TIME magazine’s 9/11 cover, photographed by Lyle Owerko, is one of the most haunting and enduring images of September 11, 2001. The cover image TIME chose is a photograph of the second plane, United Airlines Flight 175, just before it struck the South Tower at 9:03 a.m.
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| TIME’s original 9/11 cover photographed by Lyle Owerko, on September 11, 2001. |
On the morning of September 11, 2001, photographer Lyle Owerko was in his Tribeca apartment in New York City when he heard the first plane hit the North Tower of the World Trade Center. Jet-lagged from a recent trip to Africa, he grabbed his camera bag, which still contained a 400mm telephoto lens, and ran out to the street. He went to Vesey and Church streets, positioning himself with the sun at his back to get a clear shot of the two towers—one smoking and the other seemingly untouched.
“There was a lull for a few minutes,” Owerko remembered. “The reason I went to Vesey and Church streets was that it put the sun at my back and I was able to compose a story of the two towers – one that was obfuscated and one with no marring on it and at that point I thought: ‘There’s your cover.’ The one tower that’s smoking and the one that’s stoic and defiant.”
He was photographing the scene when the second plane, United Airlines Flight 175, began to approach the South Tower. He noted its “predatory” movement and, with his Fuji 645zi medium format camera, he waited until the moment of impact. He captured the iconic shot just as the plane hit the building, creating a massive fireball of heat and debris.
“I heard the sound of this jet,” Owerko said, “and I thought it was air traffic being redirected. I saw it off in the distance. The plane did this little shoulder shrug where it dipped its wing and when I saw it arc, then I knew its intention. It was a very predatory move and having just spent a month in Africa it was like watching a cheetah going into stalk mode.”
In that horrific moment, Owerko shot two frames. “I waited until it hit,” he said, “and when it hit I had no idea, but I thought something would occur. And when it hit, again it made this incredible beyond movie theatre sound. And then nothing happened for a second until this fireball of heat and debris erupted out of the backside of the building and that’s when I caught the cover shot.”
A split second later, he was composing the second shot. “And then the debris started raining down on us,” he said. “I put my hands over my head as airplane parts and building parts started scattering around the police officers, the bystanders, and me. There were screams and an eruption of people’s voices in shock.”
Now, Owerko can still conjure up that moment. “It’s like every synapse in my body was firing,” he said. “It was all beyond belief. It was like standing in the middle of a three dimensional Hollywood film.”
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| Three consecutive frames of the World Trade Center on the morning of September 11 shot by Lyle Owerko. |
After taking the photos, Owerko walked to a nearby lab to get his images processed. The lab owner told him, “You have the cover of TIME magazine.” By early afternoon, the pictures were on the desk of TIME’s director of photography, MaryAnne Golon, who immediately recognized the shot as the one they needed for the cover.
The resulting TIME cover was unique. It was the first time since 1927 that the magazine’s traditional red border was changed; for the 9/11 issue, it was changed to a black border to reflect the solemnity of the event. Owerko’s photo, a “witness image,” as he calls it, has since been recognized as one of the most important magazine covers of the last 40 years by the American Society of Magazine Editors.
In the years since 9/11, Owerko has continued his photography career but has shifted focus to more uplifting subjects. He says, “I’ve already photographed humanity at one of its darkest moments, so why not seek out moments of light? That’s what I do now.”
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