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The Thousand-Yard Stare<\/em> by Peter Turnley was photographed on September 12th, 2001 at the World Trade Center following the September 11th terrorist attacks. The photograph focuses on the subject, Sal Isabella, a New York firefighter holding a helmet to his chest and staring in the general direction of Turnley\u2019s camera. A closer look reveals that Isabella is not as much looking or posing for the camera, but moreso in a daze as he peers into the distance. Behind Sal there is a blurred mix of first responders, a firetruck, and a pile of rubble. Without knowledge of when the photograph was taken, it is evident that the photo depicts an emergent scene and many viewers may assume that this is a photograph from the 9\/11 attacks. Turnley\u2019s The Thousand-Yard Stare<\/em> offers a unique representation of the themes of both World War II photojournalism and the optical unconscious. When viewing The Thousand-Yard Stare<\/em> we see the subject staring back at the camera while other firefighters scramble through rubble in the background, through appearances of the historic scene unfolding one can see how the image resembles the images of World War II photojournalism. This photo is also a representation of the meaning of Benjamin\u2019s optical unconscious. At a scene such as the world trade center following 9\/11 where first responders searched for survivors and navigated through the rubble, the moments of solitude are easily lost amid the greater movements. Through Turnley\u2019s photograph he is able to capture both a World War II photojournalism style image as well as an example of the optical unconscious. By understanding the reasoning and context of why the subject had been gazing into the distance, one can see why capturing the optical unconscious is critical to photojournalism.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The photograph depicts Sal Isabella seated by himself in a dust covered fireman\u2019s jacket in front of a scene of emergent chaos. From looking at the physical qualities of the images one can begin to uncover a story that Turnley may have intended to share with his audience. For starters, when looking at this scene of crisis, I am drawn back to the themes and styles of World War II journalism. In Schneer\u2019s writing he discusses how in World War II there was a level of public distrust in the Soviet media coverage of the Holocaust, so photography became a means of proving the existence of the magnitude of the concentration camps (Schneer). This same appearance of photojournalism exists here as it is clear to the viewer that this a 9\/11 scene as the chaos unfolds. This therefore carries the sentiment of journalism taking place to exist as proof of what happened at Ground Zero. This was the first theme that came to mind when I examined the physical attributes of the image, however a closer look at the features of the subject and movements of the background led me to draw further connections.<\/p>\n\n\n\n What makes this image compelling is that it does not solely appear to be a modern version of World War II photojournalism. The photo contains a noticeable juxtaposition between Isabella\u2019s blank stare into nothingness as he sits still and the clear chaos in the background with the sizable group of first responders. The contrast between the foreground and background highlights the dual realities of the triage scene. While there were moments of movement and heroism playing out, Turnley chose to showcase Isabella\u2019s moment of quietness. This choice shows Turnley\u2019s distinct choice to highlight the optical unconscious. Benjamin describes how photography showcases the optical unconscious by capturing moments that our own eyes would not notice. He cites the example of walking, \u201cIt is possible, for example, however roughly, to describe the way somebody walks, but it is impossible to say anything about that fraction of a second when a person starts to walk\u201d (Benjamin). He goes on to explain how photography can showcase this moment of optical unconsciousness. While this image does not show a moment as hidden to the eye as the second before one starts to walk, at a scene like this one, it would be quite easy to lose sight of the small details and focus on the noticeable movements. This photo shows a moment that many people may have glossed over. This photo carries the theme of moments that go unnoticed among the greater motion of an entire event. By looking into the context of the subject, one can uncover why it is important to include the optical unconscious in photojournalism.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In a 2011 essay about The Thousand-Yard Stare<\/em> Peter Turnley reflected on the moment he captured the photo. He remarked that, \u201cthis was a look I had seen before in war zones around the world, when someone\u2019s life compass has been shaken so profoundly that all sense of direction has become confused. They call it the thousand-yard stare. \u201d (The Thousand-Yard Stare<\/em>, 2011). Turnley went on to explain that Isabella\u2019s partner, Linda, reached out to him in 2004 thanking him for the photograph because since 9\/11 Sal had not been able to speak about what he went through as a first responder at Ground Zero. She wrote, \u201cThis photograph depicts what Sal tries to put into words but cannot\u201d (The Thousand-Yard Stare<\/em>, 2011). Turnley was later able to connect with Isabella over the phone and learned that he had lost a close friend, also a fireman, named Nick Chiafalo who had entered one of the towers to help and passed when the tower fell. Isabella was at the world trade center on 9\/11 and stayed through the night searching for survivors. When Turnley captured the image Isabella was experiencing the grief of witnessing one of the greatest disasters in the United States and from losing a dear friend. Turnley had reflected that while he took photographs of Sal, \u201che looked right through me, oblivious to my presence\u201d (The Thousand-Yard Stare<\/em>, 2011). The story that Turnley tells as supplementary context to the photograph helps explain why this imagery is so valuable and simply why Isabella had been off to himself gazing into the difference.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Without Sal\u2019s story, the photograph would simply be a fireman sitting in solitude during moments of chaos. Understanding what had happened to Sal is reasoning as to why it is important to capture the optical unconscious moments in photojournalism. These moments tell stories that might have been lost in the rest of the event. Photojournalism becomes more complete when moments the untrained eye would miss are showcased. The audience is able to learn more about individual experiences through this method of photography.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Thousand-Yard Stare<\/em>. (2011, September 11). The Online Photographer. https:\/\/theonlinephotographer.typepad.com\/the_online_photographer\/2011\/09\/sept11.html<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The Thousand-Yard Stare by Peter Turnley was photographed on September 12th, 2001 at the World Trade Center following the September 11th terrorist attacks. The photograph focuses on the subject, Sal Isabella, a New York firefighter holding a helmet to his chest and staring in the general direction of Turnley\u2019s camera. A closer look reveals that […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":22,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-281","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/arth.hamiltonlits.org\/fa-23-110\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/281","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/arth.hamiltonlits.org\/fa-23-110\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/arth.hamiltonlits.org\/fa-23-110\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arth.hamiltonlits.org\/fa-23-110\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/22"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arth.hamiltonlits.org\/fa-23-110\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=281"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/arth.hamiltonlits.org\/fa-23-110\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/281\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":282,"href":"https:\/\/arth.hamiltonlits.org\/fa-23-110\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/281\/revisions\/282"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/arth.hamiltonlits.org\/fa-23-110\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=281"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arth.hamiltonlits.org\/fa-23-110\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=281"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arth.hamiltonlits.org\/fa-23-110\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=281"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}