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American Morning

Recovery Operation Something Photographer Gary Suson Will Never Forget

Aired May 30, 2002 - 09:41   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: We are less than an hour now from the formal closing ceremony at Ground Zero. The recovery operation is something photographer Gary Suson will never forget. He spent months documenting the grim task and the personal stories behind it. And this morning, he is sharing some of his powerful images from an effort that stretched man and machine to the limit.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

GARY SUSON: I began chronicling the early days of ground zero in September, because artist can't go out to the hole and dig. Artist do what they do best. They contribute through their emotional talents, and so like any artist, I wanted to contribute. I just wanted to tell the story of 9-11, but at the same time, I was extremely upset. I was really -- I was very distraught. So I kind of buried myself in the camera. And it was a nice place to hide for a while, you know, to try and disappear.

I've been shooting photography since age 13. Originally what I loved shooting were people. I loved capturing emotion in people. And I got down in to that hole, it was like a hotbed of human emotion, pain, brotherhood, togetherness, and people working together with a common goal to bring people home. I respect the firemen more than they will ever know.

Imagine going down there every day and raking through the mud and the dirt, looking for any sign of your loved one. There was a really cold night in January when I saw these two firemen digging. They were all alone, and I said to them aren't you going to go do dinner, and they said no, we're looking for our brother. A New York city firemen showed up at ground zero, and it just so happened that his son-in-law is a New York City police officer, and he approached the son-in-law and he said, "Are they making any recoveries today?" He said, actually, I think we have your son. And he marched his son out along with son-in-law. Very emotional moment.

What's great about the guys, the police and the firemen, is they never forget, they never forget where they are. And they are very gentle and sensitive to what they are doing.

This firemen could have sat in the comfortable mud, but he maze La-Z-Boy recliner out of the different wires, and it captures to me the humbleness of the firemen. It was early morning, about 7:00 in the morning, and I saw Chief Ritchie (ph) standing on a ridge overlooking ground zero, and I knew that obviously he was looking for his son. The irony to this photograph is that three weeks after this photograph, they found his son, and they found his son directly underneath where he's standing in the photograph.

A lot of the things that I saw down at ground zero took my breath away. They were symbolic things. A plug-in clock, which was stuck at 10:02 and 14 seconds, which is when the very first tower came down. It upset me. It was emotional to see it, I because so much life stopped at 10:02 and 14 seconds.

I was walking in the path controllers room. The room was completely destroyed. But there was a calendar on the floor, and it said, "Today is Tuesday, September 11th. I saw a lot of things that I didn't -- that bothered me, and I was considering packing it in.

So it was right around then that I found this Bible page in the rubble. And I took a picture of it. So the next day I got the proofs back and I just lost it, because the verse was Genesis 11, the tower of Babylon. I looked at the symbolism of the 11 and the tower, and I took that as a positive message and a positive sign that there's a higher power, God was watching down on both the people when they passed away.

And then the recovery. This is the honor guard. That's where the firemen was covered in a flag and marched out by their brothers from the fire department, and they allow me to walk with them, so it was very special for me.

When I saw the things down there, I would go home at night and I'd cry. A lot of the things that made me cry are in these images, and so I tried to shoot them in the most tasteful, respectful way. But I shot them in a way that got to my heart. And if it got to my heart, odds are it will get to other people's heart.

If you can't connect you can't heal, so I am hoping that these images will serve that purpose.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ZAHN: And the man behind those incredible pictures, photographer Gary Suson, joins us now.

Good morning.

GARY SUSON, PHOTOGRAPHER: Good morning. Thank you.

ZAHN: Boy, I can't believe what you captured in those pictures. You had access that no one else had, and I know that there is another point of the story with Chief Jim Ritchie (ph) who we just met in this piece, you would like to share with us.

You were just accorded the honor of taking a picture of him with his fallen son's helmet.

SUSON: Yes, yes. I was about -- it was about two weeks ago, and we were talking, and the idea came up for historical purposes of photographing, and chief Ritchie (ph) is holding his son's helmet that was found near his body, and I was very honored that Chief Ritchie (ph) allowed me to take this photograph. It's a very personal and private, and emotional thing for me to do, probably one of the most emotional things I've ever done in my life. And I just tried to capture the emotional the chief and what he was feeling when he was holding the helmet, and it certainly was emotional.

ZAHN: There were so many images that we're seeing. I want to put back up on the screen of the image of the clock stock at 10:02:14. You of course captured the picture of the calendar page, September 11th, and then there was the page out of the Bible that you found at ground zero. Share a little bit more of the backstory to getting these images.

SUSON: Sure. I was standing over in the north tower area. It was toward like the end of January. It was very, very muddy down in the hole. And I saw some charred papers near a very steep incline, and I asked the chief, could I go shoot them, and at first, he didn't want me to, because it was a very steep incline. Actually, he wanted me to be very careful. But he trusted me to do it. He said, do it quick.

I ran over and took a picture of a page. And then I pulled the page up and underneath were these three (UNINTELLIGIBLE) entrenched little Bible pages, and I took the photograph of the page, and then later the next day, when I got the proof sheets back I zoomed in, and I fell off my chair when I saw it was Genesis 11, the tower of Babylon. It brought me to tears, and I took the symbolism of the 11 and the tower as a sign not to get all spiritual and religious, but just I took it as a positive sign that God was watching over all the souls who perished on 9/11, and that brought me a lot of comfort and helped me to continue on with my photographic duties.

ZAHN: You brought something with you today. And we only have about 10 seconds to do this.

SUSON: Sure. The firemen gave me this to give to you in appreciation for all your respectable work. It's a piece of glass from the north tower, and it's the new patch that is worn on the side of the bunker jackets.

ZAHN: That means a lot to me. (UNINTELLIGIBLE), the support and the communal salutations we give them for the very brave work they've done at ground zero.

Gary Suson, thank you very much for coming by and sharing some of your photographs with us.

SUSON: My pleasure. Thank you.

ZAHN: Taken with a very big heart.

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