Faces Of Ground Zero

MY9TV.com - The old cliche says "a picture is worth a thousand words", but in the case of an amazing photo exhibit, these pictures are worth much more than that.
They are a glimpse into the future and a look into the past to see how far we've come from the attacks a decade ago.

Deputy Chieff Jay Jonas and Lt. William Butler did what they were trained to do on September 11th: risk their lives to save lives.

Jonas says: "I did hestitate. I did stop and think about it because I knew if we went down the stairs we would be unluckly to get out but that's what firefighters do..."

They were inside the North tower... as the South tower imploded, and that's when they spotted a woman, trapped in a stairwell;

Butler says: "The job that we do everyday people take for granted, guys are going out there and sometimes dont go home."

Jonas and Butler never thought they'd make it home... They rescued that woman... and didn't leave her side-- even as the building they were in suddenly came crashing down around them.
For five long hours they sat on what was once the 10th floor of the now ruined north tower. But, they were lucky. Two Faces of Ground Zero who survived. Two faces of ground zero immortalized in these giant photographs called The Faces of Ground Zero;They are the work of Joe McNally, the brains and the brawn behind this project;

Joe McNally says: "... I was doing it at home and wondering what could of do, with all this mix of sorrow, anger, angst, all those things we were feeling and I thought of how I can possibility make a contribution..."

McNally, world famous photo-journalist says he just had to do something to help.

McNally says: "...I photographed over 200 New Yorkers in the world's only giant Polaroid camera format, which is a life sized camera... and these pictures are in frames that are 4 feet by 9 feet."

Sponsored by Johnson and Johnson, Nikon, and Adorama Camera, the images are now on exhibit The Time Warner Center.  And now, McNally is back behind the camera again, taking pictures of many of the same people he did before;

Butler says: "…Joe did a very professional job. He represented the brothers very well.. he represented the families very well, you know the construction workers. if you look at the book,it's got everybody…"

Jonas says: "…There is a poster over there with 343 fire men. I saw what they did that day and in the face of extreme terror and horror..they function admirably…"

McNally says: "They have done so much more for me than I have ever done for them or that I could do for them. I'm a photographer.. the camera stands in service to their nobility and their courge on that day and also to me the pictures are about memories so maybe I can contribute to their memory and their sense of what we are in history and what that day meant."

But as successful and popular as the project has become, production, storage and maintenance of 12 tons of photography doesn't come cheap.
That's why McNally's constantly pushing the envelope to raise money not just for photographs but for a critical piece of this country's history.