When Mr. McMillan asked what pictures we remember as being important, a reel of images flashed through my mind. I could have responded with Diane Arbus' work, Dorathea Lange's Migrant Mother, Man Ray and Weegee, but what sticks most is amateur photographer Charles Porter IV's photograph of firefighter Chris Fields holding a dying infant, Baylee Almon. This image won the Pulitzer Prize for Spot News Photography in 1996.
The reason it sticks is that it's an image signifying pre-911 death of innocence of the United States. The making and distribution of the photo (and of another similar pic by Lester LaRue) is of innocence all around. Neither men knew each other but were just a few feet apart. The photographers were amateurs and took their pictures not knowing the baby was dying.
The baby is a symbol of all innocent victims. My children were small then, so the significance remained strong as I thought of the families involved in the bombing.
Wiki article
Here is a link to the picture.
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