Photographer: Jin S. Lee
Submitted By: Timothy McGuirk, Communications Manager, The Glade at the National September 11 Memorial & Museum, New York City

In this photograph, which Lee shot with a 16mm wide angle zoom lens, Handel Architects partner Michael Arad is supervising the installation of the six multi-ton monoliths, hand-chiseled in Vermont, that now flank the 9/11 Memorial Glade. They required a 600-ton crane to install.

Arad was the architect of the 9/11 Memorial and returned to design the Glade, a modification to create a pathway dedicated to those affected by 9/11-related illnesses from exposure to toxins in the aftermath of the attacks on Sept. 11, 2001. The Glade is expected to be completed May 30.

“I was positioned and focused on the monolith when Arad walked suddenly into the frame,” Lee recalls about the April 6 morning when the monoliths were put in place. “I was able to quickly shift and capture him; it occurred to me later that his hardhat had a perfectly positioned tribute to 9/11. It was the perfect scene that was awesome to capture.”