Seventeen years later, the details are still fresh in Clarkson Photographer Steve Jacobs’ mind. “I was in Albany, on the thru-way heading to work at the local newspaper, listening to the radio when I heard about the attacks in New York City on September 11, 2001. Reports said it was likely a terrorist attack. I nearly turned the car around to head to the city right then,” Jacobs said.
His employer would eventually agree to send him to New York City that day to capture the aftermath. “Bridges were closing around the city, so I had to hurry to get there. A reporter from the paper happened to be in NYC on vacation, so we met up and tried to get to ground zero,” he said.
They were unsuccessful in their attempts to get directly to ground zero, but the photos he captured that day in areas near the site of the attack and in the ones after are harsh reminders of a day that changed our nation forever.
“It was a profound experience for me. To be there and see all of that devastation first-hand. Words just can’t describe it,” Jacobs said. “I couldn’t believe what I was seeing.”
Jacobs stayed in New York City for about three days on assignment for the paper and ended up going back the following week as a freelance photographer to shoot the memorials and other ceremonies in the days that followed.
To see more of Jacobs’ photos click here: http://stevejacobsphotographer.com/assignments/assignment-new-york-city-9/
Clarkson University educates the leaders of the global economy. One in five alumni already leads as an owner, CEO, VP or equivalent senior executive of a company. With its main campus located in Potsdam, New York, and additional graduate program and research facilities in the Capital Region and Beacon, N.Y., Clarkson is a nationally recognized research university with signature areas of academic excellence and research directed toward the world’s pressing issues. Through more than 50 rigorous programs of study in engineering, business, arts, education, sciences and the health professions, the entire learning-living community spans boundaries across disciplines, nations and cultures to build powers of observation, challenge the status quo and connect discovery and innovation with enterprise.