AOW #6: Photograph

http://www.3quarksdaily.com/3quarksdaily/2011/09/the-meaning-of-911s-most-controversial-photo.html

Summary: This photograph shows a group of New Yorkers casually sitting in the sun and talking in a park in Brooklyn.  In the background is water and New York City, with a cloud of black smoke rising above it from the twin towers.  The picture was taken on September 11, 2011, a day which is associated with words like terror, horror, and tragedy.  However, the people shown in the picture look carefree as the black smoke rises behind them.
Photographer: Thomas Hoepker is a German photographer and member of Magnum photos.  He has been a photojournalist for Stern magazine, director of photography for American Geo, and has also worked as a cameraman for German documentaries.  He documented much of the World Trade Center destruction.
Context: The context of this picture is the event of 9/11, which was considered a tragedy by all who witnessed or heard of it.
Exigence: While many other pictures of destruction and sadness were put in Hoepker's book for Magnum of 9/11, this photograph was not until years later.  This started controversy that it did not present the event in the correct light, that these Americans did not learn a lesson that 9/11 was a tragedy, and that people moved on too quickly.
Purpose: I believe that the purpose of this picture was to present 9/11 in a different way, because mostly all the images that we see of it are of pain and suffering.  I think it is to show irony, because the people in the picture are not suffering or considering how terrible the attacks were.  I think that the photographer did accomplish this, because most people have never seen a lighter side of this event.
Audience: At first Hoepker did not want to have the public see this photo and did not put it in his book of photographs from 9/11, it was not until years later that he allowed the public to see it.
Rhetorical Elements: This photograph is very ironic, because you would not expect people to be carefree after experiencing the terrorist attacks.  It also appeals to pathos and ethos, because people associate so much emotion to 9/11 and it makes one question how could these people have been happy and relaxed.  The image almost seems unreal.