Tiananmen square expat photographer dies in Bali

spicyayam

I am sure he had some great stories. Did anyone here know him?

American photojournalist Charlie Cole, whose career will forever be associated with the iconic photograph of the “Tank Man”, the Chinese office worker facing down a column of tanks during the 1989 Tiananmen Square crackdown, died in Bali last week. Cole, 64, a Bali resident for more than 15 years, was one of four cameramen who took similar shots of the scene — his taken with a telephoto lens from a Beijing Hotel balcony — but it was his tight framing of the event that is believed to have won him the 1989 World Press Photo of the Year award. Cole later recalled watching the man in a white shirt walk into the centre of Changan Avenue as the armoured vehicles approached: “I kept shooting in anticipation of what I felt was his certain doom. But to my amazement the lead tank stopped, then tried to move around him.”

Zimbo

Yes, I knew him well and flew back from work for his funeral. We spent a lot of time together over bourbon, blues and barbecues. Every famous picture he took (and there were quite a few of them) had a wonderful anecdote to go with it. He made the cover of Newsweek 3 times and won the Associated Press award and one from the BBC for the Tank man photo. I surely will miss him. [ATTACH alt="3347"]3347[/ATTACH][ATTACH alt="3344"]3344[/ATTACH][ATTACH alt="3345"]3345[/ATTACH][ATTACH alt="3346"]3346[/ATTACH]