Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2006/03/20
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]Well, Walt, for whatever it's worth - After years of dispute about, and questioning of the Capa "dying soldier," a couple years back Capa biographer Richard Whalen seems to have finally established that the image was genuine. Whalen tracked down the unit in question, and established that the right soldier had been shot in that manner in the right place on the right date. As to the HCB shot...as I've heard the story, numerous people were jumping across the puddle, and HCB shot through a fence as they did. Apparently this was one of a number of puddle-jumping attempts he shot...at least that was his story and he was sticking to it. I think we sometimes forget how well people used to do with simple equipment, no motor drives, etc. There was a book I remember seeing in the 60s of spectacular photos of a game played in snow and mud - I think it was the 1958 sudden death playoff between the Giants and the Baltimore Colts, sometimes referred to as the greatest football game ever played. Anyway, the images are still with me - and I'll bet most of them were shot without motors. Hell, some may have been shot with Speed Graphics....;-) So could HCB have actually seen and shot that jumper? Sure. Now if you want to talk about setting things up, let's talk about another of the true greats - Gene Smith. ;-) On 3/20/06 9:39 PM, "Walt Johnson" <walt@waltjohnson.com> wrote: > B.D., > > Now that we are back on course and discussion images I have a question. > Do you think the Saint-Lazare puddle jumper was a set up? Know anyone > quick enough to get a scene like that with an old 1930s Leica? If it > were a situation expected to occur then maybe but slice of life??? > Another questionable image is Capa's /Loyalist Soldier /bitting the > dust. Having seen a sequence of that take I'll never believe it is real. > > Would be very interested in your opinion.... Really admire HCB and Capa > and don't think these instances made them less than great. As you know, > sometimes we get carried away with enthusiasm. Can you imagine Capa > returning home from Spain and finding fame waiting there? Sure, he is > going to jump in with both feet and say "hey fellas, that guy didn't > really get shot". Well, at least when we die and get to Photographer > Hell we can ask them in person. > > Walt > > > > B. D. Colen wrote: > >> As I always tell my students - the "decisive moment" isn't the moment you >> release the shutter, it's the instant when you see the photographic >> possibilities in a situation and start working it. Think of the HCB photo >> of >> the guy jumping the puddle - the decisive moment was that instant when he >> saw the puddle through the fence, and realized what he could make of it. >> The >> photo of the bike going past the bottom of the staircase? That would be >> the >> moment he realize that the stair case and the curved street could yield a >> visually interesting image - because of course we know that HCB was far >> more >> interested in form, light, shapes and shadow than he was in people and >> events. ;-) >> >> >> On 3/20/06 7:42 PM, "Ted Grant" <tedgrant@shaw.ca> wrote: >> >> >> >>>> HCB contact sheets. He said he was amazed at what a prolific shooter >>>> HCB > >>>> was- shot after shot after shot after shot of the same subject, worked >>>> >>>> >> >> >> >> _______________________________________________ >> Leica Users Group. >> See http://leica-users.org/mailman/listinfo/lug for more information >> >> >> >> > > _______________________________________________ > Leica Users Group. > See http://leica-users.org/mailman/listinfo/lug for more information