(NewsWorthy.news) – The German photographer who captured one of the most controversial pictures on September 1, 2001, died last week.
Thomas Hoepker was known for his work that was featured in Magnum Photos, an international business. The group announced his death via social media on Wednesday July 11, saying that he “died peacefully.” He was 88 years old after having suffered from Alzheimer’s disease. Hoepker was a member of Magnum Photos since 1989 but the group first started featuring his work in 1964.
The photographer captured moments of the human experience throughout the globe, traveling to Asia, Europe, South America, and the United States. Some of his notable images feature a controversial shot of the Twin Towers burning in the aftermath of the 2001 terrorist attack, the Berlin Wall, and famed boxer Muhammed Ali, with whom he both collaborated and became friends.
Though Hoepker attended a German university to study history, art, and archaeology, he dropped out of school before he completed his degree. Instead, he began working as a photojournalist in 1960 for the magazine Münchner Illustrierte. He later worked for other publications, including Kristall and Stern, while living in Berlin.
From 1978 until 1981, Hoepker was the photography director for the magazine American Geo. He resided in New York when living and working in the United States. It was during this period of his career that Hoepker captured one of his most famous photos, which depicts a group of young people at a Brooklyn waterfront with smoke billowing from Manhattan’s Twin Towers in the distance.
The people in the picture appear indifferent to the tragedy that had just occurred. Hoepker did not publish the photo until 2006, noting that he was upset by the perceived reality that the people “were not stirred” by the attack across the water. Controversy ensued when one man named Walter Sipser explained to the media that he was one of the people in the photo and described himself and his friends as experiencing “profound” emotions of “shock and disbelief.”
Copyright 2024, NewsWorthy.news
