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Re: [OM] Eisenstadt (Rosenthal and the Iwo Jima flag)

Subject: Re: [OM] Eisenstadt (Rosenthal and the Iwo Jima flag)
From: Christopher Biggs <chris@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: 21 Jan 2000 14:36:05 +1000
> John Hudson wrote:
> > 
> > I read somewhere that the famous shot of the US marines raising the stars
> > and stripes on Iwo Jima in WW2 was a very carefully posed and stage managed
> > affair.
> >
Gregg Iverson added:

> I've heard that too.  I wish I could pose people in a way that was so
> moving, even when viewing only the sculpture of the event.

That picture is by Joe Rosenthal.  I have an interview with Rosenthal
in front of me.

He says he wanted to photograph the flag raising but that it had
already happened.  However, the marines' commander saw the flag they
had raised and said "get a *bigger* one up there".  The idea was to
demoralized the Japanese resistance.

So Rosenthal went with the marines who were raising the new flag.  He
was chatting nearby with another photographer when they started to
raise it unannounced.  He was lucky to snap a single shot.

He says the reason for the dramatic pose is that it was *not* a normal
flagpole.  It was a 20 feet long piece of iron water pipe and *needed*
six straining Marines to lift it off the ground.

The interview is from issue 18 of "Better photography" (a quarterly
Australian publication) and was by Peter Adams.   This and other
interviews can also be found in Adams' book _A_Few_Of_The_Legends_.

cjb

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