( CNN ) -- After the September 11 attacks , a New York firefighter took a series of photographs capturing the destruction . Eleven years later , Superstorm Sandy damaged the photographs as they sat in the basement of his Queens home . Partially destroyed , the photographs encapsulate two traumatic events burned in the minds of New Yorkers . The firefighter , Michael Redpath , now has his photos on display in an installation called `` Residual Images '' in Manhattan . Redpath , a 15-year veteran of the city fire department , was off duty September 11 , 2001 , and was called in that afternoon . One of hundreds of emergency responders , he was stunned by what he found upon arriving at ground zero . `` It was like a nuclear winter . It was very quiet . Everything was covered with fine white dust . It looked like a black-and-white photograph , '' Redpath said . Redpath had brought his camera , and recognizing the magnitude of the attacks , he began snapping shots of the wreckage . `` I was just trying to convey the scale , which is almost impossible to do , '' he said . Having studied photography , some images jumped out at Redpath over the months he spent at ground zero . He was most struck by the efforts of police officers , firemen , iron workers and crane operators , he said . Redpath developed some of the photos and stored the negatives in a box in the basement of his home in the Rockaways section of Queens . Redpath initially considered showing the photographs for the 10th anniversary of 9/11 . But a decade later , he just was n't ready . Last year , when Superstorm Sandy slammed into the East Coast , Redpath 's home , including the basement housing his 9/11 pictures , suffered extensive flood damage . Redpath likened it to losing family photos . A family member later scanned the negatives and gave them to Redpath as a gift . They were altered but not ruined . `` It was almost like a whole other layer , destruction on destruction . The new images were haunting in their own respect , '' Redpath said . The New York Times ' Niko Koppel curated the show with the OSMOS Address , an exhibition space . The show is on display at Manhattan 's First Street Green through Tuesday , the anniversary of Sandy hitting New York , described the photographs as `` arresting . '' The outdoor exhibit is situated between two buildings and features more than 100 of Redpath 's images projected onto two large screens in 15-minute increments . One image shows piles of rubble and collapsed iron , and Sandy 's murky floodwater added what appear to be superimposed black clouds . Another photo of a firefighter standing , back to the camera , before the World Trade Center rubble at ground zero has scratches and water damage that give the picture a smoky , three-dimensional feel . On Sunday , passersby stopped to take a look , some briefly , while others sat for longer spells , mesmerized as they were reminded of the tragedies . `` It is very powerful . The juxtaposition of the two gets really interesting , '' said a neighborhood woman . Said another man who walked cautiously toward the projections , `` It brings up bad memories . ''
Firefighter 's negatives from 9/11 ground zero damaged by Superstorm Sandy 's flooding . Family member developed negatives ; firefighter found them `` haunting in their own respect '' Images are now on display in Manhattan in an exhibit the curator describes as `` arresting ''