fashion question

https://docs.google.com/open?id=0B5xo02VL4NzCdnBDVFh6TmJseGs

Thomas Hoepker 9/11

                                             Thomas Hoepker

 

The image was taken by a German photographer Thomas Hoepker on the 11th September 2001, although the photo was not published until 5 years later. There are multiple reasons for Hoepker’s decision perhaps the most important or ironic reason is what the photo seems to portray about the tragedy and what the photo seems to portray about the emotions shown by the group of friends specifically the blonde women in the centre of the photo.

 

The photo had been taken in Brooklyn Park; on a hot sunny day, the photo portrays a group of friends relaxing in the sun, who seem to be oblivious to thick black smog towering high into the sky that had replaced the former position of the twin towers.

The blonde woman in the middle seems to be posing towards the camera in black sunglasses if it was not for the tower of black smoke the photo could easily be interpreted as a holiday photo, with the emerald green tress and deep turquoise water with the almost cloudless sky, which had been shattered by the black smoke, it is as if the group of friends were determined not to let the massacre affect there day which is why so many American’s find the photo offensive as they are generally a proud nation and this photo goes against the normal gender for the 9/11 photos as it shows the day as being a pleasant one.

 

The river cutting through the middle of the photo almost acts like a barrier between the chaos and death in the city and the tranquil and peaceful life in the park; it is like they are in a different dimension to the massacre. From the way the group of people are positioned it as if they are having a general chat and catch up, with the bike in the middle almost acting as an ironic symbol for a nice day out in the park, even though the destruction and chaos on the opposite bank seems to be fairly blatant and obvious from the tower of smoke that has acted as a replacement for the towers in the photo, this seems to have barely even scratched the surface of the friends  who seem to be so relaxed that they are not even looking at the destruction caused by an almost unheard off attack on the arguably the most powerful nation on the face of the planet, the people are acting as if sights like this are seen every day.

 

Whether it was Hoepker intentions to capture the blissfulness of the American tourists or to shock the public will never be known, what can be said is that at the precise moment that the shutter closed on Hoepker’s camera, this group of people seem to have had the chaos and death blocked out by an invisible barrier in this photo this has been represented by the river and bright colours on one side and the black bleak colours of the other bank.