Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2000/05/15

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Subject: [Leica] Capa & an auto-everything camera
From: Brougham <brougham3@yahoo.com>
Date: Mon, 15 May 2000 07:27:38 -0700 (PDT)

"B. D. Colen" <bdcolen@earthlink.net> wrote:

> Aw, come on...THE Life photographer at Omaha Beach, Robert Capa, got
> some iconic images - but I would argue that they are iconic images
> precisely because they came from the early hours of Omaha Beach...to
> argue that he wouldn't have done infinitely better - under those
> circumstances - if he could have kept the cameras dry enough - with a
> couple of F5s or EOS1nVs and wide aperture AF zoom lenses, is
> ludicrous on its face.

Maybe.

I have no idea what that must have been like to experience.  I've
never been in war, and I hope that my only experience with it is
through viewing pictures.

The closest I can come to even thinking about what it must have been
like is from seeing the opening of _Saving Private Ryan_.  And Capa's
blurry, not always well focused shots help give them flavor.  I'm not
sure that I'd want to see a series of motor-drive bursts which capture
a bullet exploding through somebody's skull, with the soldier's eyes
in perfect focus.  I'm not really sure such would have made Capa's
pictures any better.

Regardless of what tool he used, I'd agree with your assertion that
they are iconic simply because of when and where Capa was.  That he
was able to capture anything while all hell was breaking loose around
him is a testament to his skills.



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