Photographer who took the 'Falling Man' photo remembers that moment

Associated Press photographer Richard Drew reflects on the 25th anniversary of his iconic "Falling Man" photograph, captured during the September 11 attacks. The image, which depicts a man plummeting vertically from the North Tower, serves as a haunting record of the day's human cost and is described as a "filter" between the photographer and the horrific reality he witnessed. Drew discusses the technical serendipity of the shot’s perfect verticality and its role in providing closure to families, such as a man who identified his fiancée through Drew’s unpublished frames. The conversation explores the photograph's enduring controversy and its power to force viewers to contemplate their own choices in such an extreme crisis. Drew also connects this experience to his earlier career, specifically his documentation of Robert Kennedy’s assassination in 1968, framing his life’s work as the essential, often difficult, recording of history.