At 15:37 12/9/02, John Hudson wrote:
> miliciano
>
> = member of a militia
There is respectable commentary on the web suggesting that Capa's famous
photo, like that of the US Marines' flag raising on Iwo Jima, is posed and
stage managed, shot during a lull in the fighting on the Republican front.
The soldier in Capa's photo was a member of the Republican army that
ultimately lost to Franco's Nationists.
jh
Still looking for the specific camera make/model used to make the photo
that launched Capa into fame. I do know numerous photographs of Capa with
a camera taken during WWII unquestionably show a Zeiss Ikon Contax II.
As to both the Iwo Jima and Capa's photograph, neither were staged or
otherwise faked.
The True Iwo Jima Story:
The U.S. Marine Corps has the orignal B&W negative of the Iwo Jima
photograph, along with other stills made at the time from different angles,
and a reel of color motion picture film, all of the same flag raising. It
was, however, the SECOND flag raising on the summit. There are also still
photographs of the first flag raising. When the admiral in command of the
landing saw the small battle flag, he ordered it replaced with a larger one
so it could be seen better. The famous photograph is of the second
one. The motion picture film and other stills show clearly that it was not
staged or faked. The photographer's positioning and timing were
impeccable. The Navy released the now famous photograph after reviewing
the stills done of both flag raisings. One look through the Navy's archive
leaves little doubt as to why this particular photograph was chosen for
release. It stands out among all of them. All the others look bland by
comparison. BTW, the photographer of the second raising ended up working
for the photographer of the first flag raising after the war.
Capa's Spanish Republican Photograph:
This was not staged or faked either. Some number of years later, the
soldier was identified, his marked grave located and relatives of him
confirmed he did indeed die on that day and in that battle.
There are other controversies also, such as the Life Magazine cover
photograph showing the sailor kissing the nurse on VE day. That was not
staged either. Indeed, a Navy photographer also caught the same thing from
a slightly different angle as the Life photographer and he worked their way
down the street. Both had the presence of mind to go out hunting for photo
op's when word of the street celebration reached them. Have
photojournalists staged, faked or otherwise performed undue darkroom
manipulation? Certainly. However, these are definitely *not* among the
hoaxes.
-- John
< This message was delivered via the Olympus Mailing List >
< For questions, mailto:owner-olympus@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx >
< Web Page: http://Zuiko.sls.bc.ca/swright/olympuslist.html >
|