**The Life and Times of Robert Capa**

Robert Capa was a Hungarian-born photographer who is widely regarded as one of the most influential war photographers of all time. Born on October 22, 1913, in Budapest, Hungary, Capa's early life was marked by turmoil and upheaval. As a Jew, he faced persecution and eventually had to flee his home country due to the rising anti-Semitic sentiment in Europe.

Capa's journey took him to various countries, including Spain, where he befriended Errol Flynn and became acquainted with the world of photography. In 1933, Capa returned to Hungary, where he joined the International Brigades, a group of volunteers fighting against fascism. It was during this time that he began to develop his skills as a photographer, capturing images of the conflict for various publications.

In 1942, Capa traveled to Spain with Errol Flynn to cover the Spanish Civil War. The experience had a profound impact on Capa, and he eventually decided to join the American forces in Europe, where he would play a crucial role in documenting World War II.

On June 6th, 1944, Kappa took part in the D-Day invasion at Omaha Beach, embedded with the second assault wave of American troops. He was under constant fire, but managed to take 106 pictures of the battle with two cameras using 50mm lenses and several rolls of film in the first two hours of the invasion.

After returning to England, where his life office was waiting to process the film, disaster struck. The staff member responsible for processing the film had set the temperature of the dryer too high, causing the emulsion to melt and destroy three complete rolls of film. Only four photographs survived, earning them the nickname "The Magnificent 11." These images have a surreal, grainy texture that adds to the intensity of the battle.

Despite this setback, Capa's work continued to gain recognition. In 1947, he traveled with American writer John Steinbeck through Kiev and Moscow in the ruins of Stalingrad, where his photographs were used in Steinbeck's book "A Russian Journal." This marked the beginning of Capa's association with Magnum Photos, a cooperative venture that would go on to become one of the most prestigious photography agencies in the world.

In 1952, Capa became the president of Magnum Photos, a position he held until his death. During this time, he continued to push the boundaries of documentary photography, traveling to Southeast Asia to cover the first Indochina War. Tragically, on May 25th, 1954, Capa stepped on a landmine while photographing in advance of the French forces, and died on the way to a small field hospital.

**The Legacy of Robert Capa**

Robert Capa's legacy extends far beyond his impressive body of work as a photographer. His determination and drive inspired generations of photographers, who continue to push the boundaries of documentary photography today. Capa's experiences during World War II had a profound impact on him, and he went on to capture some of the most iconic images of the conflict.

But Capa's impact extends beyond his own work as a photographer. He helped to create Magnum Photos, an agency that would go on to become synonymous with high-quality documentary photography. Through his association with Magnum, Capa influenced countless other photographers, who have followed in his footsteps to document conflict and social injustice around the world.

Capa's experiences as a Jew fleeing persecution also serve as a reminder of the importance of empathy and understanding in our work as photographers. His ability to capture the human side of war, despite the danger and uncertainty that surrounded him, is a testament to the power of photography to tell stories that need to be told.

**Dedicated to Veterans**

This episode was dedicated to those who have sacrificed so much for us, their lives lost or forever changed in service to our country. It is a reminder of the importance of their work and the impact it has had on our world. Robert Capa's story serves as a testament to the power of determination and drive, and the impact that one person can have on the world.

As we remember the sacrifices made by those who have served our country, we also honor the memory of Robert Capa, a photographer whose work continues to inspire us today. His legacy is a reminder of the importance of empathy, understanding, and compassion in our work as photographers, and the impact that one person can have on the world through their craft.

**Conclusion**

Robert Capa's life was marked by turmoil and upheaval, but he emerged from these experiences with a determination and drive that inspired generations of photographers. His work continues to inspire us today, and his legacy serves as a reminder of the importance of empathy, understanding, and compassion in our work as photographers. As we remember the sacrifices made by those who have served our country, we honor the memory of Robert Capa, a photographer whose impact on the world will never be forgotten.

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enwelcome back to the show everybody today I want to talk about um someone who is a very special photographer I believe I want to talk about Robert Kappa and he's a name that's come up a lot in recent episodes he obviously was the big star of the Mexican suitcase which we talked about a couple shows back and we've talked about him in bits and pieces over the years and I've never really done a full show on Robert Kappa and I want to do that today uh Robert Kappa is an extremely special photographer because he's somebody who I think uh represents a lot um to us as people not just as photographers um he's one of those rare instances where you have somebody who is able to transcend art photojournalism politics uh where you're from what your last name is and not only um through his own determination and his own priority established this amazing career but he left us with this amazing body of work that has such an important significance on who we are as a culture and so without further Ado let's look at some pictures by Robert Kappa Robert Kappa was born born Andre fredman in 1913 growing up in Budapest he realized that the warart torn Hungary offered no future and he left home at the age of 18 kappa's younger years consisted of a series of Exiles after beginning to work as a photographer in Berlin he fled to France during the rise of Nazism as being Jewish was beginning to cost him work around this time he and his girlfriend Gera Pororo created a Persona of a great American photographer named Robert Kappa they both shot images under this pseudonym in the beginning until Andre Friedman ultimately took the name as his own the name Kappa had dual significance as being a translation of the Hungarian word for shark which was Andre's nickname and also gave nod to the film director Robert Capra Gera changed her name as well she chose the last name Taro as a nod to both Japanese artist Taro okamoto and Swedish actress Greta Garbo Robert kappa's first published photographs in 1933 were a series of images of an intense Leon trosky speaking on the meaning of the Russian Revolution in Copenhagen in 1936 Kappa began work in Spain with geraro and partner David Seymour to cover the Spanish Civil War selling images to news outlets it was in 1936 that Kappa reached worldwide Fame with his falling Soldier photograph which quickly became an iconic image of War over the years the authenticity of this image has been questioned The Soldier's identity whether he was being shot or just stumbling in the image and even whether Robert or Gerta actually took the image these have all been brought into question however little of that matters as this is a powerful image that personifies the human involvement in war and the brutal political climate leading into World War II on July 25th 1937 gerara was covering the Republican Army retreat at the Battle of brunette she was riding on the footboard of an ambulance when a republican tank crashed into the vehicle she suffered critical wounds and died the next day Kappa was devastated by this news the two were reported to be engaged by the start of World War II Kappa was living in New York City again having fled from France to escape Jewish persecution working for Life Magazine he transcended cultures as the only enemy alien photographer for the Allies Kappa was embedded with American troops photographing the war most notably in Sicily and Naples on June 6th 1944 Kappa took part in the D-Day invasion at Omaha Beach he was embedded with the second assault wave of American troops to storm the beach while under constant fire Kappa took 106 pictures of the battle with two context cameras using 50mm lenses and several rols of film in the first two hours of the invasion Kappa quickly returned the roles of film to England where the life London office was waiting to process them during the processing a staff member had the temperature of the film dryer set too high and melted the Emulsion and the negatives on three complete rolls of film and most of the fourth the remaining photographs are often referred to as The Magnificent 11 the images have a surreal grainy texture to them adding to the intensity of the battle life printed the frames in its magazine issue beaches of Normandy the Fateful battle for Europe as joined by sea and air several of the images had captions saying the photographers hands were trembling making the images slightly out of focus Kappa later used this phrase for his autobiography title slightly out of focus after the war Kappa traveled with American writer John Steinbeck through Kiev and Moscow in the ruins of Stalingrad the photos were used in Steinbeck book a Russian journal in 1947 he founded Magnum photos in Paris a Cooperative Venture with HRI CER Bron William Van David Seymour and George Roger he became president of magma in 1952 after publicly stating he was done photographing War he was traveling to Japan for a magnum exhibition in the early 1950s Life Magazine had talked him into going on an assignment to cover southeast Asia for where the French had been fighting in the first IND ofchina War for the previous eight years on May 25th 1954 Kappa stepped on a landmine while photographing in advance he died on the way to a small field hospital I hope you all enjoyed this episode today and I hope I have been able to communicate um you know on some level how special a person like Robert Kappa is that comes along once in a blue moon um not only is he able to come along as a visual artist and bring this level of Photography that's just amazing but to bring it to the world and to communicate something through determination and through his own Drive uh that I believe changed the world in a lot of ways and what he did was put a face on what we associate with is being War photography or what war is really like and he did this in such a beautiful way and such an important way I think the other thing that really is extremely significant to me in terms of who Robert Kappa was is here's a guy who came from a country that was in political upheaval um belonging to a social class being Jewish uh where he spent most of his early years being exiled from one country to another and he was able to get beyond that and create a way and a Persona to get work and be able to do the kinds of projects he wanted to do do the important work that he wanted to do and I think what that teaches us I mean it's it's really the ultimate dream is that it doesn't matter where you're from who you are what your last name is you can achieve the goals that you set out for yourself if you just have the determination and the drive to do so and I me Robert cap I mean it's it's really even hard to like you know that's the dream and you're trying to pursue it cuz he's he's such an amazing photographer on so many levels and you know it was the right time the right place the right career but but he made it happen he didn't follow into anything by accident and went on to begin Magnum photos with several of other photographers and you know is is is pretty much one of the big names when you consider you know World War II photography but anyway I hope you guys have enjoyed this episode I will say to that it is no accident that I decided to release this episode on Veterans Day here in the US and uh Veterans Day is a day that we set aside to remember the sacrifices that people have made before us and I know that Robert Kappa was not exactly in the military as a soldier um he was there along the lines risking his own life it eventually cost him his own life uh to bring us something important which is the way that looks and this is done generally inside the military now uh but it's a really important job and there have been many that have come after kappa that done the same thing and many today that are still doing it so anyway this dedicated episode today or this episode today is dedicated to those those who sacrific so much um so that the world can be a better place so anyway once again guys this has been another episode of The Art of Photography I'll see you guys in the next video laterwelcome back to the show everybody today I want to talk about um someone who is a very special photographer I believe I want to talk about Robert Kappa and he's a name that's come up a lot in recent episodes he obviously was the big star of the Mexican suitcase which we talked about a couple shows back and we've talked about him in bits and pieces over the years and I've never really done a full show on Robert Kappa and I want to do that today uh Robert Kappa is an extremely special photographer because he's somebody who I think uh represents a lot um to us as people not just as photographers um he's one of those rare instances where you have somebody who is able to transcend art photojournalism politics uh where you're from what your last name is and not only um through his own determination and his own priority established this amazing career but he left us with this amazing body of work that has such an important significance on who we are as a culture and so without further Ado let's look at some pictures by Robert Kappa Robert Kappa was born born Andre fredman in 1913 growing up in Budapest he realized that the warart torn Hungary offered no future and he left home at the age of 18 kappa's younger years consisted of a series of Exiles after beginning to work as a photographer in Berlin he fled to France during the rise of Nazism as being Jewish was beginning to cost him work around this time he and his girlfriend Gera Pororo created a Persona of a great American photographer named Robert Kappa they both shot images under this pseudonym in the beginning until Andre Friedman ultimately took the name as his own the name Kappa had dual significance as being a translation of the Hungarian word for shark which was Andre's nickname and also gave nod to the film director Robert Capra Gera changed her name as well she chose the last name Taro as a nod to both Japanese artist Taro okamoto and Swedish actress Greta Garbo Robert kappa's first published photographs in 1933 were a series of images of an intense Leon trosky speaking on the meaning of the Russian Revolution in Copenhagen in 1936 Kappa began work in Spain with geraro and partner David Seymour to cover the Spanish Civil War selling images to news outlets it was in 1936 that Kappa reached worldwide Fame with his falling Soldier photograph which quickly became an iconic image of War over the years the authenticity of this image has been questioned The Soldier's identity whether he was being shot or just stumbling in the image and even whether Robert or Gerta actually took the image these have all been brought into question however little of that matters as this is a powerful image that personifies the human involvement in war and the brutal political climate leading into World War II on July 25th 1937 gerara was covering the Republican Army retreat at the Battle of brunette she was riding on the footboard of an ambulance when a republican tank crashed into the vehicle she suffered critical wounds and died the next day Kappa was devastated by this news the two were reported to be engaged by the start of World War II Kappa was living in New York City again having fled from France to escape Jewish persecution working for Life Magazine he transcended cultures as the only enemy alien photographer for the Allies Kappa was embedded with American troops photographing the war most notably in Sicily and Naples on June 6th 1944 Kappa took part in the D-Day invasion at Omaha Beach he was embedded with the second assault wave of American troops to storm the beach while under constant fire Kappa took 106 pictures of the battle with two context cameras using 50mm lenses and several rols of film in the first two hours of the invasion Kappa quickly returned the roles of film to England where the life London office was waiting to process them during the processing a staff member had the temperature of the film dryer set too high and melted the Emulsion and the negatives on three complete rolls of film and most of the fourth the remaining photographs are often referred to as The Magnificent 11 the images have a surreal grainy texture to them adding to the intensity of the battle life printed the frames in its magazine issue beaches of Normandy the Fateful battle for Europe as joined by sea and air several of the images had captions saying the photographers hands were trembling making the images slightly out of focus Kappa later used this phrase for his autobiography title slightly out of focus after the war Kappa traveled with American writer John Steinbeck through Kiev and Moscow in the ruins of Stalingrad the photos were used in Steinbeck book a Russian journal in 1947 he founded Magnum photos in Paris a Cooperative Venture with HRI CER Bron William Van David Seymour and George Roger he became president of magma in 1952 after publicly stating he was done photographing War he was traveling to Japan for a magnum exhibition in the early 1950s Life Magazine had talked him into going on an assignment to cover southeast Asia for where the French had been fighting in the first IND ofchina War for the previous eight years on May 25th 1954 Kappa stepped on a landmine while photographing in advance he died on the way to a small field hospital I hope you all enjoyed this episode today and I hope I have been able to communicate um you know on some level how special a person like Robert Kappa is that comes along once in a blue moon um not only is he able to come along as a visual artist and bring this level of Photography that's just amazing but to bring it to the world and to communicate something through determination and through his own Drive uh that I believe changed the world in a lot of ways and what he did was put a face on what we associate with is being War photography or what war is really like and he did this in such a beautiful way and such an important way I think the other thing that really is extremely significant to me in terms of who Robert Kappa was is here's a guy who came from a country that was in political upheaval um belonging to a social class being Jewish uh where he spent most of his early years being exiled from one country to another and he was able to get beyond that and create a way and a Persona to get work and be able to do the kinds of projects he wanted to do do the important work that he wanted to do and I think what that teaches us I mean it's it's really the ultimate dream is that it doesn't matter where you're from who you are what your last name is you can achieve the goals that you set out for yourself if you just have the determination and the drive to do so and I me Robert cap I mean it's it's really even hard to like you know that's the dream and you're trying to pursue it cuz he's he's such an amazing photographer on so many levels and you know it was the right time the right place the right career but but he made it happen he didn't follow into anything by accident and went on to begin Magnum photos with several of other photographers and you know is is is pretty much one of the big names when you consider you know World War II photography but anyway I hope you guys have enjoyed this episode I will say to that it is no accident that I decided to release this episode on Veterans Day here in the US and uh Veterans Day is a day that we set aside to remember the sacrifices that people have made before us and I know that Robert Kappa was not exactly in the military as a soldier um he was there along the lines risking his own life it eventually cost him his own life uh to bring us something important which is the way that looks and this is done generally inside the military now uh but it's a really important job and there have been many that have come after kappa that done the same thing and many today that are still doing it so anyway this dedicated episode today or this episode today is dedicated to those those who sacrific so much um so that the world can be a better place so anyway once again guys this has been another episode of The Art of Photography I'll see you guys in the next video later\n"