New York City Talks of 911

New York City Talks of 911 by Donna White-Davis copyright 2001 all rights reserved. All photographs copyright Donna White-Davis 2001 The photographs are printed without any editing or adjustment other than a corrective exposure for consistency of publication. Nothing has been changed in the photographs since the day, September 14, 2001 they were taken in NYC from the window of my 2000 JEEP SE Wrangler that had just returned from taking me cross country photographing the beauty, bravery, love and lives of everyday Americans. The JEEP, like my cameras, had by then become an enhancement of myself and soul in much the same way a person adapts to a prosthetic device designed to compensate but for us "Bio-mechanical humans" make our lives and art greater than ever before. Nothing has been changed. Nothing. The billboards and signs are exactly as they were on that day and probably as they were on 911. Photographers often go for the "money shots." There are many. As I said, I cannot shoot tragedy. These aren't the "money shots" but they are the hardworking love shots. I am happy with that. I capture with my camera the bravery, strength, love and life of American, indeed of humanity, who have perservered through disaster and gone on, who survive and eventually thrive. That's what humanity does. It experiences disasters, picks themselves up and goes on. New York City has always been an inspiration for humanity all over the world overcoming the worst of times. That's because New Yorkers come from all over the world. The book is merely one story in that inspiration and it is beautiful to me because it was written by the city herself. I went to New York City to see if I could help. I quit my therapist position on 9/11. I had just returned from driving cross country photographing America and falling in love with the people of our country. I focus on the good, the beautiful, Empire State Games, the athletic, the mountains, small towns and big cities, the music venues of America, the Rodeos and the Fairs. I cannot photograph disasters. A local newspaper asked me once. I said "No, you see my portfolio. I only photograph the beauty." I had spent the days after 911 watching the towers going down over and over in newsreels and felt with a deep emotion hard to explain that that destruction caused by the others to New York was not the story. New Yorkers are strong. I knew that. I am a New Yorker. That destruction was not the story. While driving across country and going through many of the cities of America with music venues I came to realize that cities greet you with their own messages displayed across billboards and neon signs or sounded from the radio stations playing their style. The cities talked to me as I entered them. I knew New York had something to say. I went to New York to hear New York's story. I entered the city on 8th Ave under the elevated train and travelled out from under it onto Broadway and followed Broadway to the 911 site. At each stoplight I photographed exactly what New York was saying to me, to all of us. Here is her story. Donna White-Davis