Here is New York: A Democracy of Photographs [Englisch] [Gebundene Ausgabe]

Adult/High School-This book grew out of an exhibit and sale of photographs of the September 11, 2001, World Trade Center disaster. The exhibit began when Michael Shulan taped a photograph of the towers in a vacant Soho shop window. A friend encouraged him to post more photos and on September 25 the gallery opened for a supposed three-week run. Months and thousands of pictures later, the project included a Web site and the publication of this book. Like the show itself, this book contains pages of uncaptioned photographs, almost 1000 of the more than 5000 photos submitted by some 3000 photographers. "Anybody and everybody" brought photos; those chosen for publication were selected "to give the most coherent sense of the whole." The book opens with approximately 170 black-and-white photos; the hundreds that follow are in color. The pictures vary in composition, in viewpoint, and both in camera angle and type of equipment used. Some are macabre, some eerie, some border on the tasteless, and a few are beautiful. The book concludes with the most breathtaking and evocative piece in the entire collection-a two-page color photo of the upper reaches of the Twin Towers thrusting upward through a sea of clouds.
Dori DeSpain, Fairfax County Public Library, VA
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Die ergreifendste Bilddokumentation des 11. September. 880 Fotos.

Milliarden Menschen in aller Welt sahen, wie zwei Flugzeuge die Türme des World Trade Centers zum Einsturz brachten. In Manhattan selbst waren tausende ungläubige, fassungslose, weinende, schreiende, schweigende, sich umarmende, irre werdende Menschen Zeugen. Einige fotografierten und versuchten, das Entsetzliche in Bilder zu bannen.

Wenige Tage danach beschlossen vier New Yorker Fotografen ein ungewöhnliches Ausstellungsprojekt, an dem sich die ganze Stadt beteiligen sollte. Wer immer wollte, ob Profi-Fotograf oder Amateur, war gebeten, Aufnahmen von der Katastrophe einzureichen. Schließlich waren es 7.000 Fotografien, die anonym, ohne Titel und Erklärungen ausgestellt wurden: ein einziger wortloser Kommentar zu einem unfassbaren Ereignis. Anders als die meisten Pressefotos dokumentieren diese Bilder auch stille, private Momente fernab des dramatischen Geschehens. Sie zeigen Menschen unter Schock, verzweifelt, fassungslos, trauernd. Es sind gerade diese subjektiven Ausschnitte, die die Dimension der Ereignisse und ihre Auswirkungen intensiver spüren lassen als die unendliche Wiederholung der immer gleichen Bilder zweier brennender Türme.

Aus dieser Bildergalerie der bestdokumentierten Katastrophe der Menschheitsgeschichte wurden 880 Fotos für das Buch „Here is New York“ ausgewählt: Es ist die wohl umfassendste und eindrücklichste Bilddokumentation über den 11. September, ein einzigartiges fotografisches Monument, eine anrührende, erschütternde Reportage aus unmittelbarer Nähe.

„Here is New York“. Ausgezeichnet mit dem Stuttgarter Fotobuchpreis 2003. Internationale Ausgabe. Kurzer englischer Text. 720 Farb- und 160 Duoton- Abbildungen. 861 Seiten. Querformat 30x21 cm. Fadenheftung. Fester Einband im Schuber. Scalo.

Here is New York was founded in response to the events of September 11, and to the flood of images that resulted from it. The idea was simple: to present images of the event by as many different people and from as many different perspectives as possible. In the days following September 11, the organisers asked for pictures and were inundated with slides, negatives, prints, and digital files from photographers of every description, not only top photojournalists and other professionals, but rescue workers, firemen, cops, school children, and amateurs of every kind. In order to underline that it was the images themselves that mattered, rather than their makers, the photographs were all digitally scanned, printed out in exactly the same format, and hung from wires without attribution nor frames in a Prince St store front. The book Here is New York will be the most comprehensive and authentic document of what occurred. It will bear witness to what seemed unimaginable, memorialize the people who perished and the rescue workers who served so heroically.

Most of all, the book will be a testimony of people speaking directly to each other about their fears, their emotions, and their desire for community. This desire is one of the strongest by-products of the horrible events of September 11th. It is also what distinguishes Here is New York from any and all other books about the event.