9/11 then and now: Poignant pictures show terror attack site 17 years on
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9/11: Then and now — 17 years later
The remains of the World Trade Center on Sept. 11, 2001, and the National September 11 Memorial & Museum are seen from West Street on Sept. 5, 2018. (Photos: Alexandre Fuchs/AP – Gordon Donovan/Yahoo News)
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2001: Top of the Rock
The twin towers of the World Trade Center burn behind the Empire State Building, Sept. 11, 2001. (Photo: Marty Lederhandler/AP)
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2018: Top of the Rock
One World Trade Center is seen towering above the landscape in lower Manhattan behind the Empire State Building on Sept. 5, 2018. (Photo: Gordon Donovan/Yahoo News)
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2001: Trinity Church
Smoke spews from a tower of the World Trade Center on Sept. 11, 2001, after two hijacked airplanes hit the twin towers in a terrorist attack on New York City. (Photo: Mario Tama/Getty Images)
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2018: Trinity Church
Before 9/11, the original World Trade Center towers could be seen from the Trinity Church Cemetery in Lower Manhattan, Sept. 6, 2018. (Photo: Gordon Donovan/Yahoo News)
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2001: Brooklyn Pier
Pedestrians on the waterfront in Brooklyn, New York, look across the East River to the burning World Trade Center towers Sept. 11, 2001 after a terrorist attack. (Photo: Henny Ray Abrams/AFP/Getty Images)
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2018: Brooklyn Pier
People take photographs of the New York City skyline from Pier 1 at the Brooklyn Bridge Park on Sept. 5, 2018. (Photo: Gordon Donovan/Yahoo News)
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2001: Murray Street
A piece of debris from one of the crashed airliners lies on the corner of Murray Street in lower Manhattan near the World Trade Center site on Sept. 11, 2001. (Photo: Chris Kline/AP)
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2018: Murray Street
The scaffolding has returned as renovations begin on the building where the engine landed, on the corner of Church and Murray Streets, several blocks from the World Trade Center site, on Sept. 7, 2018. (Photo: Gordon Donovan/Yahoo News)
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2001: West Broadway
Pedestrians in lower Manhattan watch smoke rise from a World Trade Center tower on Sept. 11, 2001, after an early-morning terrorist attack on the New York landmark. (Photo: Amy Sancetta/AP)
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2018: West Broadway
A view from West Broadway and Reade Street, just down the street from the World Trade Center site in New York City, on Sept. 7, 2018. (Photo: Gordon Donovan/Yahoo News)
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2001: Fulton Street
People run from the collapse of a World Trade Center tower on Sept. 11, 2001. (Photo: Suzanne Plunkett/AP)
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2018: Fulton Street
People exit and walk past the Fulton Street subway hub on Sept. 5, 2018. (Photo: Gordon Donovan/Yahoo News)
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2001: Brooklyn Bridge
Women wearing dust masks flee across the Brooklyn Bridge from Manhattan to Brooklyn following the collapse of both World Trade Center towers, Sept. 11, 2001, in New York. The towers previously loomed tall in the skyline behind. (Photo:Mark Lennihan/AP)
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2018: Brooklyn Bridge
People cross the Brooklyn Bridge on a beautiful day in New York City on Sept. 5, 2018. The only dangers now in photographing the site are tourists and fellow New Yorkers on bicycles. (Photo: Gordon Donovan/Yahoo News)
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2001: Nassau Street
People stop in the street in the area where the World Trade Center buildings collapsed on Sept. 11, 2001, after two airplanes slammed into the twin towers in a terrorist attack. (Photo: Mario Tama/Getty Images)
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2018: Nassau Street
Construction on Fulton Street at Nassau Street, just down the street from the World Trade Center site, on Sept. 5, 2018. (Photo: Gordon Donovan/Yahoo News)
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2001: World Financial Center
People evacuate the World Trade Center after it was hit by two airplanes on Sept. 11, 2001, in New York City. (Photo: Mario Tama/Getty Images)
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2018: World Financial Center
Pedestrians walk through the courtyard just outside Brookfield Place (originally known as the World Financial Center) in Lower Manhattan on Sept. 5, 2018. (Photo: Gordon Donovan/Yahoo News)
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2001: Trinity Church graveyard
Ash covers gravestones in Trinity Church on Sept. 11, 2001, after the attacks on the nearby World Trade Center towers in New York. These pictures were shot by John Labriola, who had an office on the 71st floor of one of the buildings. He escaped with no injuries. (Photo: John Labriola/AP)
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2018: Trinity Church graveyard
The courtyard and cemetery of the historic Trinity Church in New York City on Aug. 18, 2018. (Photo: Gordon Donovan/Yahoo News)
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2001: Greenwich Street
Ash covers a street in downtown New York City after the collapse of the World Trade Center following a terrorist attack on Sept. 11, 2001. (Photo: Bernadette Tuazon/AP)
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2018: Greenwich Street
Seventeen years after the collapse of the World Trade Center towers, construction continues on Greenwich Street near Rector Street in New York City on Aug. 18, 2018. (Photo: Gordon Donovan/Yahoo News)
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2001: Fulton Street
Survivors of the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center in New York make their way through smoke, dust, and debris on Fulton Street about a block from the collapsed towers on Sept. 11, 2001. (Photo: Gulnara Samoilova/AP)
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2018: Fulton Street
Pedestrians make their way along Fulton Street next to St. Paul’s Chapel of Trinity Church on Wall Street, on Sept. 7, 2018. (Photo: Gordon Donovan/Yahoo News)
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2001: Park Place and West Broadway
New York Police Department members on patrol in the World Trade Center complex in New York. At center is the collapsed 7 World Trade Center on Sept. 13, 2001. (Photo: James Estrin/AFP/Getty Images)
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2018: Park Place and West Broadway
The World Trade Center site is seen in the background as commuters head to work in Lower Manhattan on Sept. 7, 2018. (Photo: Gordon Donovan/Yahoo News)
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2001: Skeleton of World Trade Center
The remains of the World Trade Center stand amid the debris following the terrorist attack on the building in New York on Sept. 11, 2001. (Photo: Alexandre Fuchs/AP)
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2018: Skeleton of World Trade Center
The World Trade Center buildings and the National September 11 Memorial & Museum are seen from West Street on Sept. 5, 2018. (Photo: Gordon Donovan/Yahoo News)
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2001: Cortlandt Street
With the skeleton of the World Trade Center twin towers in the background, New York City firefighters work amid debris on Cortlandt Street after the terrorist attacks in this Sept. 11, 2001, photo. (Photo:Mark Lennihan/AP)
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2018: Cortlandt Street
People make their way back down Cortlandt Street toward the World Trade Center on Sept. 5, 2018. (Photo: Gordon Donovan/Yahoo News)
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2001: Brooks Brothers
A destroyed Brooks Brothers store near ground zero on Sept. 11, 2001, after terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center in New York City. (Photo: Mark Lennihan/AP)
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2018: Brooks Brothers
A man uses his mobile device while others sit on the steps outside Brooks Brothers as people check out construction at the World Trade Center site in New York City on Aug. 18, 2018. (Photo: Gordon Donovan/Yahoo News)
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2001: Church Street
National guardsmen march past the wreckage of the World Trade Center towers in New York on Sept. 13, 2001. (Photo: Stephen Chernin/AP)
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2018: Church Street
People gather outside the Millennium Hilton on Church Street across from the Oculus on Aug. 18, 2018. (Photo: Gordon Donovan/Yahoo News)
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2001: Vesey Street
A destroyed fire truck on Sept. 14, 2001, near ground zero after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. (Photo: Stuart Ramson/AP)
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2018: Vesey Street
Construction continues on Vesey Street with One World Trade Center in the background, on Sept. 5, 2018. (Photo: Gordon Donovan/Yahoo News)
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2001: Church and Cortlandt Street
The remains of the facade of 2 World Trade Center is all that stands after a terrorist attack on Sept. 12, 2001, in New York. (Photo: Nick Fanelli/AP)
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2018: Church and Cortlandt Street
People on the move across from 4 World Trade Center and its shopping centers on Church Street on Sept. 7, 2018. (Photo: Gordon Donovan/Yahoo News)
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2001: World Trade Center
Remains of the facade of 2 World Trade Center is all that stands on the World Trade Center site on Sept. 12, 2001. (Photo: AP)
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2018: World Trade Center
Visitors gather to pay tribute to the victims of the 9/11 attacks near one of two reflecting pools at the National September 11 Memorial & Museum on Aug. 18, 2018. (Photo: Gordon Donovan/Yahoo News)
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2001: Vesey Street
A firefighter walks amid rubble near the base of the destroyed World Trade Center in New York on Sept. 11, 2001. (Photo: Peter Morgan/Reuters)
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2018: Vesey Street
Construction continues on Vesey Street near the National 9/11 Memorial & Museum on Sept. 6, 2018. (Photo: Gordon Donovan/Yahoo News)
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2001: Cortlandt Street subway
A destroyed subway station on Cortlandt Street near the World Trade Center on the evening of Sept. 12, 2001. (Photo: Mark Lennihan/AP)
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2018: Cortlandt Street subway
Traffic along Church Street passes the Cortlandt Street subway station on Sept. 6, 2018, across the street from 3 World Trade Center. (Photo: Gordon Donovan/Yahoo News)
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2001: Broadway
The skeleton of one of the twin towers is seen as emergency personnel keep the area secure on Sept. 19, 2001. (Photo: Gordon Donovan/Yahoo News)
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2018: Broadway
Pedestrians walk across Broadway at the intersection of Cortlandt Street, just down the street from the World Trade Center site, in New York City on Sept. 5, 2018. (Photo: Gordon Donovan/Yahoo News)
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2001: World Trade Center
Firefighters pour water on the still-smoldering wreckage at ground zero where the remains of New York’s World Trade Center stand, Sept. 27, 2001. (Photo: Kathy Willens/AP)
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2018: World Trade Center
A view of Lower Manhattan from one of two reflecting pools at the National September 11 Memorial & Museum, where the original One World Trade Center once stood, on Aug. 18, 2018. (Photo: Gordon Donovan/Yahoo News)
Yahoo News US photographer Gordon Donovan recently returned to the scenes of many memorable images taken in New York City on Sept. 11, 2001.
Donovan photographed the same areas to show what has changed since the terrorist attacks 17 years ago.
New obstacles have arisen, requiring some adjustments in camera angles to align with the original images
This is the seventh time Donovan has revisited the New York skyline to document changes since 9/11; each year presents new challenges as the New York City landscape changes. (Yahoo News)