November 22, 2008
Our Defining Moments: The Unknown Rebel
The story behind the image that brought the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989 to everyone's breakfast table.
Good thing we have Jeff Widener's photograph. One of the most reprinted images ever, one glance at this photo tells you everything – well, almost everything – you need to know about the state of China's union back in the summer of 1989. And like most great photographs, it almost didn't happen.
Widener was working as the Associated Press Picture Editor for Southeast Asia, assigned to monitor the various photo bureaus and help out on breaking stories.
"After a week of covering the daily protests against the government, I ended up pulling the first night shift for the AP Bureau in Beijing," he said. "It just so happened that was the night that the massacre happened."
Widener was battling the flu as he walked the streets of Beijing, snapping photos as a group of students surrounded a burning armored car. Then a brick hit him in the head.
"I raised the camera to my face at the same time a terrific blow snapped my neck back," Widener said. "Looking down, blood was all over the smashed camera. The Nikon F3HP Titanium camera had absorbed most of the impact and saved my life."
After trying to sleep through the constant gunfire near his hotel, Widener dragged himself out of bed and over to the AP office, where a message from the New York Bureau was waiting. Could someone get photographs of the occupied Tiananmen Square? Again, Widener got the lucky draw.
He made his way to the darkened Beijing Hotel and was snuck in by Kurt, a student who was reporting the story for the Los Angeles Times. Once inside, Widener lay down for a nap, trying to shake off what was turning out to be a concussion as well as the remainder of his flu. Wake me if something happens, he said.
"A few minutes later I heard a sound," Widener recalled. "I went to the balcony and saw a column of tanks coming down the main boulevard. Suddenly a man walked out in front."
Widener lunged for his camera and his lens doubler, managing only a few clicks before a crowd of bystanders whisked the "Unknown Rebel" away. The moment was gone.
"Following the moment, I assumed the image was lost forever in a blur," Widener said. "There was no way that an 800 millimeter focal lens at 1/60th of a second while leaning over a balcony would be sharp. But something in my gut held hope that there was one shot."
After smuggling the film out of the hotel and back to the AP office, it turned out that exactly one shot – this one – was what they call "network quality." The next day, Widener's hard-earned photograph appeared on the front pages of newspapers worldwide.
"Even to this day I find it hard to believe," Widener said. "As a child, I used to see all those images in the Time Life books and dream of someday working as a news photographer. If anyone told me one of my images would share the spotlight, I would have suggested another scotch.
"The whole Tiananmen incident was quite terrifying," Widener added. "So many civilians and soldiers lost their lives. When the action is that fast, all you can do is shoot and pray. I feel very fortunate to still be in one piece from these years in the business."
To view more of Jeff Widener's photography, visit www.jeffwidener.com.
"Our Defining Moments" is an ongoing ReZoom.com feature that looks back on moments that, through the power of photography, have been emblazoned into our collective consciousness. To check out more of the best in protest photography, click here.
It seems strange to describe something that happened as recently as 1989 being "shrouded in mystery," but that hackneyed phrase turns out to effectively describe the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989. After all, few can list the reasons for the protests – outside of a vague dissatisfaction with the Chinese Communist Party – and an exact number of those killed in the resulting police crackdowns has yet to be agreed upon (The People's Republic of China say between 200 and 300 civilians were killed while the Chinese Red Cross has estimated up to ten times that number.) Even the nomenclature is debatable, since many historians favor the blunter "Tiananmen Square Massacre."
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| Only the Chinese government knows the fate of these two men, says Widener of the protestor and the tank driver of his 1989 photograph, "The Unknown Rebel." |
Widener was working as the Associated Press Picture Editor for Southeast Asia, assigned to monitor the various photo bureaus and help out on breaking stories.
"After a week of covering the daily protests against the government, I ended up pulling the first night shift for the AP Bureau in Beijing," he said. "It just so happened that was the night that the massacre happened."
Widener was battling the flu as he walked the streets of Beijing, snapping photos as a group of students surrounded a burning armored car. Then a brick hit him in the head.
"I raised the camera to my face at the same time a terrific blow snapped my neck back," Widener said. "Looking down, blood was all over the smashed camera. The Nikon F3HP Titanium camera had absorbed most of the impact and saved my life."
After trying to sleep through the constant gunfire near his hotel, Widener dragged himself out of bed and over to the AP office, where a message from the New York Bureau was waiting. Could someone get photographs of the occupied Tiananmen Square? Again, Widener got the lucky draw.
He made his way to the darkened Beijing Hotel and was snuck in by Kurt, a student who was reporting the story for the Los Angeles Times. Once inside, Widener lay down for a nap, trying to shake off what was turning out to be a concussion as well as the remainder of his flu. Wake me if something happens, he said.
"A few minutes later I heard a sound," Widener recalled. "I went to the balcony and saw a column of tanks coming down the main boulevard. Suddenly a man walked out in front."
Widener lunged for his camera and his lens doubler, managing only a few clicks before a crowd of bystanders whisked the "Unknown Rebel" away. The moment was gone.
"Following the moment, I assumed the image was lost forever in a blur," Widener said. "There was no way that an 800 millimeter focal lens at 1/60th of a second while leaning over a balcony would be sharp. But something in my gut held hope that there was one shot."
After smuggling the film out of the hotel and back to the AP office, it turned out that exactly one shot – this one – was what they call "network quality." The next day, Widener's hard-earned photograph appeared on the front pages of newspapers worldwide.
"Even to this day I find it hard to believe," Widener said. "As a child, I used to see all those images in the Time Life books and dream of someday working as a news photographer. If anyone told me one of my images would share the spotlight, I would have suggested another scotch.
"The whole Tiananmen incident was quite terrifying," Widener added. "So many civilians and soldiers lost their lives. When the action is that fast, all you can do is shoot and pray. I feel very fortunate to still be in one piece from these years in the business."
To view more of Jeff Widener's photography, visit www.jeffwidener.com.
"Our Defining Moments" is an ongoing ReZoom.com feature that looks back on moments that, through the power of photography, have been emblazoned into our collective consciousness. To check out more of the best in protest photography, click here.
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