Innocent Images. I took these three photos when the World Trade Center was in its infancy. Very young in years and expected to age gracefully way beyond my lifetime.

But as we know, that wasn’t to be.

Visiting the WTC many times when I lived in the Hudson Valley, I took many photographs, mostly a simple documentation of the buildings. Many professionals and photographic artists did the same and created far more dramatic and beautiful renditions. I recall seeing a few, including one by George Obremski, an instructor of mine at The school of Visual Arts in Manhattan. They inspired me. So, to try something different, in addition to “straight” shots, I tried some in-camera multiple exposures with my Nikon F2 loaded with Ektachrome slide film. The F2 had no multiple-exposure function, so to get them, I had to press the film rewind lock button on the bottom of the camera and then carefully advance the film advance lever for each exposure after the first. Thus, you were never assured of registration of the images and you had to understand how much you underexposed each image to not underexpose or overexpose the final image. I kept my camera as still as possible for each shot, shifting it ever so slightly left or right for each of the exposures. Eight exposures for the middle shot and 16 for the photo on the right. And, because it was film, I could only see the results of my effort after the roll of film was developed.

I liked the various images I took of the WTC. Some of my favorites provide wonderful memories, but in this triptych, the second and third shook me to the bone when I viewed them after 9-11. No, they don’t look like explosions or anything like the actual destruction that took place on that horror-filled day, but they are symbolic to me, throwing me back and forth between the 1970s and 2001.

Never forget.

My WTC Gallery: