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|| SportsShooter.com: Member Message Board
Was Robert Capa's Famous Civil War Photo a Fake?
William Maner, Photographer
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Bradly J. Boner, Photographer, Photo Editor
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Jackson | WY | USA | Posted: 10:08 PM on 07.25.09 |
| ->> *Sigh* - This again? |
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Robert Hanashiro, Photographer
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Los Angeles | CA | | Posted: 11:30 PM on 07.25.09 |
->> I took a class a couple of years ago from an art historian that was preparing to publish a paper on this (often debated) topic.
While I was like many photographers and groaned to myself about this when she brought up the topic ... but she had a collection of interviews and actual Capa letters about the truth behind the famous "Fallen Soldier" photograph that were both interesting and disturbing.
Bottom line, the material she presented was pretty convincing that the photograph was indeed staged and not what it appeared to be.
You're now asking "who was this art historian"? and I will have to do some digging around my personal papers to find my notes on this.
HOWEVER, without the photographer here to defend and explain the photograph, we can never really know the truth.
For me, I came away from the lecture still believing that the photograph depicted war at its most basic level: Death.
If I can come up with the paper the historian published, I will try to link it here. But this debate will never end... |
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Bradly J. Boner, Photographer, Photo Editor
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Jackson | WY | USA | Posted: 1:34 AM on 07.26.09 |
->> "Bottom line, nothing can be conclusively proven..."
"Bottom line, the material she presented was pretty convincing that the photograph was indeed staged and not what it appeared to be."
Wait... now we have two bottom lines. This is getting confusing already... |
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Mark Loundy, Photo Editor
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San Jose | CA | USA | Posted: 2:50 AM on 07.26.09 |
->> I recommend the Capa bio "Blood and Champagne" by Alex Kershaw. It devotes an entire chapter to "The Falling Soldier." There are many accounts of the circumstances surrounding the image and Capa himself gave completely contradictory statements about it.
The truth is out there, but we'll never be able to ferrett it out from the confusion of lies, misinformation and disinformation that surrounds it.
The book's account of Capa's private family burial in New York is quite touching to me as it mentions that a young photographer showed up, uninvited, to the ceremony. The photographer was the then-18-year-old Dirck Halstead who later won the Robert Capa Medal for his coverage of Vietnam.
--Mark |
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Bradly J. Boner, Photographer, Photo Editor
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Jackson | WY | USA | Posted: 12:22 PM on 07.26.09 |
| ->> Indeed the truth is out there... I think we were all a little bummed when the now-famous "Mexican Briefcase" didn't contain the roll of negs from the Falling Soldier shoot. Ah well... the debate rages on. |
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John Bowersmith, Photographer
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Lubbock | Tx | USA | Posted: 2:24 PM on 07.27.09 |
->> "There is more going on than just getting at the truth," says Sebastiaan Faber, a Civil War scholar and professor of Hispanic Studies at Oberlin College in Ohio. "In the reactions to these latest revelations there is a clear undertone of irritation and indignation, an underlying accusation of opportunism: Capa as an unscrupulous, deceitful foreigner who made his career off the Spanish Civil War." He adds: "This is one more chapter in the Spaniards' long struggle to regain control over the story of their civil war, reversing the notion that only foreigners have access to the 'truth about Spain.'"
Unscrupulous, deceitful foreigner? What does that make Hemingway? |
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John Germ, Photographer
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Wadsworth | Oh | USA | Posted: 2:34 PM on 07.27.09 |
| ->> I say let "Mythbusters" take a crack at it. |
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G.J. McCarthy, Photographer
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Dallas | TX | Lower 48 | Posted: 2:42 PM on 07.27.09 |
->> "Unscrupulous, deceitful foreigner? What does that make Hemingway?"
Ha -- I had the EXACT same thought. Great minds ...
It is indeed sad to read this and other accounts of "ethical issues" with the aforementioned image. While, for me, it does taint both the photograph and the photographer, it doesn't really harm the legacy Capa left behind -- Magnum, as well as one of the most-uttered photo phrases ever (you know ... the one about good photos and proximity?).
Also, don't forget that the ICP (no, not the clown heavy metal band) basically sprang forth from a fund that was created on Capa's behalf courtesy his younger brother, Cornell.
Cheers,
- gerry - |
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Gary Mills, Photographer
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Culver | IN | USA | Posted: 2:55 PM on 07.27.09 |
->> Over twenty years ago I was attending a photo seminar in Chicago.
Once everyone was settled, and only minutes before the speakers appeared, a man in front of me leaned over to his companion and said, "I need to let everyone see that I'm here".
He casually walked down the aisle next to us, between the front row seats and stage, up the center aisle to the back of the auditorium then back down to his seat.
I found out later that was Cornell Capa.
If Robert was willing to stage a photo for the spotlight, then self-absorbtion must be a family trait. |
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Manuello Paganelli, Photographer
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Los Angeles | CA | USA | Posted: 8:44 PM on 07.29.09 |
->> Like most photographers I had always love the work of Capa but I also understand how his “moment of Death” could be seen as a set up.
Capa was an expert in disguise. Born Endre Friedmann in Budapesh then running out of there and settling in Paris.
In France tough and hungry times where his companions so making a living, as a photographer was very difficult. A turn of events took place at the start of the Spanish Civil War when he commenced calling himself Robert Capa.
He would go back and forth as to where the name came from and wasn’t always clear. In the USA he claimed that it came from Frank Capra. In Spain he would passed as Roberto Capa (cape is capa in Spanish) and Franco's officers would wear capes and Matadors would fight with them. And in France it would be another explanation.
What is certain is that the name was a mutual creation between him and his lover Gerda Pohorylles. The new alter ego worked magic from a marketing and financial view. The name had class, style and an international Latin flavor that appealed to him and everybody else. Ironically around the same time Ms. Pohorylles turned into GerdaTaro. Does Greta Garbo come to mind?
Before the Spanish Civil War Capa was selling his images for next to nothing as Endre Friedmann in Paris or printing for other photographers. Then once the lovers invented this new cosmopolitan photographer Gerda would act as his agent and would go around to the top publications selling the new “Robert Capa” images for a value four or five times more than what the poor emigrant Endre Friemann was getting.
It was a perfect “Hollywood” marketing. There were also times when the publishers wanted to meet this famous Capa yet Ms. Taro would sideline the request by saying that he was out of the country shooting across the world or in the trenches of Spain. Clearly too busy for any meetings. Other times as Endre Friedmann he would tell those same publishers that he was Capa’s darkroom man and that Capa’s was busy shooting in Spain and sending his film back. Main while when Capa was in Paris and in desperate need for cash, which was often, as Friedmann he would still shoot mundane Parisian stories for his usual low fees.
For most of his life Andre, Robert and Gerda lives was a love triangle. A ménage a trois of sorts. It was a fantasy in search for fame, which was well live but also, brought conflicts and awkward moments. Think of Bruce Wayne and Batman minus the trust fund.
Capa was also known for exaggerating his stories and spicing things up to the point that after a while he would believe them too. He was very flamboyant, smart, good looking and a great talker. The kind of friend to hang out and have fun with. The friend who "When Robert Capa talks people listen to."
Even if his image was staged he was a brilliant go getter photographer and his D-Day photos are some of the most powerful war images of all time. Sadly he died too young.
He also paved the road for many of us and fought for photographer’s rights, credit line and better payment. He wanted respect and fame, that he earned, even if it was done due to the creation of his alter ego.
Robert Capa was everything that Endre Friedmann could had only dream of and part of that is in all of us.
More 2 Come
Pag
www.ManuelloPaganelli.com |
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Jeff Martin, Photographer
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wellington | OH | usa | Posted: 3:03 PM on 11.16.09 |
->> Brings up the question that haunts photojournalism's credibility today.
If he faked that shot, what about all the others?
We'll never know for sure if the shot was faked. |
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Brian Hollingsworth, Photographer
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Austin | TX | USA | Posted: 4:40 PM on 11.16.09 |
->> The most important lesson I take away from this is that photojournalism has been dogged by accusations of duplicity and fakery long before the digital age.
It all boils down to how much you trust the person who took the photo and moved the file. Our integrity and reputation are more valuable assets than our gear.
I would like to believe that Capa's photo was real. I think his reputation as someone who went to great lengths to get a powerful photo justifies us giving him the benefit of the doubt. However, the tenets of photojournalism that we take for granted were just being formed during that period, and Capa was definitely known to be a great self promoter. If there was any deception my guess is that the label was given to the photo as that of a dying soldier and as Capa saw his own success rise as a result he did nothing to correct the erroneous caption. |
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Jeff Martin, Photographer
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wellington | OH | usa | Posted: 7:03 PM on 11.16.09 |
->> "If there was any deception my guess is that the label was given to the photo as that of a dying soldier and as Capa saw his own success rise as a result he did nothing to correct the erroneous caption."
If he staged the photo, that reasoning doesn't really wash. He caused the erroneous caption. |
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