William G. Biggart (July 20, 1947 – September 11, 2001) was an American
[ freelance ]photojournalist
Photojournalism is journalism that uses images to tell a news story. It usually only refers to still images, but can also refer to video used in broadcast journalism. Photojournalism is distinguished from other close branches of photography (such ...
and a victim of the September 11 attacks
The September 11 attacks, commonly known as 9/11, were four coordinated suicide terrorist attacks carried out by al-Qaeda against the United States on Tuesday, September 11, 2001. That morning, nineteen terrorists hijacked four commercia ...
, notable for his street-view photographs of the event before being killed by the collapse of the World Trade Center
World Trade Centers are sites recognized by the World Trade Centers Association.
World Trade Center may refer to:
Buildings
* List of World Trade Centers
* World Trade Center (2001–present), a building complex that includes five skyscrapers, a ...
's North Tower. He was the only professional photographer to be killed while covering the attacks.
On September 15, 2001, four days after the attacks, Biggart's remains were discovered along with a bag containing his three cameras and the CompactFlash
CompactFlash (CF) is a flash memory mass storage device used mainly in portable electronic devices. The format was specified and the devices were first manufactured by SanDisk in 1994.
CompactFlash became one of the most successful of the e ...
card from which his last photographs were recovered. The photos were used in the October 15, 2001 issue of ''Newsweek
''Newsweek'' is an American weekly online news magazine co-owned 50 percent each by Dev Pragad, its president and CEO, and Johnathan Davis (businessman), Johnathan Davis, who has no operational role at ''Newsweek''. Founded as a weekly print m ...
''. His photographs from 9/11 were exhibited at the International Center of Photography
The International Center of Photography (ICP), at 79 Essex Street on the Lower East Side of Manhattan, New York City, consists of a museum for photography and visual culture and a school offering an array of educational courses and programming. ...
and the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History
The National Museum of American History: Kenneth E. Behring Center collects, preserves, and displays the heritage of the United States in the areas of social, political, cultural, scientific, and military history. Among the items on display is t ...
. They have also been preserved on the Internet by ''The Digital Journalist
''The Digital Journalist'' was a monthly online magazine about photojournalism which was launched in 1997 by Dirck Halstead, its editor and publisher. The site provided an online venue for visual storytellers covering a wide range of topics and sh ...
''.
Personal life
A child of an American officer stationed in Germany, Bill Biggart was born in Berlin in 1947. Biggart was one of 12 siblings in his Irish-Catholic family. As an adult, he moved into a loft in Lower Manhattan, New York City, about the same time that the WTC was opening in the 1970s.
Biggart was married twice and had three children. He had one son from his first marriage. Biggart's second wife was Wendy Doremus, and they had two children.[
]
Career
Biggart started out as a commercial photographer[ and he soon began to pursue an interest in spot news photography. He was at Wounded Knee to photograph the 1973 ]incident
Incident may refer to:
* A property of a graph in graph theory
* ''Incident'' (film), a 1948 film noir
* Incident (festival), a cultural festival of The National Institute of Technology in Surathkal, Karnataka, India
* Incident (Scientology), a ...
. He would also sometimes take jobs for theater productions. With a passion for news, he transitioned to photojournalism in 1985.[ His photojournalism credits are found in the international stories he covered in the ]West Bank
The West Bank ( ar, الضفة الغربية, translit=aḍ-Ḍiffah al-Ġarbiyyah; he, הגדה המערבית, translit=HaGadah HaMaʽaravit, also referred to by some Israelis as ) is a landlocked territory near the coast of the Mediter ...
and Israel in 1988, Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label= Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is variously described as a country, province or region. Nort ...
, and the first Gulf War
The Gulf War was a 1990–1991 armed campaign waged by a 35-country military coalition in response to the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait. Spearheaded by the United States, the coalition's efforts against Iraq were carried out in two key phases: ...
. He was also frequently credited for photographs that captured news events closer to his home in New York City, such as a NYC subway shot of "subway vigilante" Bernhard Goetz
On December 22, 1984, Bernhard Goetz () shot four young men on a New York City Subway train in Manhattan after they allegedly tried to rob him.
Goetz surrendered to police nine days later and was charged with attempted murder, assault, reckles ...
,[ Howard Beach,][ or the 1989 funeral of Yusuf Hawkins. He was also present in Berlin to photograph the ]fall of the Berlin Wall
The fall of the Berlin Wall (german: Mauerfall) on 9 November 1989, during the Peaceful Revolution, was a pivotal event in world history which marked the destruction of the Berlin Wall and the figurative Iron Curtain and one of the series of eve ...
in November 1989.
Biggart began working for the Impact Visuals photo news agency in 1988 and he continued to work there until he was killed. He also worked as a freelance photographer for Reuters
Reuters ( ) is a news agency owned by Thomson Reuters Corporation. It employs around 2,500 journalists and 600 photojournalists in about 200 locations worldwide. Reuters is one of the largest news agencies in the world.
The agency was estab ...
, Agence France Press
Agence France-Presse (AFP) is a French international news agency headquartered in Paris, France. Founded in 1835 as Havas, it is the world's oldest news agency.
AFP has regional headquarters in Nicosia, Montevideo, Hong Kong and Washington, D.C ...
, and Sipa Press
Sipa Press is a French photo agency based in Paris.
Overview
It was founded 1973 by the Turkish newsphotographer and photojournalist Gökşin Sipahioğlu together with American writer Phyllis Springer, concentrating their activities from the beg ...
. His work appeared in ''The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
'', ''The Christian Science Monitor
''The Christian Science Monitor'' (''CSM''), commonly known as ''The Monitor'', is a nonprofit news organization that publishes daily articles in electronic format as well as a weekly print edition. It was founded in 1908 as a daily newspaper ...
'', ''The Village Voice
''The Village Voice'' is an American news and culture paper, known for being the country's first alternative newsweekly. Founded in 1955 by Dan Wolf, Ed Fancher, John Wilcock, and Norman Mailer, the ''Voice'' began as a platform for the crea ...
'' and '' The City Sun''.
September 11 attacks
On the morning of September 11, 2001, a passing taxi driver alerted Biggart to the fact that a plane had just crashed into the World Trade Center
World Trade Centers are sites recognized by the World Trade Centers Association.
World Trade Center may refer to:
Buildings
* List of World Trade Centers
* World Trade Center (2001–present), a building complex that includes five skyscrapers, a ...
.["September 11th"]
Bill Biggart: Photographer. Retrieved March 1, 2013. A "news junkie", according to those who were close to him,[ Biggart ran to his apartment near ]Union Square
Union commonly refers to:
* Trade union, an organization of workers
* Union (set theory), in mathematics, a fundamental operation on sets
Union may also refer to:
Arts and entertainment
Music
* Union (band), an American rock group
** ''Un ...
, grabbed three cameras (two film, one digital) and began walking the two miles toward the center,[ where fire trucks were located,][ shooting photographs along the way,][ including digital, color film and slide images.][ He eventually found himself at the World Trade Center shooting the Twin Towers as they burned, and continued taking photos after the South Tower collapsed. His wife called Biggart on his cell phone shortly after the first tower's collapse. According to her, Biggart said he was with the firemen and safe, and he would meet her in 20 minutes.][
Another photographer, Bolivar Arellano of the '']New York Post
The ''New York Post'' (''NY Post'') is a conservative daily tabloid newspaper published in New York City. The ''Post'' also operates NYPost.com, the celebrity gossip site PageSix.com, and the entertainment site Decider.com.
It was established ...
'', observed that Biggart was photographing the second tower before it fell, and that Biggart was closer than any other photographer, and closer than Arellano felt was safe. Bill Biggart took his last photo at 10:28:24 am EST,[ about 20 minutes after his phone call with his wife.][ At 10:28 am, the North Tower collapsed. Falling debris from the tower killed him.][ His last photograph was presented as a highlight of the 2002 exhibit at the ]National Museum of American History
The National Museum of American History: Kenneth E. Behring Center collects, preserves, and displays the heritage of the United States in the areas of social, political, cultural, scientific, and military history. Among the items on display is t ...
. In the days following the tower's collapse, Biggart was reported among the missing. His wife searched for him at news agencies and hospitals. Four days later, his remains and camera equipment were recovered from the tower debris.
Biggart took over 300 photographs of the event,[ 154 of which Biggart's friend, photographer Chip East, was able to recover from Biggart's digital storage devices, and which have become part of the exhibits of Biggart's most well-known photographs.][
]
Memorials
*Biggart's name was added to The Freedom Forum Journalists Memorial at the Newseum in Washington, D.C., in 2001.
*At the National September 11 Memorial & Museum
The National September 11 Memorial & Museum (also known as the 9/11 Memorial & Museum) is a memorial and museum in New York City commemorating the September 11 attacks of 2001, which killed 2,977 people, and the 1993 World Trade Center bombi ...
, Biggart is memorialized at the South Pool, on Panel S-66.
Creative works
* ''Ireland: A Week in the Life of A Nation'' (1986 U.K.)
* ''Running Towards Danger: Stories Behind the Breaking News of 9/11'' (2002, Newseum)
Exhibits
*''Aftermath: Reflections on The Anniversary of September 11, Bill Biggart: Final Exposures'', International Center of Photography, New York City, 2002.[
*''Bearing Witness to History'', Smithsonian's National Museum of American History, Washington, D.C., 2002.]
*Bill Biggart's cameras from 9/11 are on display at the Newseum in Washington, D.C., April 11, 2008.
See also
*List of journalists killed in the United States
Numerous journalists have been murdered or killed in the United States while reporting, covering a military conflict, or because of their status as a journalist. At least 39 of these have been directly targeted as a result of their journalistic i ...
*List of solved missing person cases
Lists of solved missing person cases include:
* List of solved missing person cases: pre-2000
* List of solved missing person cases: post-2000
See also
* List of kidnappings
* List of murder convictions without a body
* List of people who dis ...
References
External links
DigitalJournalist
{{DEFAULTSORT:Biggart, Bill
1947 births
2000s missing person cases
2001 deaths
American expatriates in Germany
American people of Irish descent
American photojournalists
American terrorism victims
Filmed killings
Formerly missing people
Journalists killed in the United States
Journalists who died as a result of terrorism
Male murder victims
Missing person cases in New York City
People murdered in New York City
Terrorism deaths in New York (state)
Victims of the September 11 attacks