I’ve been digitizing a load of old home video recently and came across some footage I had shot back in 1999 in New York City. In it there are various clips I shot while at the twin towers of the World Trade Center.
Unfortunately most of what I filmed back then was useless due to the fact that I seemed incapable of holding the camera still and clearly had a fascination with excessive zooming in and out. This meant that watching long portions of pretty much any video I shot back then would most likely leave me feeling dizzy and generally off color. However, due to the fact they’re no longer there, I wanted to try and salvage a little of my footage from the World Trade Center, especially since standing at the top of one of those world famous towers had been a goal of mine ever since I was a kid.
Below is the footage that I salvaged (and yes the final clip is stock video). Coupled with just one picture of me on the roof taken by a stranger (on account of the fact my friend Anne wouldn’t come up there with me because she was scared of heights), it’s the only evidence that I have that proves I did in eventually get to stand on the roof of one of those evocative towers. It’s not much I know, but it’s enough for me.
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September 11th in focus
Here is New York: A democracy of photographs
Wrote the following comment on Sep 11, 2007 at 6:50 pm
i went to nyc in…97 and 01. neither time did i really want to go to the twin towers. Kind of wish i had now.
anyways, great video, great synthesizer(hehe). and i guess standing on the world trade center will slowly become something that few people can say they did as the world gets older.
Wrote the following comment on Sep 12, 2007 at 1:56 am
thanks simon. i enjoyed seeing the video. i visited the towers when i visited new york shortly after the first (unsuccessful) bombing attempt in the early/mid 90s. i’m afraid of heights also, but my brother was insistent and took me to the observation floor and we sat on each side looking at those fantastic views of the city. it was quite an eerie feeling to have that little bit of connection that day in 2001 when the towers came crashing down.
Wrote the following comment on Sep 21, 2007 at 3:09 am
nice blog…isnt it amazing finding old footage and u get all excited but then when u watch it ur like “wow i really sucked at filming stuff back then!!” lol.