Skip to main content

'9/11 left me without words': Calgary-born photographer reflects 20 years after iconic Time Magazine cover photo

Share
CALGARY -

A picture is worth a thousand words, or so the saying goes, but there is one image in particular that continues to leave Lyle Owerko speechless two decades later.

"9/11 left me without words for a long time," said Owerko. "I was very lucky I had pictures to convey my experience."

On Sept. 11, 2001, the Calgary-born photographer found himself at ground zero in New York City and captured the famous photo of the second plane flying into the World Trade Center.

Lyle Owerko's image of the second plane hitting the south tower of the World Trade Centre appeared on the cover of Time Magazine.

Lyle Owerko's image of the second plane hitting the south tower of the World Trade Centre appeared on the cover of Time Magazine.

"The photos I have help grasp the scope of the distinct frozen moment in time that all of us gasped. I think that’s what elicits (feelings in) many people when they look at that photo. They’re speechless, they’re caught without a breath for a moment like I was when I took that picture and then the shock set in for all us."

He’d recently returned from working in Africa and hadn't even unpacked his bags when he heard an indescribable sound and ran into the streets early that morning. He quickly learned a plane had flown into the World Trade Centre and he started taking pictures. Moments later, he captured the second plane hitting the south tower.

"I took another photo and realized all the things I was seeing in the viewfinder were coming at the camera. Me, the police officers, the bystanders we had to duck and cover as parts of the plane were raining down around us," he vividly recounts. "I remember when we came to and one of the officers looked at me and said 'Did you get that?' and I said 'Ya I got that'."

That photo became an iconic Time Magazine cover image and has since been republished in a special commemorative edition to mark the 20th anniversary of the attacks in New York City and the Pentagon that left nearly 3,000 people dead.

"I lived in that neighborhood, I loved those buildings. They were like two giant trees," Owerko tells CTV News. "There was a lot of love for those buildings it was like a taking a picture of something so familiar to you like almost like a family member. In the photo — that shock, that distinct feeling of awe, disbelief, remorse, grief —it’s all in that photo."

Owerko has never been formally diagnosed but acknowledges he lived with and has learned to cope with post-traumatic stress disorder. He remains encouraged by the heroes who stepped up the day of the attacks, the days and years that followed.

"From 9/11, definitely the better angels rose to the moment. There were firefighters who worked to find their brothers."

He hopes that his photos that captured a harrowing moment in history can be used to help society collectively heal and move forward.

"What I hope for on the 20th anniversary is the coming to terms with the grief that this event has an effect on all of us and what can we do in a positive manor to honour the memories of those that passed to honour the rebuilding that occurred.

"It was a dark moment with dark actions and dark outcomes but that doesn’t mean darkness prevails."

CTVNews.ca Top Stories

N.B. man wins $64 million from Lotto 6/49

A New Brunswicker will go to bed Thursday night much richer than he was Wednesday after collecting on a winning lottery ticket he let sit on his bedroom dresser for nearly a year.

Stay Connected