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American Morning

Photographer Discusses 'Year in Pictures'

Aired December 31, 2001 - 07:40   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.
LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: This has been a year filled with dramatic, lasting images. That's putting it mildly, no doubt. Now you can see some of those images in today's "New York Times." The paper has a special section, "The Year In Pictures," 78 photographs and 32 pages.

I have photographer Ruth Fremson of "The New York Times," who joins us to talk about some of those photos.

Good morning, and happy holiday to you.

RUTH FREMSON, PHOTOGRAPHER: Good morning, Leon.

HARRIS: Let's walk through some of these. Let's take a look at maybe the first picture and the first image of the year that we've got here. We have them all together. Let's see, this is the first one, this is the inauguration.

FREMSON: That's right. I think a lot of people forget because of all the events that have happened this year. But at the very beginning of the year, we started with this huge news event. It was -- everybody was relieved that finally we were swearing in a president after such a long drawn out election. This photograph was taken by Jim Wilson.

HARRIS: Yes, and, of course, like much of the other events that happened this year, not without some controversy.

Let's go down to the next one. The next one is some reaction shots from the day the World Trade Center towers fell.

FREMSON: That's right. This is by Angel Franco, who did a completely fantastic job by getting down to the World Trade Center site before the towers came down. And here he had about 10 seconds to make a few photographs. The towers started coming down and he was photographing the towers coming down and realized he was photographing the backs of people watching it and spun around and made about four frames -- this being one of them -- of the reaction.

HARRIS: Well, boy. And this next one is the shot that they were reacting to. Take a look at this.

FREMSON: That's right. That's right. I made that frame.

HARRIS: This was your shot.

FREMSON: That's right. I had gotten down there about five minutes before the towers came down and was shooting the people being evacuated, which is what this is from. And I remember being very conscientious of trying to get the people and the towers behind them in the same frame.

HARRIS: Yeah. You know what, and you're sitting there taking pictures, you're worried about them. You're not worried about yourself?

FREMSON: I don't know. None of us were thinking -- I don't think anybody thought at that time that these towers were going to come down on top of everyone. You were just -- I was just focused on doing the job at hand.

HARRIS: Talk about being absorbed by the moment. The next one here, what is this picture here?

FREMSON: This is a wonderful photograph by James Hill taken in Afghanistan showing the entrails of U.S. bombers in the distance in the sky. And it speaks to what a conservative Islamic society, Afghanistan, is. There's a man in the foreground praying, and despite whatever is happening, these people will take time out to perform their religious duties.

HARRIS: Again, talk about being absorbed in the moment. All right. This next one is, again, a shot by you.

FREMSON: That's right, yeah. This is a photograph of an Afghan woman named Malika (ph), who snuck across the border into Pakistan from Jalalabad when the bombing started. And she came with her husband and their nine children, and she was in labor for 10 hours on the back of a donkey.

HARRIS: I remember this story. Yes, I remember this.

FREMSON: Yeah. She was just completely exhausted by the time she arrived at the refugee camp near Peshawar. Gave both moments later, and when we visited her the next day -- when this photo was taken -- she still hadn't named her baby yet.

HARRIS: Wow. Do you know what she -- what she did end up naming the baby? Did you ever find out?

FREMSON: We did go back and visit her again and we -- at that point, we never did find out. And I'm not sure if she had named the baby yet.

HARRIS: Yeah. Well, her plight, was it similar to the (UNINTELLIGIBLE) that you saw there in that camp?

FREMSON: It was. I mean, there were people -- the Pakistanis, at that point, were not officially allowing refugees to come across the border. But many were -- thousands were every single day. And they were staying with families and friends, if they were lucky enough to have them, either in private homes or in refugee camps.

HARRIS: Yes.

FREMSON: And hers was very similar to many.

HARRIS: Boy, with the story that picture really is something. But, look, this -- this next one is the exact opposite end of the emotional spectrum.

FREMSON: That's right. This photo's by Monica Almeida, and it was taken back in April, I believe, when the pilots returned from China after there was the collision between the U.S. spy plane and the Chinese jet. And it's just a wonderful American homecoming, which we probably -- hope we'll be able to see more of in the near future.

HARRIS: Yeah, and at the time, we thought this was going to be the story of the year.

FREMSON: That's right.

HARRIS: This next one, I have to warn people, it's a bit shocking here.

FREMSON: This photograph was also taken by me. It's in Peshawar and it was -- there was some very, very violent protests that were going on in Pakistan prior to the U.S. bombing and just after it began. And in this case, a demonstrator was trying to light an American flag on fire. And as he was lighting it, he caught himself on fire instead.

HARRIS: Yes.

FREMSON: And what you see here is him going up in smoke.

HARRIS: Strange message there on the backfire of that protest, so to speak. Let's go to the next one. The next one is a shot of -- from Washington. Explain this one. This is a bit strange looking shot here.

FREMSON: This is by Steve Crowley, and it's one of those wonderful, rare, unguarded moments that are very difficult for journalists to get in Washington D.C. It was during the Anthrax scare, and all the -- all the legislators who were displaced from their offices. And so here they are trying to hold a meeting somewhere else with Senator Strom Thurmond in the middle just looking as though he'd rather be somewhere else.

HARRIS: Yes, placidly, he's sitting in the center of that maelstrom there.

Now let's get the final shot in here, because this one is a nice note to end things on.

FREMSON: Right. That's right. This is one of the happy moments of 2001, and it's Barton Silverman's photograph from the World Series. It's just after the game was won, and it's Randy Johnson hugging his manager. And Barton tells a wonderful story about how the security was incredibly tight after September 11, and they would not allow the photographers to go out onto the field. But there was this brief moment of opportunity and they rushed the field. They were able to make this very happy picture and everyone was happy.

HARRIS: I don't know if you follow -- follow baseball much, but this might be historical here. It may be the only time Randy Johnson has ever been seen smiling in public on the field. That might be a shot to keep. Ruth Fremson, thank you very much. Congratulations on the great work, too, this year.

FREMSON: Thank you very much, Leon.

HARRIS: Nice job you've done, and your colleagues as well.

FREMSON: Thank you.

HARRIS: Seventy-eight photographs and 32 pages in "The New York Times" today. Make sure you check it out.

FREMSON: Thank you.

HARRIS: Take care. Happy New Year to you.

FREMSON: Happy New Year.

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