Authenticity, I believe, has a strong correlation with trust, respect, and in Robert Capa’s case, evidence. for anyone to believe you and not have any doubt whatsoever in whatever you have to offer, they need to trust you or respect you. however, before they can, they need to build up that trust by seeing you have proof for your work. Unfortunately before this image, many people had no idea who Capa was or what he had to offer. also, since this was one of the first pictures that these people saw from Capa it meant that they had no reference to his ability. After reading the analysis I am convinced that this photo was not staged and it was indeed an authentic moment that Capa has captured. so good in fact that people had no choice but to doubt its authenticity as with all great works. Is authenticity important? In the subject, that is documentary photography I say that it is. the authenticity of a photograph is what makes the photograph. staging it immediately causes it to lose its meaning and its purpose, it no longer matters, it’s as if it never really happened because it didn’t. it’s no longer a sight to behold because there wasn’t a real sight to begin with. none but pure fantasy and imagination. documentary photography stands nowhere between them.
I agree, the audience built around the “Death of a Loyalist Soldier” question the authenticity because Robert Capa never build trust that’s why there so much controversy behind his work. I think that if people had an idea of his ability to capture such an image they wouldn’t had question the authenticity.