Robert Capa

 “If your pictures aren’t good enough, you’re not close enough”

This well known quote has its merits and it has its shortcomings. No doubt if you are using the much lauded 35mm prime lens for Street Photography it is important to get close to the subject of the photo in order to avoid including unnecessary, unwanted and distracting aspects of the scene. However, other longer lenses might lead to too tight a crop and not enough space around the subject. So too close or too far away may be the downfall of a potentially good photo.

Fortunately, Robert Capa, the photographer, has a lot more to give us than an over used and not very useful quotation. He was perhaps the greatest war photographer of all time. I say perhaps as not everyone is convinced about the genuineness of the man himself. He was born in Budapest, Hungary in 1913 under the name of André Friedman. As a young man he had to live on his wits and belonged to a street gang. His father was an compulsive gambler and adventurer. As an eighteen year old he moved to Venice and then Berlin. Political science studies at the University were not to his liking and he ended up working in the photo lab of Dephot. This was a foot in the door and gradually he started to work for other photographers like Felix Man, a photojournalist. While working for Simon Guttmann he was sent on an assignment to photograph Trotsky when he was giving a lecture on the Russian Revolution. Capa had managed to get really close to Trotsky and his photos had impact which led to his first publication. Capa, as a Hungarian Jew, had to leave Berlin with the rise of the Nazis. Moving to Paris he met Gerda Pohorylle, a Germa Jew who had also moved to Paris for similar reasons, and between them reinvented themselves with a common name Robert Capa. André Friedman, as he was still called and Gerda, became Robert Capa. In time Gerda invented herself as Gerda Taro, leaving André to keep the name Robert Capo that they had originally shared together. This ability of Robert Capa to reinvent himself and the confidence he had in himself was to be important in his career as a photographer.

 While Capa literally meant a shark, the name Robert Capa was chosen to sound American. This false name was to represent a famous and well paid American Photographer. Capa had guts and determination, but did this capacity to deceive also influence his work as a photographer? One of the most important photos made by Robert Capa was of “The falling soldier” during the Spanish Civil War. The photo was published in magazines in France and then by Life magazine and Picture Post. It was meant to portray the death of a Republican soldier. Its authenticity was later questioned. Evidence suggested it was a staged photo and was taken away from the scene of war.

 Capa, Taro, and Chim (David Seymour) worked closely together. During the war Taro died when the motor vehicle on which she was travelling collided with an out-of-control tank. Life published an article about Hemingway and his time in Spain, along with numerous photos by Capa.

In 1938, Capa traveled to the China to document resistance to the Japanese invasion. Some of these images were published in Life magazine. At the start of World War 2, Capa moved to New York City and undertook several trips to Europe photographing the theatre of war. The most memorable photos were taken on D-day at Omaha beach. Of 106 photos taken only 11 survived as the rest were ruined in a London laboratory. The slightly blurred images of war, taken in immensely dangerous circumstances which made holding a camera steady nigh on impossible, add to the drama of these photos.

 In Paris Capa had got to know Henri Cartier-Bresson. Later in 1947, Capa, Chim, Cartier-Bresson, Bill Vandivert and wife, Rita, and Maria Eisner got together to create Magnum, the famous photography cooperative. Seemingly the name ‘Magnum’ came from an occasion when a magnum of champagne was uncorked and someone shouted magnum. Inventing names seemed to be something that Capa was good at. He photographed war and suffered from it. Not only did he die at the age of 40 when he stepped on a landmine in Indochina, but he also suffered from the stress of witnessing war. He resorted heavily to drinking, sleeping with prostitutes, and gambling. Nevertheless, his photographs have given us the raw feelings that war provokes. Capa worked with Hemmingway and then later with Steinbeck, travelling with him to the Soviet Union in 1947. When Robert Capa died in 1954 Steinbeck was devastated. He remembered him as a friend and accomplished artist who could photograph feelings of gaiety and heartbreak. He could photograph the thoughts of man. He could show the whole horror of a people.

Eric Kim summarised Robert Capa’s contribution to photography:

‘Even though his personal past is littered with scandals, gambling, and other illicit activities– his deep human empathy and compassion was evident through his actions and images. He mentored many younger photographers and took them under his wing all of whom became great photographers. His images also show deep love of his subjects, and he often put his life on the line to create the most dramatic images of war (to show all the horrors and ills of it).’

https://erickimphotography.com/blog/2014/05/30/8-lessons-robert-capa-has-taught-me-about-street-photography/

According to Kim while Capa was still alive, he mentored many new Magnum recruits– including Eve Arnold, Elliot Erwitt, Burt Glinn, Inge Morath, and Marc Riboud.