The Haunting Power of Photography – 9/11 Remembered

Although I’ve lived in Agoura Hills for 19 years, I’m originally a New Yorker and the events of 9/11 hit me very hard. Awaking the morning of 9/11 I turning on the television to see those haunting iconic images of the smoke emitting from World Trade Center, the images that will remain with me forever. I reluctantly drove my children to school that day feeling as if the world had come to a halt and our reality would never quite be the same. I arrived at school to discover that my daughter’s classmate’s uncle had been the pilot of one of the planes forced to crash into the World Trade Center intensifying the events, despite the 3,000 mile distance.

Commemorating  9/11 – A Photographer’s  Journey

To commemorate the sad event and to help us all remember the tragedy that ensued, a long-time friend, New Jersey-based photographer, Claire Lelli has offered to share her memorabilia and collection of images and newspaper clippings with the internet community. She has spent years collecting 9/11 memorabilia to help carefully document this momentous event in American history. She has prepared a web site entitled 9/11 Attack on America  complete with images, President Bush’s speech and music punctuating the day that began America’s war on terror.

Her photographic journey brought me to tears. The power behind all of these images made me feel as if the events happened just yesterday. I’d like to share her hard work carefully preserving these memories on this multi-media web site, along with her statement below:

As a photographer for 30+ years the images that were coming over the Internet, in newspapers and magazines so impressed me that I felt the need to put them together in one place to tell a visual story. As a web designer also, so it began. It took me a week or more to find the right music to go with each page.

The photos “8 months later” of the recovery of a body were taken by my son-in-law, who at the time was a NJ State Trooper who was assigned to go to NY and help. The images from “11 months later are mine. I met up in NY with a friend from Oregon and we toured Ground Zero.

I also compiled a scrapbook that I planned on giving to each of my grandkids but it got so big that I only did one. I have a kitchen wall dedicated to 9/11. The memorabilia that I have collected is on that wall and in a big storage box. I have a piece of the lobby marble, window, and metal from the World Trade Center...all in a frame. I have photos that I took prior to 9/11 on a NYC harbor boat trip, showing the World Trade Center as it originally was.

I am looking for a “home” for all my memorabilia so it won’t “get thrown away” when I pass on! I sent e-mail to the Smithsonian but have not gotten a reply.

Some of her memorabilia:

If any of my readers have any ideas on where Claire can donate her collection documenting an important piece of our history, you can contact her at clelli@comcast.net or on her facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/claire.lelli

God Bless the innocent Americans and their families who lost their lives on 9/11. Thank you to all of the courageous Americans who helped in the rescue efforts and to all of our heroic military families who continue to protect our freedom today and in the future.

KAREN VAISMAN – Karen Vaisman Photography located in Agoura Hills, California

           Professional Photographic Portrait Artist specializing in the Art of Retouching

                          Agoura Hills - Photography & Adobe Photoshop Trainer

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WEBSITE – http://www.karenvaismanphotography.com

EMAIL – Memories@portraitsbykaren.net

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ARTISTIC RETOUCHING - BEFORE & AFTER -- http://ht.ly/562fU

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