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Thomas Hoepker, via slate.com
What's really happening in this 9/11 photo? The man on the far right spoke up in Slate. |
On Sept. 10, New York Times columnist
Frank Rich called this photo "shocking." He suggested that on 9/11, these New Yorkers were "relaxing" on the Brooklyn waterfront, unfazed by the burning twin towers.
(Column available to Times Select subscribers.)Well, that's one way to look at it. But Slate's David Plotz thought Rich's interpretation was wrong. He offered his own contrary speculations on Sept. 13, closing with:
"Rich and [photographer Thomas] Hoepker and I have all characterized what these five people were doing and how they were feeling, but none of us really know. Wouldn't you like to hear from the five themselves? I would. If they're out there and they'd like to respond to Rich or me, they can e-mail me at plotzd@slate.com."
Sure enough, one of the people in the photo responded immediately. So Slate confirmed his identity and published his answer.
For the record, Walter Sipser (pictured on the far right) said, in part, "We were in a profound state of shock and disbelief, like everyone else we encountered that day. Thomas Hoepker did not ask permission to photograph us nor did he make any attempt to ascertain our state of mind before concluding five years later that, 'It's possible they lost people and cared, but they were not stirred by it.' Had Hoepker walked fifty feet over to introduce himself he would have discovered a bunch of New Yorkers in the middle of an animated discussion about what had just happened."
