Robert Capa, War Photographer

If your pictures aren’t good enough, you’re not close enough – Robert Capa

Robert Capa documented 5 wars before stepping on a landmine in the French Indochina War, a precursor to the U.S. involvement in Vietnam. He first gained recognition in 1936 for a photograph taken during the Spanish Civil War, The Falling Man. His notoriety came during World War II, landing on the beaches of Normandy with the second wave on D-Day. Unlike the majority of troops landing on the beaches that day, Capa volunteered. He took well over 100 photographs but only 11 survived a lab accident. These photographs appeared in Life and became known as the “Magnificent Eleven“. He also covered the Second Sino-Japanese War, the liberation of Paris, post-war Soviet Union with John Stienbeck, the Arab invasion of Israel, and excursions with “Papa” Hemingway in Idaho.

His life is fascinating and if you want to read more about it, check out Blood and Champagne by Alex Kershaw or Slightly Out of Focus, a memoir by Robert Capa.

The Falling Man