JOIN USBefore and after: Indian photographer's exhibition recalls horror of 9/11
When Kamal Sharma was clicking pictures of the World Trade Center on September 10, 2001 he could not have imagined he was capturing the last images of the iconic twin towers that dominated the Manhattan skyline and were destined to turn into a symbol of one of the world's worst tragedies the very next day.
As the Indian photojournalist learnt about an aeroplane crashing into one of the towers on the morning of September 11, 2001 at his sister's home in Queens, he rushed back to Manhattan to capture the colossal tragedy in his lens and the result was a rich repertoire of pictures of the New York skyline before and after the terror attack.
He realised later that he had two sets of pictures taken on two consecutive days that portrayed opposite landscapes, one showing a clean and tranquil skyline of Manhattan before the terror strike and the other showing huge clouds of smoke and dust rising from the pulverised structures after the planes hijacked by Al-Qaeda tore through them.
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An exhibition of Sharma's photographs of the terror attack on the twin towers of the World Trade Center and the day before titled I Was There was inaugurated by Uttarakhand DGP Ashok Kumar at the Graphic Era Hill University here on Friday to mark the 20th anniversary of the tragedy that shook the world.
Sharma also told PTI about his plans to bring out a coffee table book with the same name showcasing his photographs of 9/11 and his experience of covering the tragedy in a couple of months.
He is a noted sports photographer who has covered 500 one-day international cricket matches, tests and Ranji Trophy matches besides covering top golfers like Tiger Woods as the official photographer for European Tour Gold in Dubai.
"I had gone to New York to cover the US Open which concluded on September 9. The following day I decided to take pictures of Manhattan keeping the twin towers of the WTC at the centre of my photos," Sharma who now lives in Dehradun told PTI.
"I hung around in the area till midnight as I wanted to take pictures of the twin towers and the Brooklyn bridge together from the other side of Hudson. I did not know then that I was capturing in my lens the last pictures of the iconic structure," he said.
"I rubbed my eyes in disbelief when my brother-in-law broke the news to me the next morning that an aeroplane had crashed into one of the towers. Believing it to be an accident, I rushed with him for Manhattan to take pictures of the shocking tragedy."
"While we were still on our way, we heard on the radio that another aeroplane had crashed into the other tower and it was not an accident but a coordinated terror attack," Sharma recalled.
"I heard people say that at least 5,000 people had been killed in the tragedy. I felt numb when I thought of the scale of the devastation but my fingers went on clicking pictures of the razed structures and the chaos on the streets of Manhattan with people running for life," he said recounting the horror that day.
Sharma said he did not realise the importance of these pictures at the time. Cricket legends like Sachin Tendulkar and Anil Kumble inspired him to put up exhibitions of his pictures describing them as rare, he opined.
He had around 1,500 photographs of the incident in his repertoire out of which he had selected around 80 to be put on display at the exhibition.
"I am 60 now and I am worried to see what is happening around us. What kind of world are we going to leave to the coming generations. My personal conviction is that love alone can keep the world going, not hatred or violence. The recent happenings in Afghanistan have only strengthened this conviction of mine."
The purpose of the exhibition is to spread a message of peace through a series of photographs presenting two contrasting landscapes of New York City before and after the terror strikes, he said.
"I leave it to the younger generation to decide which of the two worlds they want to inhabit," Sharma said.
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