Both photographs are from the book titled,
New York September 11,
by Magnum Photographers. They are found in a section of the book titled,
Farewell to the Towers
(134-135). These photographs were taken prior to September 11th. The photographers' "studium" is clear in both photographs. Roland Barthes describes "studium" as the intention of the photographer, the message the photographer is trying to convey. Richard Kalvar and Dennis Stock wanted us to see the beauty of these two buildings. Both photographs show the fine details, the complexity of the two buildings.
Photograph three is a close-up of the two towers. The photographer, Richard Kalvar, was standing down below and took the picture looking up at these giants. The beauty of this photograph is not only that it is black and white. The beauty is the details of the building. In distant photographs of the twin towers, you notice the vertical lines of the buildings. Here, you see the detail at the bottom, not simply vertical lines but a design like a pitchfork, three distinct prongs repeated along the bottom.
As you look at this photograph more and more, you wonder how something so gigantic could be built and how long and tedious this process must have been. In this photograph the towers look solid and strong. They also look infinite, as if the tower in the front stretches up forever and ever. From the angle the photograph is taken, the towers look taller than 110 stories; they appear to stretch to the sky like a pathway or escalator.
The photographer of photograph four is Dennis Stock. It is another beautiful photograph taken from a unique viewpoint. The photographer was looking up at the towers. But the most striking feature of this photograph is the fact that the towers are the brightest part of the photograph because of the way the sunlight is reflecting. There are two buildings casting dark shadows on the towers. The shapes of these dark areas are very architectural, triangular and somewhat octagonal.