Shooting for the Moon

THE NAME CAPA evokes a vision of this giant photojournalist wading through war zones with bombs blasting, bullets flying, tanks roaring, with bodies strewn everywhere and nothing daring to touch this fearless man.

Like most artists who die at the height of their fame, Robert Capa has acquired a mythical persona which totally distorts the real man in the view of both his admirers and critics. But it was more than his coverage of battlefields which created this myth. Capa himself incessantly worked at building and maintaining this mythical image of almost god-like stature. Robert Capa, who some have called the greatest war photographer of all time, was a man by himself, for himself.

Capa was a pioneer of photojournalism and has served as the role model for many photojournalists. Thousands of photographers have been inspired by his fearlessness and courage in covering battlefields from the Spanish Civil War to the Indochinese War, where he was killed by a landmine. Interest in Capa's works and his reputation as one of the greatest photojournalists ever is growing around the world. Several international travelling exhibits of Capa's work have recently drawn considerable attention and admiration. If you happen to be in New York, the International Center of Photography's current exhibition of Capa's photographs could make an enjoyable and educational afternoon.

Though a great deal is known about Capa's works, there exists a general ignorance about the man behind the camera. Capa travelled widely and never stayed at any one place long enough to make life-long friends. Capa was a man without a country, without a family, and without love. The only woman he ever loved, also a photographer, was killed in the Spanish Civil War.

Two things have perpetuated the myth of Robert Capa. First, the history of Capa's life is disjointed, interrupted by several wars and numerous financial difficulties. To put it simply, no one knew him very well. Secondly, Capa was a secure photographer but an insecure man who bordered on ridiculous in his self-aggrandizement. These two factors, in addition to his early and tragic death, have created the myth of Robert Capa, a photo-God.

In his book, Robert Capa: A Biography, Richard Whelan successfully cracks the myth of Capa. This could not have been very difficult, given the over-inflated nature of the image; but Whelan also succeeds in building back a man who is much less than his myth but at the same time much more than an average man. This, by contrast to the myth-breaking project, could not have been a very easy job considering Capa's confusing and bewildering life.

CAPA'S CHILDHOOD WAS anything but normal. Born in Budapest in 1913 as Endre Friedmann, Capa had very little time to enjoy his Hungarian heritage before he was kicked out of the country for participating in leftist agitation against the authoritarian government. From the tender age of 17, Capa was by himself.

After settling down in Berlin, he decided that his time was being wasted going to school, so he decided to look for work. Choosing between agriculture and photography, he opted for the latter, for it "was the nearest thing to journalism for anyone who found himself without a language."

At this time in 1931, Capa did not own a camera nor did he have any means of obtaining one. On the edge of both starvation and the broomstick of his landlady he swallowed his pride enough to live off of distant relatives and faint acquaintances until he got himself a camera and began shooting. With no prior photographic experience, his early days as a photographer were anything but propitious. Capa was especially atrocious in the darkroom where he would often destroy his negatives and sometimes those of others. But it was in his eyes that his talent lay. He knew very little of the technical side of photography, but his ability to catch stunning images was evident from the beginning. He joined a photo agency where he did mostly menial work until he was allowed to have an assignment or two during busy seasons.

But Capa's future in Germany ended with the election of Hitler in 1933. As a leftist refugee, and even worse as a Jew, his physical safety was in danger every minute he stayed in Germany. He soon found his way to Paris where he again faced dire poverty. As Whelan points out in detail, Capa was broke most of his life. The need to make money was always paramount in Capa's mind even if he ended up wasting it away in food and wine.

In Paris, Capa refined his skills as a street-wise hustler who could and did get away with everything less than murder. He stole, lied, and "shot the moon," which was Capa's euphemism for skipping out of hotels without paying.

As Whelan astutely points out, this street-hustling nature of Capa was an invaluable part of Capa the photographer. A good photojournalist is one who is always at the right place at the right time. The bad photographer knows where and when but never seems to get the perfect shot. Capa, ever the smooth-talker, received assignments he shouldn't have and took pictures where he (supposedly) couldn't have.

THIS BIOGRAPHY WOULD have been a much better book if the author gave some interesting accounts of Capa's misadventures and his enterprising photojournalistic savvy.

Instead, Whelan dwells incessantly on the minute details of Capa's exaggerated tales, correcting almost every fib as he goes along. And in an effort to provide a setting for Capa, the author saturates the reader with the political and social details of Europe from 1913 to 1950. At numerous points in the book, Robert Capa, the man and the photographer, is lost in the torrent of information on war strategies and political twists. Whelan is too long on details and too short on analysis of the man.

Also, the book deals very little with photography and the works of Capa. One would expect at least a little artistic criticism from a biography of supposedly the "greatest war photographer in history," who may be less well-known than the author assumes. Perhaps Mr. Whelan adheres to the school of photography that believes in letting the pictures speak for themselves. But since the book contains precious few photographs taken by Capa, one supposes that the purchase of Mr. Whelan's other book dealing solely with Capa's photographs may be necessary to fully appreciate his biography.

The other major problem with this book should probably not be blamed on the author. The second half of Capa's career as a photojournalist is simply boring compared to the first half. As a result the book inevitably tends to wind down after World War II. Even the account of the Indochinese battles pales beside the colorful accounts of the man's early life.

As a work of history, Whelan's account of Robert Capa's life serves admirably, but we feel vaguely cheated by the end. Where is the spice, the variety and glamor which we feel stayed with this man every day of his life? Those who haven't heard Capa legends will just have to go to the photo offices of major newspapers around the world and get them first-hand