Talk about torturing a photo. The guy is a UPS driver. UPS drivers have one mission during the day, they deliver. They are on a schedule, and they are being evaluated as to how well they stick to the expected time it will take to deliver their stuff.

That guy didn't know that what was happening behind him was an historic event, but he did know that he would be judged as to how he took care of his business.

And aren't New Yorker's supposed to be blase' and jaded and immune to what other people consider noteworthy because they see it all every day and being impressed or distracted by what's going on around you shows a lack of sophistication and coolness?

It's just a picture, and the guy is just doing his job. No need to make it a bigger deal than it is. And I'm no New Yorker.

Not relevant, but I was on my way to jury duty that day as well. Added a bit to the surrealism and national focus as it unfolded.

Actually, if we spent less time sticking our nose in the affairs of other countries by minding our own business maybe there wouldn't have been a 9/11.

Can someone please explain Ms Einzig's Zelig reference. A picture of a blimp crashing into a skyscraper, and a guy looking at his watch?

Thanks.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Bruegel,_Pieter_de_Oude_-_De_val_van_icarus_-_hi_res.jpg

You might look at it this way. Since a picture
can't show real feelings, then maybe this man
is dedicated worker doing his job.

Had no idea what was going on behind him? Hardly. Representative of how the rest of the country carried on? Pffft! He looks scared and shiny from sweat. It was a dry, crisp morning yes? My take is he was making a quick few last deliveries for the day. The blank look is because in his mind he is three steps ahead plotting his getaway. The split second of a photograph does not a moment make.

To me this photgraph is representative of what people around the country werre doing...going about their day to day trying to comprehend what was happening. It was a surreal situation, and this photo so caputres that. We didn't know we were under attack. We didn't know the towers would come down. We pressed forward as we do, until we could take action or grieve, and some of us are just now understanding the true depth of the sadness that exploded that day.

It reminds me of a scene in the novel La Debacle, by Emile Zola. While a major battle rages, a farmer in the background plows his field.

It's a compelling photograph from a gifted photographer. It is fair to say that Melanie's photo juxtaposes the horror of the 9/11 attacks with the sheer normalcy of a Manhattan UPS delivery man making his rounds. But I don't see him as blase and oblivious to the burning towers. Rather, I see in his eyes and demeanor an urgency coupled with fear. Perhaps he worried that he wouldn't complete his deliveries. Perhaps he worried that his own life was in jeopardy.

Dear Logan,

I know what you mean and good observation. I was using an Olympus Stylus point and shoot camera which I had taken with with me to jury duty that day. The flash went off automatically because the UPS man was in the shade. It creates the effect that he is superimposed on the backdrop but I swear to g-d : no photoshop.

This photo very accurately portrays the moments right after the planes hit. I vividly remember walking towards the subway to go Manhattan from Brooklyn on 9/11 and stopping to stare at the burning towers before heading underground to go to work. Really it just seemed like a crazy emergency fire at the time... you would've never imagined that those buildings could collapse.

Melanie's photos all have 2 sides to them - what you see and what's going on behind the scenes - you're caught in the 1st part of the
photo - what your mind readily recognizes - the 2nd part is the reality of what is really happening before your eyes! She is genius with the camera. She has another one of 9/11 which is also amazing: the normalcy of
life vs the actual event - so hard to equate the 2 of them into reality in 1 photo!

That good UPS man had probably seen and been aware of what was happening long before the others on the sidewalk. His dispatcher no doubt told him to continue untill necessity dictated otherwise. He would have been remiss in his duties had he done otherwise.

The amazing thing to me is that anybody would take offense at this picture. Obviously, the fellow has no clue that anything is transpiring behind him...and why would he? He's not looking that way, and even the people who are looing that way have not yet absorbed what they're seeing.

For me, it captures the moment when life was still normal, before "Remember 9/11" came to dominate the American psyche.

I regret to ask...But is it photoshopped? To my perception, the glint off the UPS man is very different that the glint off others and other objects in the picture. Yet the edge of his shoulders and the sidewalk beneath his feet appear to be within the same light as other objects, again to my perception.

Dear PJ -

That's a UPS man not a post man. Pedantic point maybe but it also seems to be important as it's a very American trait to keep on task which he clearly is.