Thirty years on, the Tiananmen Square image that shocked the world

Photographer Jeff Widener explains how a series of mishaps meant it was almost the picture that got away A solitary figure in a white shirt and black trousers clutches a bag and stands in front of a column of halted tanks, a cluster of street lights floating to one side like balloons. The man's shoulders are rounded, almost passive in front of the four tanks whose gun barrels are raised as if in an ironic salute. Thirty years on from the violent crushing of pro-democracy protests in Tiananmen Sq...