Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2000/03/15

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Subject: [Leica] capa
From: Guy Bennett <guybnt@idt.net>
Date: Wed, 15 Mar 2000 11:49:44 -0800

>I just read an "autobiography" of Capa, called something like "Slightly out
>of Focus".  It makes for great reading of Capa's WW2 adventures, until you
>read the liner notes that claim that the book was originally written as a
>possible screen play, and that Capa made no attempt to be historically
>accurate, to put it mildly.
>
>Dan C.


is his bio of r capa (knopf, 1985), richard whelan repeatedly states that
capa definitely cultivated a 'personality,' and had no qualms about
embellishing the story of his life, whenever he felt it was necessary to do
so. apparently, it frequently was.

guy


p.s. on a capa-related note, while wandering through père lachaise cemetary
in paris one afternoon last summer, i came across the tomb of gerda taro,
capa's lover, who was crushed by a tank in spain in 1937, where she was
photographing the fighting near brunete. capa would later claim that after
gerda taro's death, he felt he had nothing to lose, and went on to lead the
reckless life for which he would become famous.