Visual Literacy: Thomas Hoepker 9/11 Photograph
According to Liu, the rapid advancement of science and technology is influencing significant transformation in human communication systems (1259). The visual element of communication is now being utilized widely with images, color, and other multimodal resources being used for more than entertainment and illustration (Harrison 46). Visual messages are being used to convey significant meaning (Liu 1259). The visual culture is becoming popular due to its ability to communicate instantly and universally via the Internet (Bamford 2). As such, people should be able to decode and interpret the various visual images that are exposed to them every day to make meaning.
This essay is an analysis of a controversial photograph shot by Thomas Hoepker that shows five people looking at lower Manhattan from across the East River in Brooklyn. The critical analysis utilizes the visual literacy approach to making meaning of the image through exploration, reflection, and critique (Bamford 1). This option includes four categories of intuitive elements namely; issues, information, who, and persuasion. The paper tackles the questions listed in the Visual Literacy White Paper (Bamford 6) with an aim of understanding, decoding, and interpreting the image adequately.
Issues
Thomas Hoepker took this photograph on the Brooklyn waterfront on the afternoon of September 11, 2001 (Hoepker par 1). The snap is among many others that the photographer took as he tried to get the closest image of the horrifying event that occurred on that day (Hoepker par 2). The issues presented by the photo include the catastrophic terrorist attack that took place on American soil and the reactions that people expressed in the aftermath. Being a photojournalist, Hoepker was trying to capture the unfolding tragedy albeit from a distance.
The smoke coming from the collapsed World Trade Center is the only indicator of the calamity that was killing hundreds of people that fateful day. Typically, pictures that depict terrorist attacks show despair, pain, worry, destruction, courage, heroism, and the human spirit. They evoke a myriad of emotions from their viewers and readers ranging from anger, to hopelessness. Such images are usually shocking, moving, and touching (Hoepker par 3).
Surprisingly, this picture depicts peace and tranquility. The photo evokes feelings of calmness, quiet, and harmony. However, one would also be curious about what was happening on the smoking side of the river. The people in the foreground of the snap seem oblivious to what is going on across the river. They do not even seem to notice the huge cloud of smoke coming from the other side of the waterfront. The idyllic scene captured in this photograph is deceptive because it gives an illusion of peace created by the bright sunshine, the cypress trees, flowers, and the relaxed environment that the youths in the photo seem to be enjoying. The billowing smoke from the collapsed World Trade Center is in contrast with the scene of calm and tranquility on the Brooklyn waterfront.
A person looking at the photograph may perceive the people in the photo as inhuman and uncaring due to their seemingly unaffected state despite the catastrophic event that was happening in the horizon that was claiming hundreds of lives. An observer is driven to wonder how they could be so calm while people are dying on the other side of town. How could they enjoy tranquility while America was under attack? This picture distorts the reality of the shock and helplessness that most Americans experienced that day.
Despite its seemingly deceptive, confusing, and ambiguous nature, this photo passes a crucial message. Though the bombing event brought New York to a standstill for a few hours, the clock continued to tick, and life went on. The youths in the photo communicate the cruelty of the universe when life goes on even after humanity has suffered unimaginable pain and loss. Despite the magnitude of the disaster and the millions of people it affected, the image also shows that the people in the World Trade Center and its vicinity were the ones who experienced the worst pain and loss both physically and mentally. The photograph has a cold and cruel “life-goes-on-quality” created by the calm and uncaring manner with which the young people are seemingly enjoying a bright summer afternoon after the most catastrophic bombing incident in the United States.
Information
The information gathered by studying Thomas Hoepker’s shot comes from several elements of the photograph. Firstly, the brightness of the picture shows that the photo was taken on a sunny day. The flowers, the cypress trees, the blue waters of the river, and the skyscrapers lining the horizon reveal the beauty in the scene. The posture and facial expressions of the individuals in the image create a sense of calmness and harmony that augment the beautiful surrounding. The only indicator of a disaster is the enormous cloud of smoke that is rising from one of the buildings in the horizon. The cloud is in contrast with the idyllic scene. However, the smoke does not indicate the catastrophic nature of the calamity that is taking place across the waterfront.
The image on its own does not communicate its connection to the portentous and historic day that saw the collapse of one of the tallest buildings in the world. Most features in the photograph have an all-is-well quality (the cool-looking young people, the bright sunshine, and so on) except for the smoke. The picture also fails to communicate the frantic activities that were taking place on the waterfront following the horrific news that were reaching the people on this side of the river (Hoepker par 2). It does not show the confusion, shock, terror, and disorientation that gripped the photographer and those around him (Hoepker par 6).
As the photographer (Thomas Hoepker) indicates, the cruel, uncaring, callous, and strange message passed by this shot could be deceptive. The static nature of the snapshot ignores the moments before and after the clicking of the shutter. It is possible that the camera caught a lull in a long, concerned discussion that the youths were having. Maybe these seemingly cool people had just undergone inexpressible agony and catharsis that the snapshot did not capture (Hoepker par 6).
The smoke rising from a building across the river is a factual representation of the bombs that had brought down the skyscraper that housed the World Trade Center. It is impossible for the photographer to have manipulated this fact. However, the “relaxing” youths in the picture may not have been relaxing. It is possible that they were having an animated discussion of the catastrophic events that had just taken place across the waterfront. The nature of photographs can lead to false and manipulated conclusions as one of the photographed persons wrote in response to the publication of Hoepker’s snapshot (Jones par 4).
The print displays five young individuals who were seated near a restaurant on the Brooklyn waterfront in New York. These people seem to have gathered here after the disastrous bombing of the World Trade Centre on 9/11. Critics have argued that the relaxing youths do not necessarily depict cruelty and callousness. According to Rich, the unaffected state of these New Yorkers shows an American culture of swiftly moving on from traumatic events (par 4).
This photograph was taken by Thomas Hoepker on the afternoon of the bombings. He explains that he took this photo by chance, as he was trying to get a close shot of the smoldering and collapsed ruins that were the World Trade Center. As he took distant shots of a distant calamity, Hoepker saw an intriguing scene that depicted peace and beauty despite the tragedy that had hit America that morning. Instinctively, he took three shots of the idyllic setting (Hoepker par 3). The photographer’s intention was to display the diverse reactions that New Yorkers had towards the catastrophe. This particular snapshot shows that tragedies do not necessarily have to interrupt everyone and everything; after a short while, life continues.
This photograph communicates continuity and the American culture of dusting off and moving on from calamities to the citizens of the United States as well as the rest of the world. The photograph has gained worldwide popularity and controversy. Some critics rebuke the unaffected and callous nature of the people in the photo while others look at it as evidence of the deception that a camera click can create. Nonetheless, the snapshot has reached the intended global audience.
This image takes Hoepker’s (the photographer) point of view. It is an illustration of the scenery that caught the eye of the camera operator. As Hoepker explains, he saw this cool and beautiful frame, as he was busy taking photos of the tragic day from a distant. Obeying his instincts, he took a shot of the shocking but calm scene. The picture communicates his intrigue that was emanating from the beauty and tranquility of the people and their immediate environment. Ultimately, it is a beautiful and calm image taken in the midst of chaos. Some of the individuals in the snap have a different point view. They claim that their seemingly carefree and relaxed appearance is deceptive because they were in a state of disbelief and shock (Jones par 4). They also claim to have been in an animated discussion about the explosion of the twin bombs. Apparently, the peace and beauty seen in the photograph represent the photographer’s point of view.
Persuasion
The publication of this picture took place five years after it was shot. According to Hoepker, the decision to withhold publication was based on the fact that releasing the photo to the public in the midst of an emotional upheaval would have been inconsiderate (Rich par 3; Hoepker par 4). Hoepker explains that publishing the photo at that time was inappropriate since it did not reflect the reality of the experiences that New Yorkers had gone through that day. Its publication would have distorted the reality that was littered with compassion, heroism, terror, and untold suffering (Hoepker par 4). The picture did not fit in this web of high strung emotions; it did not feel right.
However, five years after the World Trade Center Bombing the snapshot was printed in a book, Watching the World Change, authored by David Friend. At this time, the photo was intended to communicate several messages. It showed the swiftness with which Americans recover from a disaster, picking up the pieces and moving on (Hoepker par 5; Rich par 4; Jones par 3). At the fifth anniversary of the tragedy, the shot was perfect for displaying the American culture of picking up the pieces (Rich par 4). Although it depicted this culture in a callous and cold manner, it also showed the amazing aspect of the human spirit; a resilience that refuses to be broken by the disaster but recovers quickly from shock and resumes a normal pace of everyday life (Jones par 9; Rich par 4 & 5). Sadly, the late dissemination of the photo depicts the loss of the unity and affection that Americans showed when tragedy struck the city of New York.
The youths occupy the foreground of the snapshot making them the first thing that an observer sees before taking in the smoke and the skyscrapers in the horizon. This arrangement encourages the reader to focus on the individuals who caught the attention of the photographer. Therefore, the image artist succeeds in conveying his shock and confusion at the relaxed appearance of the young men and women in the photo.
Hoepker’s photograph conveys some factual information to the viewer or reader. It illustrates real people and real activities that happened. The smoke on the horizon is coming from the ruins of the World Trade Center after the twin bombing of the towers that morning. The five New Yorkers in the photo had gathered at the Williamsburg Bridge at the time that the photograph was taken. However, the carefree attitude of youths depicted by the picture may not be true. Claims from some of the individuals in the snapshot refute the fact that they were relaxing at that historical moment while people continued to lose lives across the bridge. Walter Sipser and his girlfriend (they are in the snapshot) claimed that the photo misrepresented the emotions of shock and disbelief they were experiencing at that time by conveying a message of callousness and an uncaring attitude (Jones par 4).
The image utilizes contrast as a stylistic device to show the conflicting and confusing nature of the events captured in the photograph. The peace and calmness seen in the foreground are in contrast with the destruction and carnage represented by the huge cloud of smoke. The use of contrast evokes the feeling of shock in the viewer at the seemingly uncaring attitude that the individuals in the picture have toward the catastrophic and unfortunate events happening on the other side of town.
The photograph is a still image. Therefore, it captures one single moment without giving us a clue to what was happening a few seconds before and after the snap was shot. It is possible that the photographer missed a concerned discussion among the youths or their agony and pain by seconds or minutes. If that were the case, then his depiction of the young individuals as unmindful of the suffering of their fellow New Yorkers across the Williamsburg Bridge would have been wrong and deceptive to the viewer.
Works cited
Bamford, Ann. The Visual Literacy Paper. Adobe Systems Incorporated. Web. 10 May 2016. <http://wwwimages.adobe.com/www.adobe.com/content/dam/Adobe/en/education/pdfs/visual-literacy-wp.pdf>
Harrison, Claire. “Visual Social Semiotics: Understanding How Still Images Make Meaning.” Technical Communication Vol. 50. No. 1(2003): 46-60
Hoepker, Thomas. “I Took That 9/11 Photo.” Slate 14 Sept. 2006. Web. 10 May 2016.
Jones, Jonathan. “The Meaning of 9/11’s Most Controversial Photo.” The Guardian 2 Sept. 2011. Web. 10 May 2016.
Liu, Jing. “Visual Images Interpretive Strategies in Multimodal Texts.” Journal of Language Teaching and Research Vol. 4, No. 6 (2013): 1259-1263.
Rich, Frank. “Whatever Happened to the America of 9/12?” The New York Times 10 Sept. 2006. Web. 10 May 2016.
