ROBERT CAPA

October 22, 1913 – May 25, 1954

Biography

Robert Capa was a Hungarian–American war photographer and photojournalist. He is considered by some to be the greatest combat and adventure photographer in history.

Friedman had fled political repression in Hungary when he was a teenager, moving to Berlin, where he enrolled in college. He witnessed the rise of Hitler, which led him to move to Paris, where he met and began to work with his professional partner Gerda Taro, and they began to publish their work separately. He subsequently covered five wars: the Spanish Civil War, the Second Sino-Japanese War, World War II across Europe, the 1948 Arab–Israeli War, and the First Indochina War, with his photos published in major magazines and newspapers. He was killed when he stepped on a landmine in Vietnam.

Capa was born into a middle-class Jewish family in Budapest, where his parents were tailors; Capa’s mother was a successful fashion shop owner, and his father was an employee of her shop. Capa had two brothers: a younger brother, photographer Cornell Capa and an older brother, László Friedmann. Cornell moved to Paris in 1936 to join his older brother Capa, where he found an interest in photography instead of staying in the field of medicine. Not much is known of Capa’s older brother László, except that he married Angela Maria Friedmann-Csordas in 1933. He died a year later and was buried next to his father in the Kozma Utca Jewish Cemetery.

At the age of 18, Capa moved to Vienna, later relocated to Prague, and finally settled in Berlin: all cities that were centers of artistic and cultural ferment in this period. He started studies in journalism at the German Political College, but the Nazi Party instituted restrictions on Jews and banned them from colleges. Capa relocated to Paris, where he adopted the name ‘Robert Capa’ in 1934. At that time, he had already been a hobbyphotographer.

Capa is known for redefining wartime photojournalism. His work came from the trenches as opposed to the more arms-length perspective that was the precedent. He was famed for saying,

If your pictures aren't good enough, you aren't close enough.

The origin of the quote can be traced back to an interview Capa gave to the journalist Richard Whelan in 1947 for the book “The Bitter Years: Edward Steichen and the Farm Security Administration Photographs.” In the interview, Capa discussed his experiences photographing the D-Day nvasion during World War II. When asked about the close proximity of his images, Capa replied, “The pictures are there, and you just take them. If your pictures aren’t good enough, you’re not close enough.”

Over time, the quote has become synonymous with Capa’s approach to photography and his bold, immersive style of capturing images in the midst of intense situations. It is often cited as an inspiration for photographers, emphasizing the importance of proximity and intimacy with the subject matter to create powerful and impactful photographs.