Reading 3 | Rober Capa

PART 1: READING

1. Robert Capa is a name that has for many years been synonymous with war photography.

2. 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.

3. 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.

4. 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.

5. 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.

6. In 1947 Capa was among a group of photojournalists who founded Magnum Photos. This was

a co-operative organization set up to support photographers and help them to retain ownership of

the copyright to their work.

7. Capa went on to document many other wars. He never attempted to glamorize war though, but

to record the horror. He once said, "The desire of any war photographer is to be put out of

business."

8. 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.

9. 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, 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.

PART 2: VOCABULARY

1. Bonus points provide students with the incentive to study more industriously. ____________

2. The price reached its peak this year, much higher than in all of the other years. ____________

3. Electrical power is supplied by underground cables ____________

4. We were unable to move because of the density of the crowd. ____________

5. Thousands of buildings collapsed in the earthquake ____________

6. The first stage – the very young age of a kid after it was born – is infancy. ____________

7. Investigating further, we discovered that Carol was the one who took the call ____________

8. She demanded that he return the books he borrowed from her. ____________

9. Economic recovery is already underway, it’s getting better. ____________

10. The samples varied in quality, each had its own one. ____________

11. Myanmar is notorious for murdering and purchasing humans’ organs. ____________

12. I’m looking for an alternative venue in case this place doesn’t meet us. ____________

13. Reading and searching more helps reinforce my real-life knowledge. ____________

14. They are constructing another building for the project from last year. ____________
Reading 3 | Rober Capa

PART 3: CIRCLE THE CORRECT ANSWER

1. Capa adopted a more American-sounding name while attempting to establish himself in France

as a freelance journalist. ______

2. Despite initially pursuing photography in Hungary, Capa shifted his focus to writing upon

relocating to Berlin. ______

3. Capa believed that maintaining a safe distance was essential to capturing impactful war

photography, as reflected in his work from Spain. ______

4. A significant portion of Capa’s photographic work from the D-Day invasion was lost due to a

technical error during film processing. ______

5. Capa's D-Day photographs were sharply focused and widely praised for their technical

perfection by Life magazine. ______

6. Capa maintained a discreet personal life, avoiding involvement with celebrities or including his

relationships in his published work. _______

7. Despite vowing to stop photographing wars, Capa accepted a final assignment in Indochina,

where he died in the line of duty. ______

8. Capa’s work glamorized war and celebrated the thrill of combat, which earned him lasting fame

in photojournalistic circles. ______

9. The Robert Capa Gold Medal is awarded for outstanding international photojournalism that

demonstrates extraordinary bravery. ______

10. The text focuses on Robert Capa’s life as a war photographer, emphasizing his desire to

glamorize war, ignoring the human impact, and his minimal influence on photojournalism. ______