Posted by: McQ on Monday, August 21, 2006 If ever a picture immortalized a moment and a cause, it was Joe Rosenthal's picture of the 6 Marines raising the flag on Mt. Surabachi on Iwo Jima in WWII. Mr. Rosenthal defined the term "combat photographer".
Joe Rosenthal died this weekend at the age of 94: Photographer Joe Rosenthal, who won a Pulitzer Prize for his immortal image of six World War II servicemen raising an American flag over battle-scarred Iwo Jima, died Sunday. He was 94.If only the same could be said for some news photographers today who find manipulating images and thus perception, more to their liking. UPDATE: Since I brought it up (and a commenter alluded to it as well), Joe Rosenthal also had to deal with charges that he staged the Iwo picture. You can read about it here. Rosenthal dealt with it thusly: As for Rosenthal, he once said that if he had really posed the flag-raising picture, "I would, of course, have ruined it" by choosing fewer men and making sure their faces could be seen."Heh ...indeed. What makes Rosenthal's picture so hallowed is not only the composition, the starkness and the imagery, but the timing. You have to remember that he wasn't shooting some 10 frame a second digital or a camera with auto advance film which would allow him to sort through a number of versions and pick out the best shot. His was a one-shot wonder, which means he had have everything set up on the camera to begin with, pull focus and decide instantly what the best shot was as the action was unfolding and shoot it. He did. And he immortalized a moment, a service and a cause - and himself. Perfect. |
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