Questions about photojournalism and Capa

Firstly, my apologies if I've posted this is in the wrong place, or if this all sounds silly...

I was thinking about Robert Capa's images from the D-Day landing, and how he went in with the first wave of soldiers. Given that an extraordinary number of people died, I was wondering what would have set him apart from the other American soldiers, in the eyes of the German soldiers? Would it have been his uniform, or the fact that he had a camera rather than a gun?

I know that these days, combat photographers and war correspondents wear signage stating that they are journalists, but does any one know what Capa may have worn that day?

Given the volume of indirect fire, area of denial fire, and mines, I would guess that the biggest thing that set him apart from the dead and wounded was mostly the same thing that set everyone else who walked off that beach apart from them: They weren't overly unlucky?

I've never seen anything to suggest that photographers were given any more consideration on either side of the line than medics, and honestly I can't recall any period source suggesting photographers even specifically had the level of acknowledgement and expected protection that medics were supposed to have been given.

Then and now, keeping your head down and not drawing attention to yourself while in a war zone has been generally considered a good idea. The fact that he lived through things would suggest that he probably had a good understanding of the difference between cover and concealment, and wasn't overly prone to doing exceedingly foolish things. Exactly how 'foolish' it is to spend part of your life wandering around active battlefields holding just a camera is itself its own lengthy debate I think.

If you're seen while moving up and down an active line of fire during a battle then odds are someone on the other side is likely to try shooting at you before they stop to think "What's that guy holding". At 200 yards and behind some tall grass, the visual difference between a box of ammo and a camera isn't something that many are going to care about.


In modern conflict, the value of clearly distinguishing press from combat personnel is debated. - The journalist probably doesn't have much in the way of combat skills so they're an easy target, they might make a good hostage or source of intel if captured (Which is easier to do thanks to point 1), and wounding them potentially serves as something to tie up more resources than a normal soldier with western forces because getting your embedded journalist killed tends to generate rather bad press.

Did you read what happen with him (according to him) on this battle? It seems what you have illusion of Capa walking on the beach and taking pictures like on regular anti-trump NYkish burlesque. He wasn't. Read:
http://www.skylighters.org/photos/robertcapa.html

He just got lucky I assume. Those first landing craft to hit the beach, I'm guessing casualty rate was near 50%? I doubt the German soldiers were trying to ascertain what Capa was exactly doing with that camera.

I'm guessing it wouldn't have mattered since the Germans were spraying the beach from machine gun nests and blasting the landing zones with mortars. Other photos of him from that time period don't show any indicators though. Just a man in uniform bravely storming the beach with nothing but a lens. Photos of Capa I could find:

https://timedotcom.files.wordpress.com/2014/05/robert-capa.jpg?w=196
http://blog.volgyiattila.hu/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/robert_capa_partraszallas_fenykep-590x417.jpg

Ko.Fe. said:

Did you read what happen with him (according to him) on this battle? It seems what you have illusion of Capa walking on the beach and taking pictures like on regular anti-trump NYkish burlesque. He wasn't. Read:
http://www.skylighters.org/photos/robertcapa.html

Click to expand...

Wow! That's an awesome bit and gives some perspective. Always had this image of him dashing between steel barricades, but in reality he never even touched fully dry land. Thanks for sharing that.

piffey said:

Wow! That's an awesome bit and gives some perspective. Always had this image of him dashing between steel barricades, but in reality he never even touched fully dry land. Thanks for sharing that.

Click to expand...

At your service!
And, if I'm not mistaken, most of the frames he took where were destroyed by young technician who was ordered to rush the negatives developing.

Ko.Fe. said:

Did you read what happen with him (according to him) on this battle? It seems what you have illusion of Capa walking on the beach and taking pictures like on regular anti-trump NYkish burlesque. He wasn't. Read:
http://www.skylighters.org/photos/robertcapa.html

Click to expand...

This is fantastic, thank you!!!

piffey said:

I'm guessing it wouldn't have mattered since the Germans were spraying the beach from machine gun nests and blasting the landing zones with mortars. Other photos of him from that time period don't show any indicators though. Just a man in uniform bravely storming the beach with nothing but a lens. Photos of Capa I could find:

https://timedotcom.files.wordpress.com/2014/05/robert-capa.jpg?w=196
http://blog.volgyiattila.hu/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/robert_capa_partraszallas_fenykep-590x417.jpg

Click to expand...

It's crazy to think about. I can only imagine the passion he had for his job. Thanks for sharing those pictures, I haven't seen them before!

Luck.
Plus, his experience as a combat photographer may have helped a bit. Capa realized that the only way to really photograph this pivotal event was to be up-close on the beach with the first waves of soldiers. Photographing after the beach had been secured, or from a ship with a long lens was not going to cut it.

He knew the risks first-hand, as his partner Gerda Taro, herself an accomplished photographer, was killed by a tank in the Spanish Civil War. Capa's luck ultimately ran out in 1954 in Southeast Asia, when he stepped on a land mine, camera in hand.

Plus he was not in the first wave.

He wrote about his D-Day landing experience and it wasn't a good day, he went back to the UK with his films (which were damaged in processing). But he was a gambler with a high flying playboy lifestyle and knew he had to take chances to get his images.

Ian