Yesterday June 5th marked the 20th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square massacre. I remember as a young boy watching this unfold on my television in Houston at that time. Young as I was, I thought the world would change overnight. My father, with decades of experience just shook his head and doubted it. What I didn't know was there was 4 photographers who shot similar photos of the "tank man". The New York Times new photo blog "Lens" talks with all four men about that moment.
I think his action captured peoples’ hearts everywhere, and when the moment came, his character defined the moment, rather than the moment defining him. He made the image. I was just one of the photographers. And I felt honored to be there.
...
In my opinion, it is regretful that this image alone has become the iconic “mother” of the Tiananmen tragedy. This tends to overshadow all the other tremendous work that other photographers did up to and during the crackdown. Some journalists were killed during this coverage and almost all risked being shot at one time or another. Jacques Langevin, Peter and David Turnley, Peter Charlesworth, Robin Moyer, David Berkwitz, Rei Ohara, Alon Reininger, Ken Jarecke and a host of others contributed to the fuller historical record of what occurred during this tragedy and we should not be lured into a simplistic, one-shot view of this amazingly complex event. (Charlie Cole)
PDN Pulse had a link to a video of Jeff Widener whose image was the most circulated of the four.
Anyways, fascinating read so go over to the New York Times blog and check it out.
No comments:
Post a Comment