Tribute in Light

“Tribute in Light” 2020 Sunrise

“9/11 was, and still is, a difficult day for New York and for the US. ‘Tribute in Light’ is an art installation first opening in 2002 and displayed each year throughout the night of September 11. Its twin light beams illuminate a path to the heavens, evoking the memories of the two World Trade Center buildings and all of those who perished this day and afterward. Here, I wanted to capture the lights at sunrise, as sunrise evokes optimism for the new day.”

- Dave Stern, Honorable Mention award, Neutral Density Photography Competition

“Tribute in Light” 2021

Each of us will never forget the exact moment they heard about the attack on the twin towers. It’s a moment frozen in time – where we were, what we were doing, who we were with. As the minutes, hours, days, weeks and months unfolded, the awfulness, horror, ugliness, death, shock, overwhelming sadness, grief and disbelief continued to permeate our lives.

For those of us in New York, 9/11 was inescapable, or worse, and dominated our existence. I volunteered for months working near, but not at, the World Trade Center site establishing technology for city and state agencies to coordinate their assistance for small businesses impacted by the attack. The ash was everywhere, and we all knew its terrible recipe was a mix of toxins, death, and lost love. Posters of the missing, all of whom would never return, were our daily wallpaper – names, faces, descriptions, pictures. The heroes — FDNY, NYPD, PANYNJ, NYS Courts, FPNY, FBI and brave civilians — headed selflessly into danger, many to lose their lives that day or in the years after. Surviving relatives now live with broken dreams, perished loved ones and what could have been.

How do we honor those we lost? How do we never forget? Why does such evil exist? How do we create beauty from this horror?

For the past several years, I have photographed “Tribute in Light” the night of September 10 and before sunrise on September 11, in an effort to capture the beauty of this installation, to honor those we remember, and to highlight the essence of human spirit and our desire to create good from evil.

I hope you are inspired by these images to find beauty in the world.