The Twin Towers in Three Photographs: Before, During and After September 11

Summary

• The Smithsonian selected three photographs by Joel Meyerowitz, Christophe Agou and Robert Rathe for the 25th anniversary of September 11
• The images date from 1983, September 11, 2001 and 2002, following the Twin Towers from the cityscape to the ruins and distorted steel
• Meyerowitz photographed the towers for about 15 years and completed his series on September 7, 2001
• Agou documented Ground Zero on approximately 216 frames on the day of the attacks
• The companion Photography and the News feature examines how television, newspapers and photographs shaped the collective memory of September 11

Marking the 25th anniversary of September 11, the Smithsonian uses three photographs by Joel Meyerowitz, Christophe Agou and Robert Rathe to show how the image of a building can evolve from an everyday urban landmark into historical memory.

The National Museum of American History has published “The Twin Towers in Three Photographs,” selecting three images from its Photographic History Collection that place the Twin Towers at three different moments: in 1983, on September 11, 2001 itself and in 2002, when sections of steel from the buildings had already become material in a major technical investigation. At the same time, the Smithsonian published “September 11: Photography and the News,” a second feature examining how photography, television images and newspapers shaped the collective memory of the day.

The significance of the selection lies not only in what the photographs show, but also in the order in which they are presented. From Joel Meyerowitz’s illuminated skyscrapers, the viewer moves to the ruins documented by Christophe Agou and finally to the distorted metal photographed by Robert Rathe. Across three frames, the World Trade Center gradually ceases to be simply an architectural object and becomes a place, an event, physical evidence and ultimately memory.

Joel Meyerowitz: The towers before they carried the weight of history

The first image comes from Joel Meyerowitz’s “Looking South” series and was taken on January 1, 1983. The American photographer spent roughly 15 years recording the Twin Towers from the window of his studio on West 19th Street, placing them within the wider landscape of Lower Manhattan.

In this particular photograph, the yellow office lights stand out against the purple sky. At the time it was made, the towers were primarily a recognizable feature of the skyline and a symbol of New York’s financial activity.

Knowledge of what came later, however, inevitably changes how the photograph is read today. The image has not changed; the viewer and the historical context surrounding it have.

That becomes even more striking because of one detail highlighted by the Smithsonian: Meyerowitz made the final photograph in the series just four days before the attacks, on September 7, 2001.

Christophe Agou: The moment photography becomes a historical document

The second image radically changes both scale and time. It is “Ground Zero” by French photographer Christophe Agou, made on September 11, 2001.

Agou, who had moved to New York in 1992, had already worked extensively in street photography, but according to an account he provided to the museum, he had never before photographed anything he would have considered “news.” After learning that an aircraft had struck the North Tower, he grabbed his camera and headed toward Lower Manhattan.

The subway forced him to leave at 14th Street, and he continued for roughly 2.5 miles on foot, moving against crowds of ash-covered people leaving the area.

He photographed for hours and exposed six rolls of film, approximately 216 frames. He continued until the collapse of World Trade Center 7 at 5:20 p.m., working in an environment filled with smoke, ash and debris.

In the photograph selected by the Smithsonian, small human figures and a badly damaged fire engine provide a sense of scale against the wreckage. The human presence appears almost overwhelmed by the mass of the destroyed structure.

Robert Rathe: When a skyscraper becomes a piece of metal

The third photograph, “WTC Steel #4,” was made by Robert Rathe in 2002 and brings the viewer even closer.

Rathe was working on another assignment when he encountered hundreds of pieces of steel recovered from the World Trade Center on the grounds of the National Institute of Standards and Technology in Maryland. The Smithsonian says 225 pieces were there when the photographer encountered them.

His photograph was not created as scientific documentation. Rathe was interested in the shapes, folds and colors the damaged metal had acquired. In “WTC Steel #4,” a component that once formed part of a massive, rigid structure appears almost folded like fabric.

The technical background to the image is particularly notable. NIST’s subsequent official investigation catalogued and analyzed a total of 236 recovered structural steel elements from the World Trade Center buildings, while photographic and video evidence also formed an important part of the investigation into the collapses.

The material that functions as a visual object in Rathe’s photograph was therefore simultaneously part of a much broader effort to understand the buildings’ behavior and improve construction safety.

From the skyline to Ground Zero and then to memory

The strength of the Smithsonian feature lies in the relationship between the three images.

Meyerowitz views the towers from a distance and shows them embedded in everyday city life. Agou is almost inside the event, when the familiar architectural landmark has already become a site of destruction. Rathe moves closer still, until the building is no longer recognizable as a building but as distorted material.

The sequence therefore also works as a study of photographic scale: city, place, object.

At the same time, it demonstrates something fundamental about the relationship between photography and history. Photographs do not simply record what stood in front of the lens at the moment of exposure. Over time, they acquire new meanings that the photographer could not necessarily have known when pressing the shutter.

September 11 as the world experienced it: Through screens

The Smithsonian’s second new feature, “September 11: Photography and the News,” examines a different aspect of the same history: not only photographs of the event, but photographs of the news image itself.

Among the objects in the collection is a 4×6-inch color snapshot showing a CNN television broadcast on September 11. Its photographer is unknown, and the museum acquired the image in 2019 as part of a group of snapshots sold through eBay.

The image is particularly significant because for millions of people around the world, September 11 was not a direct experience. It was experienced through television screens, live broadcasts, repeated footage and photographs on newspaper front pages.

The fact that someone in 2001 chose to spend one of a limited number of film exposures photographing a television set also highlights how different the relationship with photography was before smartphones and effectively unlimited digital capture.

Newspapers as physical objects of memory

The Smithsonian also examines the role of the press. Curator Shannon Perich describes a box of newspapers that a friend had kept for almost 25 years, already recognizing at the time that the news pages in her hands would become historically significant.

The feature also includes Jo Tartt’s Polaroids of newspaper boxes in Washington, D.C., from 2003-2004, as well as Joanne Leonard’s 2006 work “Deadly Explosions,” which places a photograph of an explosion in Nigeria in dialogue with an image of the Twin Towers.

The comparison is relevant to the present day as well. In 2001, a front page or television bulletin could create a shared visual reference point for millions of people. Today, the news experience is far more individualized and fragmented across notifications, feeds, videos and social platforms.

Why these photographs carry different weight 25 years later

The Smithsonian does not treat these images simply as records of an event. The focus is also on how their significance changes as the distance in time increases.

In 1983, Meyerowitz’s photograph concerned a part of contemporary New York. In 2001, Agou’s frames were created in the middle of an event whose full consequences were still impossible to grasp. By 2002, Rathe’s distorted steel already existed somewhere between physical evidence, scientific investigation and memory.

Twenty-five years after the attacks, all three images now belong to a single historical narrative. That may be the project’s most compelling photographic lesson: a photograph is not necessarily complete at the moment it is taken. History continues to shape how it is read.

What we think

The Smithsonian’s selection works because it does not attempt to summarize September 11 through its most familiar images. Instead, it uses three very different photographic approaches to show how the meaning of a photograph changes over time.

For anyone interested in photography, the feature is also a reminder of the value of archives. A cityscape, a frame made during a crisis or even a seemingly abstract detail can acquire historical significance decades later that would have been impossible to predict on the day it was photographed.

Frequently asked questions

Which three photographs did the Smithsonian select?

They are an image from Joel Meyerowitz’s “Looking South” series dated January 1, 1983, Christophe Agou’s “Ground Zero” from September 11, 2001, and Robert Rathe’s “WTC Steel #4” from 2002.

When did Joel Meyerowitz make the final photograph in this Twin Towers series?

According to the Smithsonian, the final “Looking South” image was made on September 7, 2001, four days before the attacks.

How many photographs did Christophe Agou take on September 11?

Agou exposed six rolls of film, representing approximately 216 photographs.

What does “September 11: Photography and the News” examine?

It explores how photographs, television broadcasts, newspapers and later photographic works helped record and shape collective memory of September 11.