July 26, 2009

From a reader in New York City:

Nicotine-stained fingers hit a coffee-stained keyboard...Hello there. My name is Ayman Oghanna...

During the events of September 11th 2001 I was a teenage schoolboy in London… Still, as a photographer, journalist and child of a generation that has been taught, overwhelmingly, to visualize, it left a deep impression on me. Despite the time and distance between myself now and the decisive moments of these images, a strange and beautiful collection of individual and collective memories were conjured up by reading your book and reconnecting with these images.

In particular, reading about [John] Labriola’s image of fire fighter Mike Kehoe provided me with a certain sense of closure. As I remember where I was and what I was doing when I first saw that image – weeping, uncontrollably, over my mother’s copy of the Sunday Times. Your thorough analysis, observations and insights helped me come to my own decision of dedicating my life to visual journalism.

Best,
Ayman Oghanna