Robert Capa

 

Robert Capa (born Endre Ernő Friedmann 1913 -1954) was a Hungarian combat photographer and photojournalist; On June 6, 1944 (D-Day) he swam ashore with the second assault wave on Omaha Beach, but instead of guns and weapons he was armed with two Contax II cameras mounted with 50 mm lenses and several rolls of spare film. Thanks to him we have today one the most real and intense war reportage of all times. There are different explanations about why his photos are so blurred, the official story is that most of his photos appears out of focus because a darkroom assistant in London, when processing Capa's images, had used too much heat and the emulsions melted.  Because of that error, of the 106 photographs Capa took that day only eleven survived. Someone says (and Capa himself) that it’s a stylistic choice, since the out of focus best represents how those moments were lived by the american soldiers; That is also why he decided to call his book “Slightly Out of Focus”. Someone else explain that Robert Capa's hands were badly shaking in the excitement of the moment (something which he denied). This is one of these cases were reality mixes up with legend, and we probably won’t ever know the truth about this, but what we surely know is how important his photos are, as historical documents and as photographic and artistic works. Director Steven Spielberg used Capa's photos to depict his WWII scenario in "Saving Private Ryan". More in the next page.

Robert Capa | Magnum Photos | Slightly Out of Focus