9/11 Memorial: Inside

  The memorial opened to the public at 18:00. A mass of people were waiting at the gate to be let in. I thought this was going to be my opportunity to photograph reverent and emotional moments, but once we were allowed to enter I quickly learned that was not the case. After attempting to take some pictures of people reading names and looking thoughtful and generally failing in the pursuit, I realized that the memorial or the history of the event were not the focus of the evening. The focus was photographing the memorial and taking selfies. The people swarmed over the memorial with smartphones and cameras, photographing in a manner that seemed like a ritual act. I decided to turn my camera on the overwhelming amount of people taking pictures, concentrating on people photographing themselves. The result is a strange display of a culture obsessed with visual documentation.
   

 

9/11 Memorial: Outside

       On September 11th I travelled into the city to photograph the 9/11 Memorial. The memorial itself was only open to family members of those who had died in the the attacks until 18:00. I wandered around the perimeter and took photos of the groups that had assembled.