As one looks at the picture taken by Robert Cappa, “The death of a loyalist soldier” I can understand why they would bring up the argument that this picture was staged. Looking at it, we all have a perspective on what war is supposed to look like, either from books or movies. War is supposed to be this chaotic scene with bodies everywhere and things exploding, but this picture is totally different from what we are used to. The setting is calm and the soldier is falling with grace as if he is ready to go. After reading the article by Richard Whelans, I strongly agree that this photograph was not staged and that it was beauty caught in the right moment. The statements made by “Captain Frank ” stated that the solider fingers were already curled up towards his palm area signifying that, that’s what happens when a person is already dead. So therefor, when the photograph was taken the solider was already dead. In conclusion, I believe this picture is authentic and Robert Cappa did a great job bringing us this piece of history.
