The Truth in Photography & Digital Manipulation debate:
Robert Capa: The Falling Soldier.
Robert Capa: The Falling Soldier.
When looking at an image one often wonders if what they are
looking at is real or whether it has been staged or manipulated in any way,
especially in today’s time of technology. One of the most famous pictures in
debate, taken by Robert Capa titled ‘The Falling Soldier’ during his document
of the Spanish Civil War in September 1936, has been the centre of much speculation
that it was in fact staged rather than an actual man being shot dead by an
enemy sniper.
The main arguments about this image are that it wasn’t actually taken in Cerro Muriano like Capa had said, but in fact taken in a town 35 miles away called Espejo, Capa is said to of passed through the town early in September 1936 and during that time not a single gun-shot had been fired during the beginning of the conflict, so the soldier would not have been shot by the enemy. It has been speculated that the image and the others in the series he did on the Spanish Civil War are all staged. People have suggested that maybe the soldiers he was photographing were not in the ‘heat of battle’ but instead during an exercise where Capa shot the images and got them to stage it all as if in battle.
After reading two news articles on the subject one that discussed the image in a negative light – bent on trying to prove whether the image was fake or real, then another article that discussed the image in a positive light with appreciation and looked at it for what it is – a single image that is now iconic rather than a visual document.
The main arguments about this image are that it wasn’t actually taken in Cerro Muriano like Capa had said, but in fact taken in a town 35 miles away called Espejo, Capa is said to of passed through the town early in September 1936 and during that time not a single gun-shot had been fired during the beginning of the conflict, so the soldier would not have been shot by the enemy. It has been speculated that the image and the others in the series he did on the Spanish Civil War are all staged. People have suggested that maybe the soldiers he was photographing were not in the ‘heat of battle’ but instead during an exercise where Capa shot the images and got them to stage it all as if in battle.
After reading two news articles on the subject one that discussed the image in a negative light – bent on trying to prove whether the image was fake or real, then another article that discussed the image in a positive light with appreciation and looked at it for what it is – a single image that is now iconic rather than a visual document.
The first article was from the New York Times website from
back in August 2009. The article was very well presented with a lot of information
and research to back up the theory of the image by Capa being faked.
The second article was from LIFE.com, the image was
originally used for a LIFE magazine article in June 1937 on page 19 with the
bold caption ‘ROBERT CAPA’S CAMERA CATCHES A SPANISH SOLDIER THE INSTANT HE IS DROPPED BY A BULLET THROUGH THE HEAD IN FRONT OF CORDOBA.’ In the article with
regards to the debate of whether or not the image was in fact real or faked,
LIFE.com’s argument was that the image is just an image and pretty much that we
shouldn’t think too much about it. Maybe that’s because they were the
publication that released the image so they are trying to save the ‘integrity’
of the magazine perhaps and that’s why they are defending it?
But maybe the reason that Capa submitted the image was just
to keep to his assignment and give the magazine what they wanted? In my opinion
I do believe that the image could have been faked but more for reasons that the
photographer was trying to keep to his assignment brief.
When I look at an image I do wonder a lot these days If what
I am looking at is real or modified, a lot of magazines and newspapers make you
see what they want you to see, a photographer can take an image and very easily
change it in any photo editing software programme, they can remove people out
of a picture or they can add people in to a picture, so it does often make you
question if you are looking at a real image or a fake one. I can understand
that image manipulation may be necessary in some situations but not all. When a
photograph has been changed I believe it is no longer a photograph because it’s
not genuinely portraying the truth because that didn’t happen… In the case of
‘The Falling Soldier’ image I don’t believe this is the case because it shows a
man falling over, the lie is that the information provided alongside the image in
the article was false.
Newspapers often use digitally manipulated images alongside
their articles; I came across a link on google from The Telegraph’s website of
some famous images that have been digitally manipulated.
I think it is wrong when a person gets photo-shopped in to a picture that wasn’t actually there
if its representing a serious news article, its presenting a false account of
what happened and is basically a lie. So it does make you think about any
photos you see in the news and whether or not it’s a real image. It means that
they could make up a story and manipulate an image to go with it. I personally
think that images in newspapers and magazines should not be allowed to be
photo-shopped purely for the reason of fake stories being told and then people
believing it.
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