Interview: The Man Who Photographed Tiananmen Square

“To tell you the truth, I am drawn to these dangerous events even though they scare the hell out of me. I am sure a shrink would have a field day with that…I guess there is an adrenaline rush in trying to capture images under dangerous situations and making it out alive.”

Jeff Widener is an American photojournalist best known for his “Tank Man” image, taken during the 1989 Tiananmen Square uprisings in China. The iconic image of a lone man standing down a column of tanks earned him a Pulitzer nomination, and it would later be selected by Time as one of the 100 most influential images of all time. In addition to covering the Tiananmen Square uprisings, Mr. Widener has also covered major news stories in over 100 different countries and was the first photojournalist to file images from the South Pole. He is the recipient of many photojournalism awards throughout his career, most notably a Dart Award for Excellence in Coverage of Trauma from Columbia University. He is currently based in Hamburg, Germany. On June 4th, he sat down with Merion West‘s Erich Prince to discuss the beginnings of his interest in photography, the psychological toll of photographing tragedy, and the lead up to his world-famous photograph.

You’ve spoken about your first experience, as a child, seeing that Life magazine and the work of Leigh Wiener and how that got you thinking about a potential career in photography. What photographers or photojournalists active today do you think might be inspiring the next generation of photographers coming up?

Magnum photographer Josef Koudelka has been my main inspiration since high school, and I was thrilled to receive a handwritten response to a letter I wrote him a few years ago. Another legendary photographer I was lucky enough to meet was Elliott Erwitt at his New York studio. It’s hard to express how strange it is to meet a legend who you have followed in school and seen in multiple magazine articles and exhibitions and then finally come face-to-face. It can be very intimidating and tends to dramatically reduce one’s self-artistic worth. I think it is something that every photographer should experience because it really makes you reflect on your own limitations and strengths.