As time passed and the bike stayed put, passersby worried about the fate of its owner and memorialised it by attaching flowers, notes and tributes.

Earlier this year, Michael Raisch had some of his 2001 photography of the bike memorial acquired by the 9/11 Museum, and since then Michael decided to revisit his experiences in the city through the creation of illustrated gifs. He got in touch to share a bit of the process.

“I needed to work with an over head camera rig to get even lighting and to ensure the single-frame animation sequence was correct. It required finding the right light that I could configure with an even ring of light while drawing. Using a cable shutter release meant I didn’t shake or disturb the camera, resulting in a smooth animation sequence. I then color-corrected and compiled the 18 to 30 frames into a single black and white gif.”

“It was labour intensive but the effect had a huge impression on the museum staff. The sketchy animation style offered the engagement that hopefully transported the viewer back to 2001, pre-social media, before the daily occurrence of digital photography on smart phones.”

The animated documentation of the sketching process really gives a lovely effect.

Final project and more gifs over on Michael’s website.