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8 - Robert Capa Reading 4

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37 views2 pages

8 - Robert Capa Reading 4

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Faculty of Letters & Human Sciences Reading Comprehension & Précis

Department of English Studies Course: Prof: Basma Afassi

Robert Capa
Robert Capa is a name that has for many years been synonymous with war photography. Born
in Hungary in 1913 as Friedmann Endre Ernő, Capa was forced to leave his native country
after his involvement in anti-government protests. Capa had originally wanted to become a
writer, but after his arrival in Berlin had first found work as a photographer. He later left
Germany and moved to France due to the rise in Nazism. He tried to find work as a freelance
journalist and it was here that he changed his name to Robert Capa, mainly because he
thought it would sound more American.
In 1936, after the breakout of the Spanish Civil war, Capa went to Spain and it was here over
the next three years that he built his reputation as a war photographer. It was here too in 1936
that he took one of his most famous pictures, The Death of a Loyalist Soldier. One of Capa‟s
most famous quotes was “If your pictures aren't good enough, you're not close enough.” And
he took his attitude of getting close to the action to an extreme. His photograph, The Death of
a Loyalist Soldier is a prime example of this as Capa captures the very moment the soldier
falls. However, many have questioned the authenticity of this photograph, claiming that it was
staged.
When World war II broke out, Capa was in New York, but he was soon back in Europe
covering the war for Life magazine. Some of his most famous work was created on 6th June
1944 when he swam ashore with the first assault on Omaha Beach in the D-Day invasion of
Normandy. Capa, armed only with two cameras, took more than one hundred photographs in
the first hour of the landing, but a mistake in the darkroom during the drying of the film
destroyed all but eight frames. It was the images from these frames however that inspired the
visual style of Steven Spielberg's Oscar winning movie „Saving Private Ryan‟. When Life
magazine published the photographs, they claimed that they were slightly out of focus, and
Capa later used this as the title of his autobiographical account of the war.
Capa‟s private life was no less dramatic. He was friend to many of Hollywood‟s directors,
actors and actresses. In 1943 he fell in love with the wife of actor John Austin. His affair with
her lasted until the end of the war and became the subject of his war memoirs. He was at one
time lover to actress Ingrid Bergman. Their relationship finally ended in 1946 when he
refused to settle in Hollywood and went off to Turkey.
In 1947 Capa was among a group of photojournalists who founded Magnum Photos. This was
a cooperative organisation set up to support photographers and help them to retain ownership
of the copyright to their work.Capa went on to document many other wars. He never
attempted to glamorise war though, but to record the horror. He once said, "The desire of any
war photographer is to be put out of business."
Capa died as he had lived. After promising not to photograph any more wars, he accepted an
assignment to go to Indochina to cover the first Indochina war. On May 25th 1954 Capa was
accompanying a French regiment when he left his jeep to take some photographs of the
advance and stepped on a land mine. He was taken to a nearby hospital, still clutching his
camera, but was pronounced dead on arrival. He left behind him a testament to the horrors of
war and a standard for photojournalism that few others have been able to reach.
Capa‟s legacy has lived on though and in 1966 his brother Cornell founded the International
Fund for Concerned Photography in his honor. There is also a Robert Capa Gold Medal,
Faculty of Letters & Human Sciences Reading Comprehension & Précis
Department of English Studies Course: Prof: Basma Afassi

which is given to the photographer who publishes the best photographic reporting from
abroad with evidence of exceptional courage. But perhaps his greatest legacy of all are the
haunting images of the human struggles that he captured.
1. Choose the option that best conveys the meaning of the underlined words:
A. broke out: 1. started 2. ended 3. exploded 4. Revealed
B. retain: 1. improve 2. sell 3. preserve 4. criticize
C. testament: 1. exam 2. experiment 3. proof 4. opinion
D. legacy: 1. souvenir 2. law 3. history 4. Heritage
2. Answer the following questions in your own words:
A. Why did Capa leave his mother country?
B. What does “The Death of a Loyalist Soldier” reveal about Capa’s way of taking
photographs?
C. What can you infer from the text about Capa’s personality?
3. Paraphrase the following sentences:
A. However, many have questioned the authenticity of this photograph, claiming that it was
staged.
B. He was taken to a nearby hospital, still clutching his camera, but was pronounced dead on
arrival.
C. But perhaps his greatest legacy of all are the haunting images of the human struggles that
he captured.
4. Summarize paragraph 8 in about 40 words.

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