Robert Capa

 "If your photo's aren't good enough,you're not close enough"
                                                                    
                                                                          -   Robert Capa


Robert Capa is a photographer I have always admired since seeing his work in an old and tatty photography book hidden behind a stack of artwork at my school.
         The book which focused on his images of the Second World War has falling apart but the images were as clear as day and as I picked them off from the floor I couldn't help but study them.
         Interested in the history of the Second World War I decided to do some research and was led to Magnum Photography where there was much more of Capa's work. I discovered about Capa's history and the conflict's he had been a part of and documented,I also learnt about his death and the quotation he is so famous for saying. 
       Seemingly drawn to conflict Robert Capa never seemed to let anything stand in his way,no matter how hard the fighting or the danger he threw himself in with the soldiers and was respected for it. This is one of the reasons why Capa is such an inspiration to me.
     He was afraid,this he has admitted time and time again in his books but still he went for it. On the Front lines,in the trenches,parachuting over France. Capa did it all and more and while doing it all he managed to capture some amazing images along the way.

 (On The Road to Messina,1943)

One such image is this one,the German prisoner of War. His face can tell you more than any history book. The strain around his eyes, the detached look,the stubble and dirt mixed together,the tatty uniform. All draw you to one conclusion,that whatever that one man has witnessed he never wants to experience it again. His facial features show that war is the worst creation of man.
       What i also find so intriguing about this image is not the questions it answers but the ones that it does not. I have looked and never have I found what happened to the prisoner, I want to know and yet feel i should draw my own conclusion. He has no name to me,just the prisoner. His life,it could be over now,it could have ended moments after the image was taken. Perhaps he escaped, it's something I will likely never know but it is an excellent image nontheless..