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Analysis of the Photography of The Fallen Man Essay

Decent Essays

We’ve all heard the phrase “A picture is worth a thousand words.” It’s the mere fact that an idea can be conveyed with just one single image. We come across tons of unfiltered images everyday, whether we see them in newspapers or magazines. These images move us, they have an impact on some of us, deep to our core. When a photograph directly impacts an individual, one will recount an image long after they have seen it. The photograph that is forever imprinted in my mind is the image “The Falling Man,” from The New York Times, a result of the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001. It is a photo and article that was in the very first pages of The New York Times, days after the terrorist attacks. That was the first time I had seen the …show more content…

Rather he looks serene and relaxed. His shoes are still on, while others whom jumped out the windows flailing, lost both their shoes. The man is falling so gracefully he almost looks like he is flying. All you can see in the portrait behind him, is the Twin Tower seconds from burning down and completely collapsing. When analyzing this photograph it seems like the falling man has accepted his fate. One can look at this photo ten years or even hundred years from now, and still encapsulate the horror, and pain, that American people endured on September 11, 2011. As much as I want to wipe this image from my memory, I think it will always haunt me. Part of the reason it haunts me is because it brings me back to the phone called I received that day from my best friend. She told me her father had left for work in the World Trade Center that morning, and hadn’t come home or called to tell them he was alive. My best friend’s father lost his life that day along with the falling man. The flashback is clearer in my mind than ever. “The Falling Man” represents all the innocent people who lost their lives that day. Viewers who see this photo are able to sympathize with the falling man who bravely faced his inevitable death. The photo of “The Falling Man” ties into the photojournalism lecture where we viewed an image displayed on the National Geographic Magazine. The cover photograph from 1985 with Afghan refugee, Sharbat Guila,

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