Today I discovered the works of late Italian photographer Luigi Ghirri, who´s considered to be a pioneer and master of contemporary photography:

Luigi Ghirri (1943 – 1992) was an Italian photographer who, beginning in the 1970s, produced pioneering color photographs of landscape and architecture within the milieu of conceptual art. Ghirri’s photographs are presented with a deadpan, often ironic wit and always consider the tenuous balance between people and their surroundings. He worked in series, photographing parks, beaches, and urban scenes of his native Italy, producing modestly sized, meticulously made prints. His use of color has been lauded for its capacity to express “both prescience and nostalgia” in its distinct encapsulation of the first wave of color photography.

Ostiglia, Centrale Elettrica (Power Plant), 1987. Image via Artuner:

Luigi Ghirri spent his working life in the Emilia-Romagna region of Italy, where he produced one of the most open and layered bodies of work in the history of photography. Although he exhibited extensively during his lifetime and was at the height of his powers when he died in 1992, it has only been after his untimely death that his true achievement has begun to be appreciated. In 2008, the Aperture Foundation produced the first book on Ghirri in English, and in 2010, Thomas Demand organized the acclaimed exhibition La Carte d’Après Nature around the Ghirri’s photographs. His work was featured in the 2011 Venice Biennale, and in 2012 the exhibition Luigi Ghirri – Project Prints was held at the Castello di Rivoli in Turin. The largest exhibition of Ghirri’s oeuvre opened April 2013 at the MAXXI Museum in Rome. Ghirri’s photographs were exhibited at the 2013 Venice Biennale.

Ile Rousse, 1976. Image via ArtReview:

Featured image: Salisburgo (Salzburg), 1977. Image via artCore.

Via Circa 1983 posted on ISO50.

Related:

• Luigi Ghirri: Kodachrome
• Luigi Ghirri - Artuner
• Luigi Ghirri - ISO50

A couple of years ago an image of a Macgyver Multitool circulated on the Internet. To my great disappointment I found out today that this was indeed just another hoax. I got my hopes up, but it quickly faded away. I must admit, I really wanted to have one of thoose.

The MacGyver Multitool (image via Bit Rebels):

Maybe I may have more luck finding me some new Chuck Norris Action Pants, great for my yoga practice. They did exist after all:

Maria Popova from Brain Pickings gives us an insight into the daily working habits of well-known writers. The post is so good, it became a difficult task to choose which portion I wanted to publish here. I went ahead with the advice of writer E.B. White:

I never listen to music when I’m working. I haven’t that kind of attentiveness, and I wouldn’t like it at all. On the other hand, I’m able to work fairly well among ordinary distractions. My house has a living room that is at the core of everything that goes on: it is a passageway to the cellar, to the kitchen, to the closet where the phone lives. There’s a lot of traffic. But it’s a bright, cheerful room, and I often use it as a room to write in, despite the carnival that is going on all around me. A girl pushing a carpet sweeper under my typewriter table has never annoyed me particularly, nor has it taken my mind off my work, unless the girl was unusually pretty or unusually clumsy. My wife, thank God, has never been protective of me, as, I am told, the wives of some writers are. In consequence, the members of my household never pay the slightest attention to my being a writing man — they make all the noise and fuss they want to. If I get sick of it, I have places I can go. A writer who waits for ideal conditions under which to work will die without putting a word on paper.

Featured image: E.B White in North Brooklin, Maine 1976. Photograph by Jill Krementz.

Image via Painting Box.

Related:

• Virginia Woolf on the Benefits of Keeping a Journal
• Ernest Hemingway´s Productivity Trick to Avoid Writer´s Block

Artist Erykah Badu is interviewed by Origin Magazine about a number of things such as motherhood, family, food and spirituality:

Breathing is my way of life. As a vocalist, just as a person who’s main focus is evolving, breathing—that’s my meditation. I enjoy yoga classes. I walk in meditation. I dance. I’m a ballerina. Modern jazz and tap. But I would love to get into a good yoga class if I can stay focused and breathe. I love the connection I have with myself every time I take a yoga class. It’s a very nice remembering, remembering the parts of me. You know what I mean?

But I walk and breathe in meditation. Another meditation I do: when I walk I count my steps, so I’m really in the here and right now. Another meditation I do is try to stay out of my mind as long as I can, as an exercise, so I don’t believe everything I think. I do many different things. Many different exercises that keep me focused.

Image credit: The images of Erykah come from the Givenchy spring 2014 campaign shoot by Mert and Marcus.

Actress Judy Greer visits a school and talk to students about their experience from doing Transcendental Meditation. Judy has herself meditated for over two years and got curious about the David Lynch Foundation´s The Quiet Time program:

This is one of five episodes in a series called In Short in which producer Christine Vachon let actors create their own short-documentary.

Tip: See also my post "Transcendental Meditation and the Alternatives".

Journalist Ester Honig´s project Before and After is interesting indeed. She hired photo retouchers from countries all over the world with just one request: make me beautiful! The results differ greatly:

In the U.S. Photoshop has become a symbol of our society's unobtainable standards for beauty. My project, Before & After, examines how these standards vary across cultures on a global level.

Freelancing platforms, like Fiverr, have allowed me to contract nearly 40 individuals, from more than 25 countries such as Sri Lanka, Ukraine, The Philippines, and Kenya. Some are experts in their field, others are purely amateur.

Freelancing platforms, like Fiverr, have allowed me to contract nearly 40 individuals, from more than 25 countries such as Sri Lanka, Ukraine, The Philippines, and Kenya. Some are experts in their field, others are purely amateur.

United States:

Below is a selection from the resulting images thus far. They are intriguing and insightful in their own right; each one is a reflection of both the personal and cultural concepts of beauty that pertain to their creator.

Photoshop allows us to achieve our unobtainable standards of beauty, but when we compare those standards on a global scale, achieving the ideal remains all the more elusive.

Bangladesh:

Via @slarkpope.

Learned a few fun facts from the new Swedish TV show Retro. You know the famous dance scene from the movie Flashdance (1983)? Some of the dancing is done by Crazy Legs (Richard Colón) from the American b-boying crew and hip hop group Rock Steady Crew, the group behind the hit single (Hey You) The Rock Steady Crew (video). The day before the shooting of the scene he tried to learn the actors Jennifer Beals and her body double, the French actress and dancer Marine Jahan, how to perform the dance, but after failing numerously times they showed up the next day all bruised up:

But it was Beals's final scene wherein she got the most help. Jahan performed most of it, but certain moves required specialized expertise. Gymnast Sharon Shapiro performed the flips, and one certain breakdance move was done by a male breakdancer -- Colón himself. "Being the first person in hip-hop to dress in drag -- I had to deal with that for years," the 47-year-old joked.

The producers of the film didn't plan to put Colón in the pivotal scene but were forced to out of necessity. No one could learn his backspin move, he recalled. He remembered Jahan and Shapiro showing up with bruises on their hips after many failed attempts to follow his breakdance coaching.

It happened:

When Colón was finally approached to dress and dance as Beals's character, he said with a laugh, "I just rubbed my fingers together because of that money," explaining that it was a lot to ask of a Puerto Rican teen from the Bronx to shave his legs, underarms, and mustache. "Especially the mustache because … I was a young kid and I'm finally getting my little machismo thing going on. And now, I have to shave my mustache off."

Here´s the whole dance scene. Skip to 3:43 to see Crazy Legs:

You can see more of the Rock Steady Crew in the grafitti documentary Style Wars from 1983 (video).

Featured image: Rock Steady Crew performs in Flashdance (video).

Related reading:

• 1980s NYC subway photos

In a commercial for one of the largest bookmakers, a wingsuit jumper is seen flying daring close to the statue of Christ the Redeemer. I´ve somehow mistakenly thought this was a trick, but I was obviously wrong:

A longer version of the video can be seen here.

On of the people in the footage is Norweigan skydiver Jokke Sommer. I enjoyed watching him in the TV series Oppdrag Sognefjorden (intro video), here seen doing a flyby over the cast of the show:

And to finish off, GoPro footage with Jokke navigating the mountains of Hintisberg, Switzerland:

Related:

• Amazing Free Solo Climb by Alex Honnold
• Mast Walk by Yachtsman Alex Thomson

Boiler Room showed a nice and mellow live performance by Tycho. For thoose of you who doesn´t know, he´s both a skilled musician and a graphic designer. I´ve been enjoying his music and designs for years. Happy listening!

Featured image: Photograph by @ISO50.

Related:

• MWL Live Interviews Scott Hansen/Tycho (video)
• Tycho Scenestar Interview -The Echoplex, Los Angeles (video)

Stringbean Coffee Company was started in the Summer 2011 by musician and artist Peter Cohen, who after more than 14 years as a commercial banker turned his passion into making coffe in ways that both preserve the taste and the environment. It doesn´t hurt the package is visually pleasing too!

It all started with the Redeye Roast:

Via @Andy.

Eric Shaw from Prasana Yoga has posted photos of Marilyn Monroe doing yoga. As Eric mentions, these poses might be coincidental to yoga poses, but Marilyn Monroe told the press in 1956 that yoga was something she did regularly. Either way, the photos are beautiful and cheerful. I haven´t been able to track down the photographer of the images which is a bit unfortunate, since this often opens up a floodgate of images to discover.

Marilyn in Headstand Shirsasana VII:

Marilyn in Halasana Plow Pose:

Featured image: Marilyn in Sukhasana Easy Pose.

Via DoYouYoga.Com and @EkhartYoga.

I saw these coins during one episode of Antiques Roadshow. I liked them instantly, thought they were beautiful and somewhat special because of their special history. Thankfully, it´s easy to buy them from different outlets. The coins were used by coal miners as an advance on wages and goes by many names:

These tokens, also known as Scrip, Dingles, Clackers and many other names, were issued by coal companies as an advance on wages when miners needed to buy mining supplies for their work, food or necessities for their home, pay rent on the company owned home, obtain medical care or almost any other aspect of life in a company town. Of course, they could only be used at company stores, where prices tended to be high. The value of the scrip would then be deducted from a miners pay on payday. Miners could easily “owe their soul to the company store”. Metal tokens were widely used from the 1920’s to the 1950’s. During World War II fiber scrip was introduced in order to save metal. Most tokens had the name of the mine or store on it, and were often punched with the mine number or initials of the town.

5 cent clacker. The New River Company, Glen Jean, West Virginia. Via ebay user creelbm:

50 cent clacker. Citronelle Turpentine Company, Mobile County, Alabama. Via Collecting Alabama:

Claire Hoffman has written about her meeting with Eckhart Tolle back in 2008. Some things in the article might surprise you, e.g. the authors tensed encounter with Tolle´s wife. It´s a balanced article with a very good ending. Food for thought! I have a copy of Tolle´s book myself, and find it true to try to stay mindful often, but I also think it´s easy to get lost in teachings like this and setting the bar a little too high sometimes, we´re only human after all:

Lying in bed with my new baby girl here in 2013, I’ve thought about that caveat of Tolle’s. As if he had foretold it, I’m a totally different person than I was five years ago, with a totally different life. My Now can’t possibly be the Now of 2008. It’s my responsibility to think about the future and the past as I help create a history for two little girls. It’s my job to worry about unseen danger and to think ahead for them and try to guide them toward their destinies.

I hope that we will all someday look back at 2008 (the peak of the Tolle phenomenon) as also the last gasp of a culture seeking to live unencumbered by lessons of the past or repercussions for the future. I don’t hold Tolle personally responsible for his phenomenon, but I do think his spiritual message, while well-intentioned, might have inadvertently provided the cover for an unhealthy, unbridled Now. I heard Ray Kurzweil on the radio the other day predicting that in a few short decades devices like Google Glass would disappear and simply be programmed molecules flowing through our blood streams, flowing into our brains. With that as the potential future, how can we think the answer is to focus on the present?

Like anyone, I dedicate much of my life to the pursuit of happiness, of self-realization, or whatever you want to call it. But these days, I’ve grown weary of Tolle’s message and all the conflict that comes with it. As sentient beings living in a complex and increasingly fucked-up world, how can we possibly tell ourselves that being present is the end-all?

As I said goodbye to Tolle that day, he seemed to sense I wasn’t entirely convinced. He reassured me that letting go of thought doesn’t mean becoming a puddle of a person. “I believe there’s a vast intelligence beyond the human brain,” he said. “The important thing is not to get trapped in this little instrument for which intelligence expresses itself, but to be consciously connected with that. Consciousness itself underlies everything.” As he talked, I found myself momentarily soothed, hypnotized. He told me there are black holes inside of everyone, and that there was one inside of me. He told me the universe told him to take this interview and that what I was going to write would be profound. As I walked to the door he stopped and gave me a polite hug that suddenly felt important. His dog rollicked at our feet. I walked away, and for a while, didn’t think anything at all.

I never wrote Tolle’s story. I came home to a largely blank notebook, devoid of any real notes or analysis. Being in the Now had rendered me impotent.

Featured image: Eckhart Tolle photographed by Kevin Steele via Spirituality & Health.

Yesterday I watched the wonderful documentary Finding Vivian Maier. The documentary is by itself a true work of art, and tells the faschinating story about the previously un-known street photographer Vivian Maier, born in New York. With her somewhat mysterious persona: wearing some odd choice of clothes; spoke with a french accent; working as a nanny; it all add up to an interesting story, but there´s also a darkness simmering just beneath the surface:

Vivian Maier (February 1, 1926 – April 21, 2009) was an American street photographer born in New York City. Although born in the U.S., it was in France that Maier spent most of her youth. Maier returned to the U.S. in 1951 where she took up work as a nanny and care-giver for the rest of her life. In her leisure however, Maier had begun to venture into the art of photography. Consistently taking photos over the course of five decades, she would ultimately leave over 100,000 negatives, most of them shot in Chicago and New York City. Vivian would further indulge in her passionate devotion to documenting the world around her through homemade films, recordings and collections, assembling one of the most fascinating windows into American life in the second half of the twentieth century.

Love this one! Chicago, August 1975 (source):

In Finding Vivian Maier, Maloof teams with producer Charlie Siskel to uncover this mystery. Following clues, they trace Maier’s history through New York City, France, and Chicago. Maier was an inveterate wanderer and self-taught photographer, favouring a Rolleiflex twin-lens reflex camera, with an uncanny ability to get close to people from all walks of life. Her artful and comic eye calls to mind the photography of Berenice Abbott and Weegee. Thanks to Maloof’s efforts, critics and galleries have now rallied behind Maier’s work, and The New York Times recognized her as “one of America’s more insightful street photographers.”

But as Maloof meets people who knew Vivian, new questions arise about her life and work. The families who employed her as a nanny have mixed memories, and hint at her dark side. Would she have even wanted this attention? Answering that question depends on how you interpret different bits of evidence. Regardless, it’s a wonder to behold the world through Vivan Maier’s eyes.

New York, NY (source):

Featured image: Self-Portrait, 1954 (source).

A study from Uppsala University, Sweden, shows that a good night´s sleep significantly affects your health for the better:

A new study from Uppsala University, Sweden, shows that one night of sleep deprivation increases morning blood concentrations of NSE and S-100B in healthy young men. These molecules are typically found in the brain. Thus, their rise in blood after sleep loss may indicate that a lack of snoozing might be conducive to a loss of brain tissue. The findings are published in the journal SLEEP.

Fifteen normal-weight men participated in the study. In one condition they were sleep-deprived for one night, while in the other condition they slept for approximately 8 hours.

“We observed that a night of total sleep loss was followed by increased blood concentrations of NSE and S-100B. These brain molecules typically rise in blood under conditions of brain damage. Thus, our results indicate that a lack of sleep may promote neurodegenerative processes”, says sleep researcher Christian Benedict at the Department of Neuroscience, Uppsala University, who lead the study.

“In conclusion, the findings of our trial indicate that a good night’s sleep may be critical for maintaining brain health”, says Christian Benedict.

Featured image: Sweet Dreams (1957) by Chaloner Woods/Hulton Archive via SodaHead.

In George Clarke's Amazing Spaces we got to see artist Stephen Turner´s environmental friendly houseboat The Exbury Egg, which took 6 months to build with the use of 8km of cedar:

This giant floating egg on the River Beaulieu could well be Hampshire's quirkiest living space.

It may look like it comes straight from the set of a low-budget science fiction movie, but the giant wooden pod cost £40,000 to build and will in fact be the home and workspace of artist Stephen Turner, 58, for the next year.

Interior and hammock:

The 40ft self-sustaining structure, which is registered as a boat, floats up and down with the tide and is designed to have minimal environmental impact. Stephen hopes to highlight climate change while living there.

Images via FWD Home.

James Clear has written a great article in Huffington Post about the importance of positive thinking and how it impact your skills and talents for the future. The article is based on the research by positive psychology researcher Barbara Fredrickson from the University of North Carolina and her findings are exciting read:

Fredrickson tested the impact of positive emotions on the brain by setting up a little experiment. During this experiment, she divided her research subjects into five groups and showed each group different film clips.

The first two groups were shown clips that created positive emotions. Group 1 saw images that created feelings of joy. Group 2 saw images that created feelings of contentment.

Group 3 was the control group. They saw images that were neutral and produced no significant emotion.

The last two groups were shown clips that created negative emotions. Group 4 saw images that created feelings of fear. Group 5 saw images that created feelings of anger.

Afterward, each participant was asked to imagine themselves in a situation where similar feelings would arise and to write down what they would do. Each participant was handed a piece of paper with 20 blank lines that started with the phrase, "I would like to..."

Participants who saw images of fear and anger wrote down the fewest responses. Meanwhile, the participants who saw images of joy and contentment, wrote down a significantly higher number of actions that they would take, even when compared to the neutral group.

In other words, when you are experiencing positive emotions like joy, contentment, and love, you will see more possibilities in your life. These findings were among the first that suggested positive emotions broaden your sense of possibility and open your mind up to more options.

But that was just the beginning. The really interesting impact of positive thinking happens later...

Featured image: Balloon Dancers by Philip Gendreau.

Shirts with a twist from Thug Life. Here, a shirt to wear when your blood sugar levels are stable:

So true:

Via A Cup of Jo.

Karl Pilkington has been a favorite of mine since watching the first season of An Idiot Abroad. These fictional motivational posters of his, is just great fun.

Digital Marketing Strategist CamMi Pham has written a nice and well-researched article about how to be productive while still mantaining your health and spirit:

There’s a notable distinction between being busy and being productive. Being busy doesn’t necessarily mean you’re being productive. Being productive is less about time management and more on managing your energy. It is the business of life. We need to learn how to spend the least amount of energy to get the most benefits. I am so lucky to work with an amazing team here at Filemobile. Everyone always challenges me and helps me sort my priorities to become more productive. I learned to reduce my work week from 80 hours to 40 hours, and get a lot more work done in the process. In other words, less is more.

Featured image by Viktor Hanáček.

Via @aplusk.

iPhone Photography Awards has been running since 2007 and by that the longest running iPhone photography competition out there. This year´s competition had some amazing photography, it´s incredible that these photos have been taken by tiny iPhones.

Yilang Peng won the category Architecture:

Featured image by Tracey Renehan.

Take a tour to Italy and watch these beautiful towns, that according to Buzzfeed are out of this world.

San Quirico d’Orcia photographed by Tommy Clark:

Lake Misurina via imagenesygraficos.com:

Featured image: Manarola photographed by Cornelia Doerr - Getty Images.

Zena Holloway is the photographer who specializes in underwater photography and her work has been seen in many editorials and ads. My personal favorite is the series with the divers.

A bit crowded. Image via semiaquatic-ancestors.nl:

A sense of freedom and space. Series Nudes:

Featured image: Diver at 75 meters depth in the Red Sea.

During a visit to Spain´s highest mountain El Teide, Norweigan photographer Terje Sørgjerd, had the good fortune to capture on camera a large sandstorm that first hit the Sahara Desert, filling the Canary sky with a beautiful golden light:

This was filmed between 4th and 11th April 2011. I had the pleasure of visiting El Teide. Spain´s highest mountain @(3718m) is one of the best places in the world to photograph the stars and is also the location of Teide Observatories, considered to be one of the world´s best observatories.

The goal was to capture the beautiful Milky Way galaxy along with one of the most amazing mountains I know El Teide. I have to say this was one of the most exhausting trips I have done. There was a lot of hiking at high altitudes and probably less than 10 hours of sleep in total for the whole week. Having been here 10-11 times before I had a long list of must-see locations I wanted to capture for this movie, but I am still not 100% used to carrying around so much gear required for time-lapse movies.

A large sandstorm hit the Sahara Desert on the 9th April and at approx 3am in the night the sandstorm hit me, making it nearly impossible to see the sky with my own eyes.

Interestingly enough my camera was set for a 5 hour sequence of the milky way during this time and I was sure my whole scene was ruined. To my surprise, my camera had managed to capture the sandstorm which was backlit by Grand Canary Island making it look like golden clouds. The Milky Way was shining through the clouds, making the stars sparkle in an interesting way. So if you ever wondered how the Milky Way would look through a Sahara sandstorm, look at 00:32.

For thoose of you who want more time lapse footage from Tenerife, watch Gunther Wegner´s work.

Via Hyllat.

It´s not a new phenomena that food and beverage companies market their products as something healthy. Coca-Cola´s latest "healthy ad" was not well received and got banned in the UK, something I to a certain degree applaud. I wish to see people well, not unwell:

Earlier this year, Coca-Cola began running TV ads here and in the UK showing you all the fun activities you could do to burn off the extra calories you consumed while chugging down a Coke. But regulators overseas have since banned one version of the ad saying it misled viewers into thinking they could work off a can of soda with a lot less exertion than is actually required.

The ad, which you can see above, says that one can of Coke is equivalent to 140 calories — or as the ad puts it “140 fun calories,” which are much less boring than your standard calories.

It then shows captions like “25 minutes of letting your dog be your GPS” (or walking the dog, in non-ad parlance), “10 minutes of letting your body do the talking” (better known as dancing), “75 seconds of laughing out loud,” and “1 victory dance.”

Coca-Cola’s intention with the ad was to show that doing all of these things combined would add up to 139 calories, but many viewers didn’t notice the “+” flashing between each caption and complained to UK ad regulators that the ad was saying you could burn off 140 calories just by laughing for 75 seconds — which, by the way, is a long time to laugh; go ahead and try it if you don’t believe me.

Here is the banned video:

But, I must admit! I´m a sucker for all these great vintage Coca-Cola ads. Can spend hours looking at them.

Featured ad: Coke Drive Safely... Drive Refreshed (1953) via TJS Labs Gallery of Graphic Design.

Related:

• Watch What Happens When You Boil Coca-Cola

Huffington Post´s article about how you can increase your happiness by doing a few simple things is a good read. However, I do find the tips in the article are great pointers toward living a fuller life, including happiness.

Here are the steps mentioned in the article for increasing your happiness:

• Exercise more - 7 minutes might be enough
• Sleep more - you'll be less sensitive to negative emotions
• Move closer to work - a short commute is worth more than a big house
• Spend time with friends and family - don't regret it on your deathbed
• Go outside - happiness is maximized at 13.9°C
• Help others - 100 hours a year is the magical number
• Practice smiling - it can alleviate pain
• Plan a trip - but don't take one
• Meditate - rewire your brain for happiness
• Practice gratitude - increase both happiness and life satisfaction

Featured image: Three Happy Boys by Frank Meadow Sutcliffe. Found via Blue Ridge Vintage.

More on All Good Found:

• Eight Weeks to Happiness
• Ways to Learn How to Do Mantra Meditation

Before the days of using iPdads, laptops and mobile phones, the computers we used back then, seem now to more resemble something to be found in the laundry.

These were some sturdy machines:

Desk of the future:

Original scans from davidguy.brinkster.net.

Sycamore Street Press is a small paper company operating out of Utah by husband and wife Kirk and Eva Jorgensen and their small team. I really appreciate their hand-lettered cards and monogram custom stamps.

Bear Monogram Custom Stamp:

Fox Hello Card:

Found via A Cup of Jo.

Artist Jim Bachor creates his work by using tile mosaics. After a harsh Chicago winter, his work extended to filling up potholes and decorating them with mosaic:

After one of the most brutal winters in over 30 years, Chicago’s streets are pockmarked with an estimated 600,000 gaping potholes, making some streets almost impassable and raising the ire of residents citywide. The issue is so prevalent that the city even created a dedicated Pothole Tracker that shows potholes patched by the Department of Transportation over the last seven days. But some Chicagoans are more proactive and aren’t content to wait for help. One such person is artist Jim Bachor who has taken to filling potholes with original tile mosaics.

A Chicago pothole at Pearson & Wabash got a bit more beautiful:

The piece You Are What You Read that explores Americans’ fascination with supermarket tabloids:

Photo of Jim taken by Kate Sierzputowski.

Story via Inhabitat.

The images of the Tank Man of Tiananmen are surely one of the most iconic of our modern age. Alone he managed to halt the onrushing tanks during the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989. I´ve always found this man brave, but I´ve also been thinking of the tank driver who choosed in this instance to save a life. Hopefully, we might in a near future witness an reunion between the two. As of today, the identity and fate of the tank man is unclear:

Few images are more recognizable or more evocative. Known simply as “tank man,” it is one of the most famous photographs in recent history.

Twenty years ago, on June 5, 1989, following weeks of huge protests in Beijing and a crackdown that resulted in the deaths of hundreds, a lone man stepped in front of a column of tanks rumbling past Tiananmen Square. The moment instantly became a symbol of the protests as well as a symbol against oppression worldwide — an anonymous act of defiance seared into our collective consciousnesses.

“It all started with a man in a white shirt who walked into the street and raised his right hand no higher than a New Yorker hailing a taxi,” James Barron wrote the following day in The New York Times. The picture appeared on the front page of this newspaper as well as in countless other publications around the world.

To this day, the identity and fate of the man in the picture remain unclear. A riveting documentary, “The Tank Man,” by PBS Frontline in 2006 explored his fate. Yet still no one knows for certain who he is or what exactly happened to him. The image is largely blocked on the Internet in China. Despite its iconic status and historical significance elsewhere, most young people there do not recognize the photograph.

Here is the video footage:

Featured image via Agonistica and photographed by Stuart Franklin.