The Greatest War Photograph and Robert Capa

Before reading the article, I never questioned if Capa’s photograph was staged or not. In my opinion it looks like he was at the right place, at the right time. The solider looks like he was just shot and he was ready to break his fall. The way his body is positioned is a natural position when someone is falling on their back side. He’s ready to let his gun go and you can see the painful expression on his face about to come up. Whelan’s arguments were convincing but I don’t think they really mattered. I do however agree with Whelan when he states “Federico could have posed for the photograph before he was killed,” and maybe that’s why he was posing that way. Robert Capa had a great reputation in the photography world, so even if some accused him of staging a historic image, it didn’t affect the way people saw him.