The Moral Issue of Photography on 9/11

 Photography is often done to document, or beautify things. What do we do when the documented image is beautiful? Often times it isn't an issue. Mixing these two attributes for documenting that of tragedies however, is taken very differently. In 2001, September 11th, Magnum Photographers and many others took pictures of the horrific events at the twin towers. Many of Magnum's photographers' images were not used, as their technical skill and eye for images were too beautiful to be used to display such a horrendous sight. So morally, should these images even exist?

This first image by Larry Towell, a Magnum photographer, shows a man standing among the debris. It looks staged, almost like a sort of odd scene from a movie. But the fact that this image is real, especially in the moment of devastation is astounding. It display's Towell's mindset of making the most of every opportunity to create a spectacular image, but also makes the viewer question his morality.

This next image by Alex Webb is a different story in my opinion. It may be a well composed and beautiful situation, but I feel like it appropriately display's the devastation at hand, and doesn't make light of the whole situation. It invokes an emotion of fear or sadness. 

I feel like in conclusion, images that are well composed are different than images taken out of context. Towell and Webb both produced beautiful images from the same event, but one displays the true nature as to what happened while the other one appropriates it, using it as a base to create art instead of making documentation look good. I feel that images like Towell's are important today though, displaying the contrast in feelings of how to display such an event by different photographers.