Phil Penman Photography

Phil Penman Photography NYC based Street Photographer. Included in the Permanent archives of the US library of Congress.

I stood at the foot of the World Trade Center, framing the towering steel through my 28–70mm lens, when the world utterl...
09/10/2026

I stood at the foot of the World Trade Center, framing the towering steel through my 28–70mm lens, when the world utterly broke.

What happened next didn’t register as real. It unfolded right before my eyes like a scene from a movie—a nightmare so cinematic and immense that my mind simply couldn’t process what I was seeing. I was completely paralyzed, frozen in pure, quiet disbelief as the giant structure began to yield.

Then the shock of the moment gave way to absolute clarity: it wasn’t just falling, it was coming directly for me.

Instinct took over, wiping away every artistic focus. I turned and ran with everything I had as a monstrous cloud of dust and debris rolled down the street behind me, diving straight through the doorway of J&R Music World just as the wave rushed past the glass outside.

I know I am profoundly lucky to be alive. If that building had come down in any other direction or any other way, none of us on those streets would have made it out. You don’t just walk away from a moment like that—it changes your life forever.

#911 DocumentaryPhotography Photojournalism HumanSpirit

Twenty-three years ago, I was standing in the ash and chaos of Lower Manhattan on September 11th when I saw her.Joanne “...
09/09/2026

Twenty-three years ago, I was standing in the ash and chaos of Lower Manhattan on September 11th when I saw her.

Joanne “Jojo” Capestro had just walked down 87 flights of stairs to escape the North Tower. Covered in white dust, holding her shoes, and stepping through an unimaginable nightmare, she walked past my lens. I raised my camera and took a photograph that captured a moment of pure survival—an image that would bind our lives together forever.

Years later, the 9/11 Memorial Museum helped reconnect us, turning a terrible shared memory into an unexpected, deep friendship.

Then, seventeen years after that tragic morning, Joanne called me with news: she was getting married to the love of her life, Robert. She asked me if I would photograph her wedding.

Standing there on her wedding day, watching her smile in a white dress instead of white dust, holding a camera once again—it was one of the most emotional moments of my career. Joanne said it best: “Phil was with me on the best day of my life and the worst day of my life.”

As a photographer, you hope to document history. You never expect that history will bring you a lifelong friend, or that a lens once trained on tragedy would get to capture such incredible joy, resilience, and hope.

Full circle.

A big thank you to all of you who tuned into watch myself and Seth Miranda discuss everything about the photography wor...
09/03/2026

A big thank you to all of you who tuned into watch myself and Seth Miranda discuss everything about the photography world today on the “Coffee with Creators” podcast. For those of you who missed it and would like to watch click the link below

https://www.youtube.com/live/0ZqgE_V9JOk?si=PJv0cpjpSJZpJMXo

New York image that incorporates the weather for effect.Copyright Phil PenmanSign up for latest updates and upcoming Str...
08/27/2026

New York image that incorporates the weather for effect.

Copyright Phil Penman
Sign up for latest updates and upcoming Street Photography workshops here
https://www.philpenman.com/mailing-list/

Print available at WWW.PHILPENMAN.COM
Images taken with Leica Cameras

“MADE BY A HUMAN”

For the first time, many of the photographers, editors, and visual journalists who documented September 11, 2001, will r...
08/26/2026

For the first time, many of the photographers, editors, and visual journalists who documented September 11, 2001, will reunite in a single public forum to reflect on the images that became part of our collective memory.

Presented over six consecutive evenings, this global PROJECTIONS event follows the chronology of September 11-from the first
moments of the attacks through the aftermath and the years that followed. Through photographs and conversation, the people who witnessed history will revisit the decisions they made, the moments they experienced, and the responsibility of bearing witness.

Confirmed participants include:

Joel Meyerowitz, David Hume
Kennerly, Pete Souza, Stan Honda, Peter Turnley, Ron Haviv, Lauren Walsh, JenniferS. Altman, Steve McCurry, Spencer Platt, Gulnara Samoilova, Lyle Owerko, Robert Clark, Lori Grinker, Thomas Dallal, Rabbi Irwin Kula, Jim Lowney, Matthew McDermott, Mario Tama, Thomas Franklin, Shannon Stapleton, David Handschuh, Mark Edward Harris, Jose Jimenez-
Tirado, Gay Suson, Jason Florio, Jeff Swensen, Phil Penman, MaryAnne Golon, Ruth Fremson, Todd Maisel, David Friend and Eric Draper

https://projectionsnyc.com/911/?src=day1

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