The Twin Towers Through a Fisheye Lens

With 1 World Trade Center quickly taking shape, and the tenth anniversary of the 9/11 attacks approaching, many New Yorkers are coming together to share their stories, memories, sadness and hopes for the future. And along with personal experiences, a few will tell their stories through their own artistic representations.

Photographer Richard Massie never imagined that he'd be one of those people.

Back in the 70s, Massie was shooting pictures of the massive, newly built Twin Towers as part of an experiment, and now, the Bronx born photographer will share his work as part of a retrospective commemorating the towers at the Brooklyn Waterfront Artists Coalition in Red Hook.

"After the 9/11 attacks I realized I had photos in my files that no one else had," said Massie, who had visited and photographed the towers upon their completion in the 70s, when he was in his 40's. "I realized I can do one hell of an exhibit."

Massie, since retired and now residing with his wife in Kensington, began his photographic career when he was working a completely unrelated gig as a hospital administrator. He says he was given the responsibility of photographing patients, which quickly grew into a thrilling hobby, and then a gratifying and lucrative career.

He's been all over the world – West Africa, Venice and Prague, to name a few countries. He has photographed the Eiffel Tower, the Guggeinheim in Spain and enjoyed the excitement and tumult right here at home in New York City shooting street photography in the 60s and 70s, including documenting Islam in Harlem.

Still, he says, his favorite is portrature. And his "experimental" photos of the pre-9/11 Twin Towers were the last thing he imagined would end up as part of an important historical exhibit. Still, it posed a visual challenge, and this intrigued Massie. 

"I had bought a fisheye lens, and thought, 'Hey, the fisheye lens was perfect for the WTC,'" he said.

Taken with medium format cameras and the fisheye lenses, Massie's photos offer a unique perspective of the pre-9/11 Twin Towers; an extreme angle view of the otherwise static, geometric towers, which at the time he says were considered "a monstrosity."

"I couldn't get anyone with any editorial experiences interested in it," he laughed.

He describes public dissatisfaction at the time of the proposal, construction and completion of the WTC. New Yorkers were angry – the site for the WTC was the home of Radio Row and its small business and property owners, as well as roughly 100 residents, opposed the project. It wasn't even popular with tourists.

"The old Greenwich markets are what the World Trade Center put an end to," he said. "This was a change in the city... The Fulton Fish market I think was the last one to dissolve."

"It was destructive of the old way of doing things," he said.

Massie says because the towers invited so little foot traffic, he was able to move within and around the site freely. His main motivation to photograph the towers, he says, was that they provided a visual challenge; static and visually "boring," the massive structures intrigued him. So he embarked on the project, equipped with a variety of cameras, lenses, films and ideas.

"I went there a few times. Inside was interesting as well," he said. One of his photos features Chase Manhattan before it became J.P. Morgan Chase; there was a rotunda, a mezzanine, lots of people that worked at the offices there, "and that's about it," said Massie.

The exhibit will feature close to fifty 17 x 22 and 24 x 36 photos, taken in color as well as black and white.

Massie says he's relieved and proud to be able to present his historic and artistic perspective of the Towers for the tenth anniversary of 9/11. He's sent notices of the exhibit to the Patrolman's Benevolence Association and to the uniformed firefighters.

"I hope they come, and I hope they appreciate the show," he said.

"World Trade Center," part of a larger Sept. 11 commemoration show, runs Sept. 17 through October 16. The BWAC galleries are open on weekends from 1 - 6 p.m. and are located at 499 Van Brunt Street, Red Hook.