Thread by @patrickwitty

The greatest protest photos of all time were taken 33 years ago today. On June 5, 1989, six (not four) photographers captured a lone protester facing down a column of tanks near #TiananmenSquare. This version of the“Tank Man” photo was made by @StuartAFranklin for @TIME...🧵

I interviewed Stuart in 2009 for the @nytimes. He told me he shot the photo from the balcony of the Beijing Hotel and that his film was "smuggled out in a packet of tea by a French student and delivered to the @MagnumPhotos office in Paris." The contact sheet is fascinating:

Charlie Cole was working for @Newsweek next to Stuart on the balcony. His version is much tighter (taken with a 300) and won @WorldPressPhoto. He hid the film in his hotel room, attaching it to the flush chain in the tank of the toilet. Sadly, Charlie died in 2019. RIP 🙏🏻

Jeff Widener, working for the @AP, shot his version from a lower position with an F3 and a 400/5.6 on Fuji 100 color neg. An American exchange student hid Jeff's film in his underwear and smuggled it out of the hotel. Of all versions, this one has probably been seen the most...

Arthur Tsang Hin Wah, working for @Reuters, shot this one. He told me in 2009, "When he ("Tank Man") came down, four or five people came out from the sidewalk and pulled him away. He disappeared forever."

Here is the uncropped version of Arthur's photo, which I prefer. There's so much more context and even the distracting parts of the frame add balance and tension...

This version of "Tank Man" by @Terril_Jones, the only one made at ground level, was first published in 2009 after he saw my article on "Tank Man" in the @nytimes. He said he only took one photo before retreating from the tanks. I was speechless and so thankful he reached out. 🙏🏻

Terril, who was working as a reporter for the @AP in Beijing, told me he had only shown his "Tank Man" photo to friends before sharing it with us. I've circled "Tank Man" and the oncoming tank in this version:

But this photo by Sin Wai Keung, which I was unaware of when I wrote the story in 2009, is just incredible. The scale is breathtaking - it feels like one man is taking on an entire army. I'll share more on this one in the future (working on a film 🙏🏻)... #TiananmenSquareMassacre

Here are the three major US newspapers the following day, June 6, 1989, and how they used the iconic "Tank Man" photo from #TiananmenSquare. The @nytimes published Jeff Widener's photo at the top of Page One...

The @latimes also used Jeff Widener's photo at the top of Page One. This is back when newspapers would only credit the news agency, not the photographer 👎🏻

The @washingtonpost used the "Tank Man" photo on the inside, not Page One (!!??), and published Arthur Tsang Hin Wah's version. They also used two video stills from the @AP.

@TIME did not use "Tank Man" on the cover of their June 12, 1989 issue. Instead, they went with this (warning) very graphic photo from the #TiananmenSquareMassacre by Mark Avery @averyphotog, shooting for the @AP:

However, @TIME did publish a cropped version of Stuart Franklin's "Tank Man" photo as a double truck in their June 19, 1989 issue... #TiananmenSquare

@TIME published a special edition on #TiananmenSquare June 19, 1989, but used an @abcnews video grab (have to assume that was a deadline issue):

@TIME published the "Tank Man" photo again January 15, 2001 on their International Edition cover. This time they went with Jeff Widener's @AP photo (the light pole is cropped).

Lastly, here is a link to my original story on "Tank Man" for the @nytimes in 2009 which led to the discovery of Terril Jones' photo from ground level. Thanks for reading and sharing. 🙏🏻lens.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/06/03/beh…