Visual Journal(ism) - Region 1

At some point, the historical negative from a box scenario will slide away into digital obscurity. And I am not entirely convinced a ‘found’ file from some forgotten external drive will carry the same intrigue and significance. To me, that would just seem like sloppy digital asset management.

Today marks the twentieth anniversary of Tiananmen Square. The New York Times reported increased police activity at the Square today. Back on June 4, 1989 four photographers captured the Tank Man in the street. Most famous photo is by Jeff Widener of AP. Both he and Magnum’s Stuart Franklin, who took a wider shot, were on balconies at the Beijing Hotel. In 2006, Franklin spoke to a philosophy blogger about the experience.

The new photo by reporter Terril Jones is a street level perspective and an accidental moment. An interview with him was posted on the Lens blog. Look at the upper left between the trees. He never published the photo before since on that day he was delayed by Chinese police. By the time he returned to the office with film, the iconic Widener photo was sent out.

Interesting image in that photos from the hotel show an isolated man on what looks to be a quiet, deserted street. In video from that day, you can hear sounds but Jones’ image exposes people, movement, and debris. Tank Man impressed me before but after seeing the photo, his calm in the chaos attitude is even more surprising.

By my calculations, we won’t see forgotten and new prints from negatives after 2060. Somewhere out in the world, in 2000, a 24-year-old took the last some-day-to-be historic photo of an event. We’ll have to wait until that photographer is about 85 and rummaging through old work boxes.

I went to Beijing a couple of years ago for work. I drank Pabst Blue Ribbon bottled water.

Visited a meat and fish market.

Visited a couple of cities.

And walked on the Square and inside the Forbidden City.

Read up Chinese politics from behind-the-scenes with a new book called Prisoner of the State: The Secret Journal of Premier Zhao Ziyang. Published after his death, the book is a memoir using secret tape recordings during a 16 year house arrest.

Or celebrate Tank Man and buy a red shirt designed by Mark Wilson.

再见！

-Sarah Evans.