Thanks all for the comments on the photos. Please pardon the fact that I am talking more about this subject this year than usual. I am in a bit of an introspective state.

You know, I don't think I have one photo of the Towers from when they were standing. I always couldn't stand them. Two giant, almost garish, blocks protruding from the skyline. They were huge, yes, but they lacked the elegance of buildings like the Empire State Building or the Chrysler building. That changed for me once they were taken down. I still recall, on my way to my office, after the first tower was hit saying to myself, "Oh my...they are trying to take them down." I think we all knew that they were on the receiving side of another terrorist event. This is even though the newscasters were all trying very hard to be objective and not ascribe this to a terrorist event.

I am not going to go into my own role in what I did on and after 9/11 too much. LOL, it was also not a large role, so not worth bragging about. However, we all tried to help how we could. It was, in my opinion, a shining moment for the City.

Anyway, to make a long story not quite so tedious, I think that we were all so numb after the towers fell. During all of the events around 9/11, I never once picked up a camera. Even at the wedding that I talked about shooting the week after (from literally across the water), we went out of our way to almost pretend that it was not occurring. The couple deserved to have a special day. However, it was not isolated to my professional work. I refused to shoot anything around the towers.

Looking back at it, I regret not having pulled out the camera. Shooting the lights every year is something I find almost cathartic. At this point, nothing I show is original, I don't think. However, at least for me, there is a real value in making the effort to go and photograph.

James