ARTH1100 History of Photography Spring 2016

The first time i saw Robert Cappa’s photograph I didn’t know if it was stage or not. After reading Richard Whelans article i believe that Cappa’s photograph is not staged. I came to this thesis because Captain Franks said that the soldiers fingers are curled towards his palm area. This only happens when a person is already. Which means that the soldiers was already dead when the photo was taken. This goes to show that a dead person cannot pose in a photo. In my opinion authenticity in photographs don’t really matter. Whether its real or not every picture has its own meaning. It also doesn’t have to be real in order for the photograph to send a message.

Robert Capa’s war photos were one of the most famous war photos. Why are they famous? the photos caused so much controversy of rather they were staged or not that it caused a lot of people to question Capa himself.  In Capa war series that was published,  there were a few photos that made people question the realism. There were two photos of soldiers getting shot and another photo of all the soldiers taking a photo together. I don’t think the falling soldier photograph is staged. I agree with the reading in the last few paragraphs, it tells of how the soldiers left hand is curled towards the palm which means it has gone limp which means the soldier was already dead. if this was acting a normal person would try to extend their hand to catch themselves has they fall like the soldier is the photograph. This is a reason that proves that this photograph is not staged.

At first when I saw this picture, I really couldn’t tell it was a falling solider who was captured in the middle of falling from a gun shot, until I saw it up close. You have to be so lucky to catch such a picture. There is no way it can be fake. He was just at the right place and took the picture at the right time. For a second the picture that Robert Capa shows in up close of the falling solider, the most decisive element in his reading is the soldier’s left hand. Franks (the chief homicide detective of the Memphis Police Department and a talented sculptor and photographer) believed that the fingers were somewhat curled toward the palm which indicates that the man’s muscles have gone limp and that he is already dead. Lets just say if that was true, how did he stand the dead person in an upward position? If you can’t explain that then the picture is 100% real. No matter what the article was detailing about how it can be fake I just couldn’t think otherwise. I don’t find Robert Capa’s arguments convincing. This photo was widely famous for a reason, its because everyone thought it was a cool and realistic looking picture and most thought it was not staged at all including me. I do believe authenticity matters and this picture does represent that. It’s a one of a kind and definitely real.

Although Whelan’s builds a good argument to prove Capa’s photo is fake, it does not convince me enough to support it. Capa’s photograph may seem fake to some extent because it only shows the soldier and nothing else or no one around. There is also the argument that there is no gunshot wound shown anywhere in the body which is one of Whelan’s arguments. I argue that death is unique in every way possible so one cannot judge how the soldier is positioned or falling. In Whelan’s argument, there is a close up of the soldiers hand and there is an explanation of how when a person dies the muscle of the body tighten up and the soldiers hand shows just that.

In history, many photographs have had controversies behind them and some of them were known to be more staged rather than authentic such as “Home of a Rebel Sharpshooter” and Alice Liddel as “The Beggar Maid.” After reading Richard Whelan’s article, I believe Robert Capa’s photographs are authentic. Whelan shows a convincing argument when Captain Robert L. Franks explains how in the picture, the soldiers fingers were curled towards his palm because of the body’s reaction to pain and falling. I agree how no one would really think about doing this when faking their death.

I believe that authenticity does help prove a point but I don’t think it actually matters. A photograph can show any picture as long as it sends the message of saying what it is trying to advertise. Sure it would be more convincing if it was real. For example, if dealing with a debt crisis, a staged photograph of a family sitting in the middle of a side walk with dirt on their clothes or even a person dressed in rags would definitely send the message saying that there is a depression going on. If they were actually poor and suffering from the depression, than yes, it’s even more convincing, but they both still send the same message.