photographers do not take just one photo of a scene. witness the fact that the unattributed photographer took multiple photos of the brothers chechen.
there are other photos of the man in the red cap. you can bet on it.
"the" iwo jima photo, for instance, is just one of many taken of the flag raising over the island, when the marines attained the summit of the island, mount suribachi. it was not much of a mountain, but, and incredibly dear price was paid for it, and its capture was epic. joe rosenthal's photo was one for the epoch, and he knew it.
photographers do not take just one photo. they take as many as they can. film is cheap, even if the effort to obtain the photo is not. you must understand joe rosenthal's attachment to his photos .... he was exposed to every risk the marines who took the mount were, and he carried only his camera.
so, why does the man or woman who took the photo of the brothers chechen not want to be known?
john jay @ 04.26.2013
Thought you of all people would have known that the Iwo Jima flag-raising was staged.
The feat was actually carried out by a single, brave soldier, but had to be repeated for the photographers.
The original soldier was excluded.
Posted by: Aloysious A Gruntpuddock | April 26, 2013 at 10:33 AM
aloysious:
"staged" is an interesting word within the context of the iwo jima assault.
yes, i am aware that at the time the flag went up, the assaulting marines were no longer under intense direct fire.
and, i am aware that the photographers were brought up to witness it. and, that multiple raisings occurred, so that the camera guys could get the best shot.
yes, "staged" in that respect.
nothing "staged" about the assault on suribachi, or the taking of the mount.
nothing "staged" about the fight for the entire island.
and, the ultimate "context" is this. iwo jima was a nasty place, but, most importantly, is was a very small island.
an excellent article, here, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raising_the_Flag_on_Iwo_Jima .
i'll excerpt two statements from the article, re: the staging of the flag raising during the battle.--
"Of the six men depicted in the picture, three (Franklin Sousley, Harlon Block, and Michael Strank) were killed during the battle; the three survivors (John Bradley, Rene Gagnon, and Ira Hayes) became celebrities upon their identification in the photo."
on the "second" flag raising.--
"The Marines reached the top of the mountain around noon, where Gagnon joined them. Despite the large numbers of Japanese troops in the immediate vicinity, the 40-man patrol made it to the top of the mountain without being fired on once, as the Japanese were under bombardment at the time.[14]
Rosenthal, along with Marine photographers Bob Campbell and Bill Genaust (who was killed in action after the flag-raising),[15] were climbing Suribachi at this time. On the way up, the trio met Lowery (the man who photographed the first flag-raising). They had been considering turning around, but Lowery told them that the summit was an excellent vantage point from which to take pictures.[10]
Rosenthal's trio reached the summit as the Marines were attaching the flag to an old Japanese water pipe. Rosenthal put his Speed Graphic camera on the ground (set to 1/400th of a second shutter speed, with the f-stop between 8 and 16) so he could pile rocks to stand on for a better vantage point. In doing so, he nearly missed the shot. Along with Navy Pharmacist's Mate Second Class John H. Bradley, the five Marines began raising the U.S. flag. Realizing he was about to miss it, Rosenthal quickly swung his camera up and snapped the photograph without using the viewfinder.[16] Ten years after the flag-raising, Rosenthal wrote:
Out of the corner of my eye, I had seen the men start the flag up. I swung my camera and shot the scene. That is how the picture was taken, and when you take a picture like that, you don't come away saying you got a great shot. You don't know.[attribution needed]
Bill Genaust, who was standing almost shoulder-to-shoulder with Rosenthal about thirty yards away, was shooting motion-picture film during the flag-raising. His film captures the event at an almost-identical angle to Rosenthal's famous shot.
Of the six men pictured – Michael Strank, Rene Gagnon, Ira Hayes, Franklin Sousley, John Bradley, and Harlon Block – only three (Hayes, Gagnon, and Bradley) survived the battle. Strank was killed six days after the flag-raising when a shell, likely fired from an offshore American destroyer, tore his heart out; Block was killed by a mortar a few hours after Strank; Sousley was shot and killed by a sniper on March 21, a few days before the island was declared secure.[17]"
i've known about the circumstances of the flag raisings for a long time.
for the reasons above, i've never considered it staged, as the combat in which in took place was all too real, and all too immediate. these men, including the photographers, were hardly removed from that circumstance.
thanks for coming by, as always, and thanks for the read. i don't expect you to "convert" to my view of the matter, but, i do want people to understand why i think it was a spontaneous and legitimate recording of history.
john jay
Posted by: john jay | April 26, 2013 at 11:42 AM
aloysious:
i didn't state one thing very clearly in the above note.
i should have said more clearly that at the time of the flag raisings, those who involved were not under intense direct fire.
as the rest of the note says/suggests/establishes, the entirety of the island was still hotly contested, and the battle raged.
i should also point out that iwo jima was very small, and mount suribachi only 548 feet above sea level.
under those circumstances, no one was immune from fire at any time, while on the island.
i don't think that the flag raisings, any of them, were "staged" when that context is understood.
it was not theatrics, and it was not without danger, at any point.
just to be on that island. period. was dangerous.
john jay
Posted by: john jay | April 26, 2013 at 11:47 AM