Stepping Through the Ashes

Rating:
Summary: Moving Photographic Testament to 9/11/01
Review: "Stepping through the Ashes" may be the most emotionally riveting, least manipulative, collection of photographs of New York City in the immediate aftermath of 9/11/01 published which I've come across. Distinguished documentary photographer Eugene Richards captures the anguish felt by survivors with ample grace and dignity in these photographs made in the weeks immediately after the 9/11 terrorist attack (Richards was photographing in Bosnia on 9/11/01; immediately upon his return, he headed down to the World Trade Center site, and began photographing.). His partner Janine Altongy recorded interviews with the families of those who perished on 9/11; transcribed excerpts from many of these interviews accompany Richards's photographs. Eugene Richards is yet another distinguished member of celebrated photo agency Magnum Photos, which counts the late Henri Cartier-Bresson as one of its founders (Magnum Photos's published collection of 9/11 photos is also as dignified a body of work as Richards's.).