Anthony Correia: 9/11 Image Maker

A completely new resource for me is a six-year-old effort at professional recognition honoring journals and newspapers (and in some cases individual photographers,) for pictures taken on September 11, 2001, and its aftermath, called The Best of Photojournalism 2002: Attack on America Picture Story. The Internet Archive has never heard of these pages before, so I don't know when they went up online. Many of the images are unfamiliar to me (and where they are familiar, they tend to be grouped together in the same entry,) which leads me to wonder if they are of more recent public vintage.

I've reposted several hundred of these images over at my sister blog, StevenWarRan Backstage, without much editorial comment, but this photographer's entry brings up a couple of interesting anomalies.

Independent of this BoP2002 "entry," Anthony Correia's work enters the public record in an online web essay in the September 2006 issue of The Digital Journalist, called "Recalling September 11th," a page which, quite appropriately, first appears at archive.org on October 1, 2006. There we learn that Correia worked at the time as an archivist for Reuters, as well as a staff photographer for the community newspaper, the weekly Queens Chronicle.

Six images were also posted to his personal web site, Anthony Correia Photography, first recorded on June 23, 2007, by the Internet Archive web crawler. Two of the six are unique to the record.

Of the eight images in the 2006 Digital Journalist essay, four were numbered amongst the thirteen images that made up the earlier Best of Photojournalism 2002 entry, and four were new to the record. Since we have no evidence for when the BoP2002 pages actually were posted online (archive.org having no record of them,) cynicism makes me consider if these pages might not be back dated.

But that's the least of the problem, in that the "best of photojournalism" implies the thirteen images had been previously published journalistic work. I'm not holding out much hope that these shots first appeared in the weekly "Queens Chronicle," or elsewhere, as the BoP2002 entry is oddly titled with just his name "Anthony Correia," and in that way it breaks the usual BoP2002 form of neglecting the photographer's name in favor of the journal or newspaper's name.

In any event, the first four images below are from The Digital Journalist, the last two are from Correia Photography, and the intermediate thirteen are the BoP2002 entry. All captions are from the respective publications---which brings up one final point: When the caption writers describe an image as being, "New York City firefighters and a volunteer," manning a hose, or, "an unidentified civilian" doing the same, how did Correia make that determination? Did he ask them, "excuse me sir, I see you are out of uniform, are you a civilian, or perhaps an off-duty professional?" In the context of almost no information or identification being given in any of the thousands of photographs from 9/11, suddenly here it feels like we are being given Too Much Information. And even if that ID is legitimate, what in the hell were "civilians" doing manning fire hoses that day? Weren't there enough firemen to do the job?

NEW YORK - SEPTEMBER 11: New York City firefighters and other emergency personnel stand near the area known as Ground Zero after the collapse of the Twin Towers September 11, 2001 in New York City.
NEW YORK - SEPTEMBER 11: An unidentified civilian waters down the area with a firehose near the area known as Ground Zero after the collapse of the Twin Towers September 11, 2001 in New York City.
NEW YORK - SEPTEMBER 11: Pedestrians walk along a dust and debris covered West Side Highway (Joe DiMaggio Highway) near the area known as Ground Zero after the collapse of the Twin Towers September 11, 2001 in New York City.
NEW YORK - SEPTEMBER 11: A New York City Fire Department (FDNY) vehicle lies covered with dust and ash near the area known as Ground Zero after the collapse of the Twin Towers September 11, 2001 in New York City.

Best of Photojournalism 2002 'Anthony Correia' entry

A New York City firefighter walks away from the World Trade Center disaster area September 11, 2001 in New York City. The 'white snow' falling all around was actually paper and other debris strewn all about by the force of the Twin Towers collapse. Humbling image that I decided to capture.

New York City firefighters and a volunteer a fire hose to try and put out fire near the World Trade Center disaster area September 11, 2001 in New York City. The 'white snow' falling all around was actually paper and other debris strewn all about by the force of the Twin Towers collapse. Humbling image that I decided to capture.

A Port Authority police vehicle is damaged near the World Trade Center disaster area September 11, 2001 in New York City. The 'white snow' falling all around was actually paper and other debris strewn all about by the force of the Twin Towers collapse. Humbling image that I decided to capture.

Paper and other debris are strewn all around the World Trade Center disaster area September 11, 2001 in New York City. Humbling image that I decided to capture.

New York City firefighters work near the World Trade Center disaster area September 11, 2001 in New York City. The 'white snow' falling all around was actually paper and other debris strewn all about by the force of the Twin Towers collapse. Humbling image that I decided to capture.

A New York City firefighter carries equipment near the World Trade Center disaster area September 11, 2001 in New York City. The 'white snow' falling all around was actually paper and other debris strewn all about by the force of the Twin Towers collapse. Humbling image that I decided to capture.

Emergency service workers work near the World Trade Center disaster area September 11, 2001 in New York City. The 'white snow' falling all around was actually paper and other debris strewn all about by the force of the Twin Towers collapse. Humbling image that I decided to capture.

Emergency service workers work near the World Trade Center disaster area September 11, 2001 in New York City. The 'white snow' falling all around was actually paper and other debris strewn all about by the force of the Twin Towers collapse. Humbling image that I decided to capture.

Emergency service workers walk near World Trade Center disaster area September 9, 2001 in New York City. Face masks were in high demand as the air was difficult to breath.

New York City firefighter equipment lies amidst the rubble of the World Trade Center disaster area September 11, 2001 in New York City. Humbling image that I decided to capture.

New York City firefighters walk towards the World Trade Center disaster area September 11, 2001 in New York City. This group of firefighters arrived just ont he scene tor eplace any that needed to rest.

A New York City firefighter walks away from the World Trade Center disaster area September 11, 2001 in New York City. The 'white snow' falling all around was actually paper and other debris strewn all about by the force of the Twin Towers collapse. Humbling image that I decided to capture.


A pedestrian walks with a face mask near the area known as Ground Zero after the collapse of the Twin Towers September 11, 2001 in New York City

Anthony Correia Photography

An unidentified NYC firefighter walks away from the area known as Ground Zero after the collapse of the Twin Towers September 11, 2001 in New York City

An unidentified NYC firefighter walks away from the area known as Ground Zero after the collapse of the Twin Towers September 11, 2001 in New York City.