Faces of Ground Zero: Portraits of the Heroes of September 11, 2001

FROM OUR EDITORS

In the days following the terrorist attacks, Life magazine photographer Joe McNally worked -- in a studio just blocks from Ground Zero -- on a special photo project to commemorate the heroes of September 11th. Using a giant Polaroid camera (one that was 8 feet tall and 12 feet long), he created huge portraits of those brave men and women who had survived the horrors the world witnessed that tragic day: they include firefighters, police officers, rescue workers, WTC office workers, area schoolchildren, and the mayor of New York City.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

In a studio just blocks away from Ground Zero, longtime LIFE photographer Joe McNally, architect of some of the largest photographic productions ever attempted in the magazine industry, created a stunning series of portraits of the heroes of Ground Zero. In that studio, is a one-of-a-kind Polaroid camera, measuring 12 feet long by 16 feet high. The color photographs it takes-larger than life, at four feet by nine feet framed-are unforgettable in their striking immediacy and clarity. Over the course of two weeks, approximately 200 people came before McNally's lens: survivors, firemen, policemen, volunteers, doctors, nurses, widows, children. Not, in a dignified tribute to the heroes and victims of Ground Zero, 150 of McNally's compelling portraits are collected together in Faces Of Ground Zero, including those from the acclaimed touring exhibit and several portraits seen here for the first time.