September 11, 2001 is a day that is held in high regard by millions of Americans. It was a day of tragedy, confusion, and shock. Many people still vividly remember where they were at the time they heard the news of the terrorist attack on the World Trade Center in New York City. The attack on our country took the lives of over 3,000 first responders and people that were working in the buildings. Out of all of the images that came from this day I think that there is one that stands out over all the rest.

This is Macy Borders, she was an employee at a Bank of America branch in the towers. This photo was taken in the lobby of a nearby building after the collapse of the south tower. I think that this image captures perfectly the sentiment that those in proximity to the attacks must have felt. Macy was one of the lucky individuals that survived the attack even though she worked in one of the buildings. Emotion plays a huge part in this image for multiple reasons. The first reason is that the viewer can see that the woman is in a state of trauma as she is covered in dust and must have experienced some serious shockwaves from the blast and the viewer feels for her.

The second way that emotion plays a part in influencing how the viewer perceives this photo is that the blurry or dusty background makes the image have a sense of imminent danger. Even though the image was taken in a building relatively far away from the trade center there is still a very large amount of debris in the area. The image captures perfectly a candid moment that could never be replicated artificially.

The woman is very nicely dressed because she was working at the twin towers which were very nice and hosted a plethora of businesses. Her outfit was ruined by the attacks, no one expected something like this to happen leaving the entire country outraged and confused. Thankfully Macy Borders survived the attacks on the World Trade Center but the attacks left her in a very dark place turning to drugs and rehab. She eventually recovered but was diagnosed with cancer in 2014 possibly caused by all the carcinogenic material she inhaled and was covered by on 9/11.

I think that images like this one that are captured in moments of immense stress make very good pieces of art because it is impossible to fully recreate the emotion felt without it being obviously faked.