For most of us who have seen the 9/11 attacks on the news more than a decade ago, we can clearly  remember the feelings of surprise and horror that we experienced as the catastrophic footages were replayed over and over on screen. The experience would have been even more astounding for the people who witnessed the disaster with their very own eyes. With the aid of cameras and the Internet, those people were able to replicate their moment in time of watching dark flames engulf the Pentagon, or the World Trade Centre collapse into rubble, and transfer those images online to the eyes of the rest of the world.

Photojournalists have played an important role in the coverage of the events of 9/11, and on the other hand, the events had a significant impact on photojournalism communities as well. Iconic images captured at the time included a picture of an American flag being raised above the debris of the World Trade Centre, a man jumping to his death out of the collapsing building, a bird’s eye view photograph of the damage inflicted on the Pentagon, and many more. For many of those photojournalists, the main aim was to capture the atmosphere of the events at the moment, to record history as truthfully as possible. Other photojournalists placed more emphasis on emotive and nationalistic elements, such as images of civilians mourning at the scene, the sun setting behind the rubbles, or the American flag being flown amidst the smoke and dust. Regardless of the photojournalists main purpose for taking those photographs, they had a profound impact on the public opinion regarding 9/11.

Despite the number of photographs taken about the attacks, not all of them managed to get published in print newspapers and magazines. For example, it was rare to see a picture of dying people or people who were severely injured on newspapers, whereas pictures of heroic firefighters and of the fall of the buildings were more likely to be found. The reason for this may have been that at a time of a national disaster, the public wished to see powerful spectacular images rather than desperate images of their own people suffering.

Due to the fact that the 9/11 attacks had a large emotional impact on the American public, a few of the photographs taken became controversial. For example, a photograph taken by photographer Thomas Hoepker depicts a group of New York friends relaxing and having a good time together at a park whilst the World Trade Centre towers burned away in the background. This particular photograph was criticized for portraying Americans deliberately as unpatriotic and insensitive people. Others, however, critiqued the picture from a more modern approach by arguing that the group of people in the photograph are Americans who have chosen to move on from the tragic events.