9.10.11

The Great Capa

" I hope to stay unemployed as a war photographer till the end of my life."
(Robert Capa)


On May 25, 1954, the career of Robert Capa, whose exploits as a war photographer had made him a legend in modern photography, came to an abrupt end when he stepped on a land mine on an obscure battlefield in Indochina.


(FRANCE. Normandy. Omaha Beach. The first wave of American troops lands at dawn. June 6th, 1944.)



(April 1943.The American fighter ace, Pilot LARDNER in the cockpit, with swastikas and Italian fasces showing how many enemy planes he had shot down.)



 (ISRAEL. Haifa. Immigrants arriving at Sha'ar Ha'aliyah at the camp of Rosh Hay'n, where they had to stay until housing was found for them.)


In 1954 Capa went to Japan with a Magnum exhibition. While he was there, Life suddenly needed a photographer on the Indochina front. Capa volunteered. But it was one war too many. His luck ran out on May 25. They found him still clutching his camera.



(INDICHINA. On the road from Namdinh to Thaibinh. A French military convoy. May 25th, 1954.)



(CHINA. Hubei. Hankou. Second Sino-Japanese War (1937-1945).)



Robert Capa (1913 - 1954)