


This murder trial photograph ran double truck in "The Day in the Life of China" book in 1989. Sixty photographers from outside China were invited in to shoot for this book. Five judges on a panel try a man for murder over stealing tennis shoes in Tsing Tao, China. I was in this position as I was circling the room, having just been behind the bench and shooting with a motor drive along with strobes which would never have been permitted in the U.S. My Chinese guide from the Ministry of Propaganda asked if I wanted them to do it again because I only made one frame of the quick gesture. I declined. So the ultimate edit is when one only shoots one frame even after having traveled half-way around the planet.
Jim Mendenhall