In 1925 "Leica" produced the first 35mm camera ever in history of photography.
It was Made by the German optical works of E. Leitz. It used a rail of 35mm film to
provide 36 exposures. A new era of handy little portable camera had started and helped
very much to establish a new dimension for Photojournalism.
Correspondents now became more free and had greater maneuvering capabilities in covering
their assignments.
Robert Capa
One of those photographers who took advantage of this revolutionary step, is Robert Capa.
I consider him to be one of the most important war correspondents in the 20th century.
His real name was "Andre Friedman" who has been born in Hungary for
Jewish parents. left Hungry to avoid the Regime in control there when he was 18 years
old. He ended up in Berlin were he studied political science at the Deutsche Hochschule
für Politik from 1931 till 1933. He then worked in Germany as a photographer then the
Nazi Regime came to power so he moved to France in 1933 were he met his Polish fiancée,
Gerda Taro.
He invented the name and persona of Robert Capa and established himself as a press
photographer in Paris where he moved with his lover Gerda Taro.
Then both of them traveled to Spain immediately after the outbreak of civil war in
1936 to photograph the republican resistance against General Franco's fascist takeover.
Both were shooting for different magazines.
The First Female Journalist To die In Action
As for Gerda Taro, she had a horrible accident when a tank went out of control
and crushed her. She was almost the first female photojournalist ever to die as a
war correspondent in history.
His Fame
There in Spain, Capa made perhaps his most famous war photograph: Republican
Militiaman at the Point of Death. It shows the soldier's body crumpling in midair
after being hit.
Controversial
However, these series of shots he took to the militiamen in which 2 soldiers
died while surprisingly he managed to take shots for them even before they touched the
ground, had raised an ethical debate that lasted for more than 25 years and maybe till
now.
Some people questioned the genuineness of the two photos claiming that the soldiers
faked their falling in front of Capa to give him the action he needed to shoot.
They claimed the 2 soldiers fell in the same spot in photos 2 & 3. (inspect by
yourself)
Others didn't question the soldiers real death, but made Capa ethically responsible
for what happened to them as they were posing for him (as he probably asked for
that himself) while Capa was safe from fire down in trench. (inspect photo 1 to see
how the angle of the shot was taken from down up as he was hiding down there.
Not to mention that the old-fashion camera he was using, definitely didn't have any
automatic adjustments nor multiple shooting mood which made shots like these
extremely difficult at that time. That's why some people suspected they were genuine!
That was one of the earliest controversial photojournalism issues that discussed the
ethics of the profession as well as the photographer.
More controversially enough, you would be surprised to know that Capa had covered a
number of wars and battles from mid 30s to mid 50s that possibly no photographer
did in one life time!
From the civil war in Spain to WWII in Europe, Cicely, North Africa, to Palestine war
and even the Japanese-Chinese war till the Vietnam war.
Capa was embedded with the first wave of the American/allies troops during the
great invasion to Normandy taking one of the most famous photos in war ever. Not to
mention he was facing death like any other soldier beside him. He was shooting during
the attack itself not after.
The slightly blurred photos showed how his hand was a bit shaking (and who
wouldn't). Also the attack was at dawn and sure there wasn't enough light to ensure higher
shutter speed.
"Close enough" rule!
Capa set one of the first and most important rule in the world of photojournalism
and most dangerous for war correspondents : "If your pictures aren't good enough,
You aren't close enough".
I believe he made it hard for photographers to catch up with what he once did. Yet he
provoked and inspired all who tried to follow this "close enough" rule he set,
creating what I'd call: " Capa Syndromes"
Indeed he was close enough in all the wars he covered. Close enough to step over a mine
filed in his last photo assignment in Vietnam as he died still holding his camera tight.
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