PULITZER PRIZE-WINNING PHOTOGRAPHER
9/11 Aftermath
On September 11, 2001, I was working as a staff photographer in the Philadelphia Bureau of the Associated Press. Reports came in that a plane had crashed into the North Tower of the World Trade Center. At the time, no one understood what exactly was going on, let alone understand the magnitude of these events. We didn’t even know for sure at first if it was a horrible accident or a terrorist attack. I was sent to the region to help cover the unfolding events, and at sunrise, I made my way to the Hudson River coastal areas of Jersey City and Bayonne, NJ. When I looked at New York City across the river, I noticed that among the wreckage, debris, and smoke, the Statue of Liberty stood out on the skyline, holding her lighted torch high.
White House Intern
I was part of the Associated Press photo team that covered President Clinton’s affair with White House intern Monica Lewinsky. This was a rapidly evolving news story that captured the nation’s attention demanding extensive photos of all the key players involved. Over the year, photographs would be made of Monica from several blocks away entering federal courthouse, or through the car window of her speeding limo, and in chaotic media scrums. Access was an issue as she and her team of attorneys were very elusive, making it a challenge for the news media to get decent photographs. If a photograph of Monica was made, a news photographer most likely spent hours or days to get that photo, as cell phone cameras didn’t exist back then. On April 6, 1998, Monica was in Philadelphia at The Wanamaker Building with her attorney William Ginsburg. As she suddenly emerged from the front door of the building dashing to an awaiting car, I had a split-second opportunity to capture Monica Lewinsky on film from up close in an unguarded moment.
Dickinson College
Since 2021, I have been on staff as the College Photographer at Dickinson College, a small private liberal arts school in Carlisle, Pennsylvania. Part of my job is to document everyday life at this prestigious Northeastern US college that was founded in 1783.
About Dan Loh
About Dan Loh
Dan Loh is a former Associated Press staff photographer and recipient of a 1999 Pulitzer Prize for a photo of White House intern Monica Lewinsky and her attorney William Ginsberg. His prize-winning photo is published in Moments: The Pulitzer Prize Winning Photographs and Capture the Moment: The Pulitzer Prize Photographs. The image also appears in the 2018 Amazon Prime Video, The Clinton Affair.
In 2001, Dan contributed to AP's September 11 photographic coverage of the attacks at the World Trade Center with his smoldering Lower Manhattan skyline photograph. The image is included in the 2021 Netflix Documentary Series, Turning Point: 9/11 and the War on Terror.
After the AP, Dan spent two decades in New York as a freelance photographer also teaching college photography. Since 2021, Dan has been the College Photographer on staff at Dickinson College in Carlisle, Pennsylvania.
Dan is a graduate of Rochester Institute of Technology ‘95 and received an MFA from New Jersey City University ‘17.
