Photographer Tells Story Behind Powerful Image of Man Calmly Facing Super Typhoon
Last week in China, a press photographer’s powerful image of a man calmly facing enormous waves whipped up by Super Typhoon Ragasa in Hong Kong went viral across the country.
South China Morning Post photographer Elson Li got the front page with his photo taken near the Tseung Kwan O Cross Bay Link.
“As soon as I got there, the wind and waves were already very strong,” Li says in a YouTube video. “Then, from about 130 feet away, I saw a man. He was the only person on the entire promenade.”
Li, along with colleagues, were trying to get closer to the promenade, but they had to hold onto each other as the waves crashed in. “I tried to call out to him to see what he was doing,” Li says of the man. “But he probably couldn’t hear me because of the chaos.”
After retreating to take photos of the damage being done to restaurants and shops on the promenade, he returned to see that the man was still there, sitting on a bench.
“Suddenly, a big wave came,” Li says. “He was blown away by the wave to about four or five meters away. But he managed to get back to his feet. When the wave retreated, he wasn’t dragged out.”
Li shouted out to the man, “This position is very dangerous. Why don’t we get back to a safe place together?” However, the man looked at Li blankly, not responding to him.
Instead, the wave kept battering the bench where the man was sitting, continuing to knock him over. But the railing prevented him from being swept to sea.
Li says that even he was astonished by the photo on the back of his camera, and only afterward did he realize how powerful the single frame was.
“And this man was so calm and composed, as if the waves had nothing to do with him,” Li adds. “He was just sitting there. At the moment I took the photo, I couldn’t imagine I had captured it.”
Li says he was excited that he caught such an amazing photo while also being concerned for the man’s safety, who continued to ignore the photographer’s presence.
The Elephant in the Room
Although Li did not mention this in the video, saying only that he has thought about the ethics of the photo and whether it “encourages others to do these things,” many beneath the YouTube video alluded to why the man might have been out there.
“The photo doesn’t just depict the danger of a storm, but it actually shows the danger of losing motivation to live,” writes one person. Others described it as “sad and hopeless,” saying it shows a man “who has nothing to lose.”
Suicide is a taboo topic in China and is not openly discussed. Li may have been hinting at it, skirting the issue. Media organizations, even in Hong Kong, are tightly controlled by the Chinese Communist Party.
Nonetheless, the image is surely one of the best news photos of 2025. Many in the YouTube comments called for it to win a Pulitzer.
If you are in crisis, call the toll-free National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-TALK (8255), available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. The service is available to anyone. All calls are confidential.
Image credits: Elson Li / South China Morning Post
