Pixiq

Wow. Has it really been nine years since 9/11? Time is a strange marker for what is, in many ways, an event with timeless impact, and one that, perhaps, will always seem too near for Americans. Photographer Ira Block made a similar observation during his recent effort to photograph found objects from Ground Zero. As a career archeological and socio-cultural photographer, he noted, “I've kind of dealt with the idea of death in a culture before. But usually it's an ancient culture ... here it was my own culture."

Movements like PostSecret and FOUND Magazine have popularized the practice of found object photography and the hobby of collecting found photographs and other miscellany in recent years. Each object—or photo—tells a story, and that is certainly the case with Ira Block’s project.

Check out some of Ira’s finds here. You can also view a collage of his Ground Zero found-object photographs here.