noise…” When Handschuh was asked if he’d ever seen something as awful as that, he answered, “Unfortunately, yes.” Handschuh says that he began to work on autopilot. “Your mind says, ‘Stop shaking. You’ve got to record history. There was glass raining down, a livery cab with a big piece of metal going right through the roof…there were body parts…there were things I don’t even wish to talk about—they were just that horrible.” When asked if he was angry or shaken at the time, he said, “Neither. My energy was directed at recording what was happening. Handschuh tells of photographing a fire commander on the scene. “He’s in the foreground and buildings are burning in the background, smoke coming out of them…when I look back at these pictures now, I realize these are the last pictures of him alive.” Handschuh was standing on the corner of Liberty and West when he heard a noise that “seemed to come from everywhere.” He thought that perhaps a large natural gas main in the building let go. “But all of the sudden the second tower explodes into flame. And I’m standing underneath it. And I think, “OK. This is a second bomb. This is not an accident.” Handschuh instinctively raised the camera to his eye. “I have the fireball coming out of the West Street side.” Handschuh tells of friends he lost. Among them was Glenn Pettit, a former freelance photographer who joined the NYPD a few years ago as a videographer. “He said he had amazing footage of the second plane hitting…for some reason we just gave each other a little hug around the shoulders and he went east and I went north. Apparently just after we spoke he went into the South Tower with the fire fighters…he is officially listed as missing. Even though they haven’t found his body, I just attended his funeral and memorial service.” The collapse of the second tower very nearly killed Handschuh as well. He was less than a hundred yards away when it started to come down. “That all-encompassing noise. It seemed to come from everywhere. Instinctively I started bringing the camera up. But somewhere in the back of my mind something said, ‘you have to run like you’ve never run before…. I believe I made the corner of Liberty and West. Basically I remember turning around and seeing….a tornado of black gravel. It picked me up. I could no longer control my legs. I was thrown about a block. I wound up under a vehicle—I don’t know if it was a car a van or what. I was trapped under debris. Being under the vehicle probably saved my head and upper body. I cleared my mouth and my nose. I reached for my cell phone. I wanted to call home and tell everyone I was OK. It wasn’t there. My pager wasn’t there. My glasses weren’t there. But I had somehow managed to hold onto both my cameras.” Handschuh tried to get out and found that his leg was broken. He called out for help. “I’ll never forget the words, when I heard a guy’s voice say, ‘don’t worry, brother. We’ll get you out.’ Firefighters call each other brother. And I knew I’d be OK.” Handschuh said when the three firefighters pulled him out from under the vehicle; the sky was still swirling in a thick black cloud, “Like volcanic ash.” Handschuh said that one of the firefighters carrying him, Dhil McArdle, was someone he’d known for years—and yet with the coating of thick ash McArdle apparently didn’t even recognize Handschuh. They took him to a delicatessen that “already had the glass door blown open…it looked like a safe place.” The second tower collapsed, and Handschuh along with about fifteen others was trapped inside the deli. “But put it this way. If they hadn’t moved me from where I had been, I would’ve been buried.” Ironically, Todd Maisel, another Daily News photographer, had run to the same deli for cover. “Todd got a picture of me on the floor in pain. With the ash and debris, I looked like a statue.” Maisel also relieved Handschuh of his two cameras. The police and fireman dug their way out. Three firemen carried Handschuh down to the waterfront. Along with an injured police lieutenant and injured firefighter, he was put onto the bow of a harbor boat. “I remember going across to Ellis Island,” Handschuh said. “It was one of the most beautiful days you’d ever see in New York. The sky was a perfect Kodachrome blue…and part of the New York City skyline had just disappeared. I’ll never forget being in the shadow of the Statue of Liberty…and looking back at smoke from this cowardly act of terror.” It’s a miracle David lived through this horrific event. David was lucky, he escaped with his life. Many of those who were right near by unfortunately did not. 
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