Gary Marlon Suson

BackGround

By age 15, he would sneak away to the CTA train and head downtown to Chicago to shoot candid imagery of people as well as the beautiful architecture and buildings that make up the Windy City. At 16, he formed Gary Suson Photography and began shooting portraits for neighbors. By age 17, Suson won the highest honor for any high school student in the USA: He won the Kodak Medallion as part of the National Scholastics Art & Writing Awards. Two of his award-winning images were flown to New York City and put on display for 3 months at the World Trade Center.

After one year of college in Texas, Suson left prematurely to take a chance on New York City. He began shooting as a test photographer for the famed Company Model Management and was schooled personally by agency founder, frenchman Maurice Etteles.

A chance encounter one day with famed artist & painter LeRoy Neiman and wife Janet lead to Suson shooting a portrait of Mr. Neiman, the official artist for five Olympiads and co-founder of Playboy with friend Hugh Hefner. The 79-year-old Neiman told Suson that it was the finest portrait ever taken of himself in fifty years. This experience lead Mr. Neiman to ask Suson to shoot more portraits for the painter’s coffee table books as well as the opportunity to accompany Neiman on PR and business events. Mr. Neiman became a mentor and close friend to Suson, teaching him the finer points of managing a successful art career while Suson acted as Neiman’s personal photographer. Neiman even sketched Suson photographing him one day in Central Park.

Through Mr. Neiman, Suson then began shooting portraits for such personalities as the Rev. Jesse Jackson, NBA star Shaquille O’Neal, Blues Legend B.B. King and more. Suson’s work caught the eye of PLAYBOY Fashion and Editorial director Joseph DeAcetis, who offered Suson a chance to shoot a men’s suits story which caught the eye of Christie Hefner in Chicago. This resulted in Suson shooting editorial and fashion for PLAYBOY for three years. National campaigns followed, including Borelli Suits of ITALY.

Suson’s career took a sudden and jarring halt when terrorists flew airplanes into the World Trade Center on the morning of September 11, 2001. Mr. Suson grabbed his camera and began documenting immediately. Driving around the Ground Zero site with friends in the NYPD, Suson documented as close as possible without actually stepping foot into the highly restricted areas.

The Eyes of Ground Zero: A Photographer's Sacred Mission

After reading a story in the Daily News about sick 9/11 FDNY Firefighters, Suson began acting as a liaison for some of these men exposed to toxins on 9/11, via the FDNY Fire Union, arranging free environmental health care for them. This lead to a chance encounter between Suson and FDNY Firefighter Rudy Sanfilippo, who was the Manhattan Trustee for New York City’s Firefighter’s Union. Sanfilippo, who had survived both collapses of the Twin Towers, inquired about Suson’s photography and after seeing his memorial website, SeptemberEleven.net – invited Suson to fire union headquarters to have a “chat.” That talk lead to Sanfilippo offering Suson one of the most coveted photographic positions of the last century: To be the Official Photographer at Ground Zero on behalf of the Uniformed Firefighter’s Association – to be the eyes for the masses. Initially, Sanfilippo needed the families to have a photographic record of their loved ones remains being treated respectfully.

Suson was given very strict guidelines and his work was overseen by FDNY Chief of Department Daniel A. Nigro. He had full, unrestricted 24/7 access to every single area of Ground Zero, including the subways deep below WTC. Suson was asked never to sell or release his images until permission was granted, never to shoot human remains and if any substantial proceeds were earned, that Suson would share his earnings with FDNY and 9/11 charities.

One Man’s Mission at Ground Zero

Gary Marlon Suson shut down his lucrative photography business in November of 2001 and took on the position unsalaried, essentially “living” at Ground Zero for 7 months, 19 hours per day, 6 days per week. By late Spring 2002, Suson had drained his savings on film, processing and living expenses and was forced to take out $10,000.00 in bank loans in order to survive and complete the Ground Zero photography project. Around that time he was offered several thousands of dollars by CBS Evening News for a rare image of firefighter Jack Tipping carrying his firefighter son out of Ground Zero, which he declined per his promise to Sanfilippo as well as out of respect to the Tipping family.

In May of 2002, Gary Marlon Suson was informed by Rudy Sanfilippo that he had permission to release the collection to the world media. New York Time’s journalist Susan Sachs was the first to release the images via a half page story entitled “From A Camera at Ground Zero, Rare Photos of an Agonizing Dig.” CNN become the first TV News entity to release Suson’s journey and images to the world. Suson taped his first story with CNN Senior Producer Dana Garrett and also agreed to go on-air with Paula Zahn during the closing ceremonies at Ground Zero.

Fox News Channel followed shortly thereafter with anchors Heather Nauert & Josh Gibson dubbing Suson the “Matthew Brady of the World Trade Center”- referring to the famed Civil War lensman who single-handedly documented the bloody battlefield scenes.

Shortly thereafter, Barnes & Noble Publishing produced Suson’s coffee table book, “Requiem: Images of Ground Zero.” The most expensive book to produce in Barnes & Noble Book’s history, Requiem was endorsed by a dozen 9/11 FDNY family members and forwarded by highly respected FDNY Battalion Chief Joseph W. Pfeifer, who was the first to arrive & set up command at the World Trade Center on 9/11.

In 2003, Mr. Suson was given the Fire Department’s highest honor for a civilian: He was nominated by FDNY Chief of Department Daniel A. Nigro to become an Honorary Battalion Chief. In January of 2004 – at FDNY Headquarters in Brooklyn – Suson, surrounded by numerous firefighter friends he had dug with at Ground Zero, was sworn in on the Bible and appointed by FDNY Commissioner Scoppetta to the title of FDNY Honorary Battalion Chief. Suson stopped shooting photography in May, 2002 due to health concerns related to his 7 months spent at Ground Zero. He continues to live in New York City.

BackGround

The Eyes of Ground Zero: A Photographer's Sacred Mission

One Man’s Mission at Ground Zero

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