Slightly Out of Focus. Analysis of Ambiguity in Robert Capa’s Photography

Abstract

The concept of Slightly Out of Focus, attributed to the photographer Robert Capa, is a line of research that invites us to delve into icons, such as the photographs “The Falling Soldier” and “Crawling through the Water”. Regarding the version presented by proponents of Robert Capa’s work and the results of recent investigations, there are some discrepancies regarding the classification of The Mexican Suitcase II and his photographic style. The conflicts concerning cameras lost negatives, and the effect of blurriness in both icons are coincidences that may form a pattern in the discourse about Robert Capa. This research also analyzes two theses on the biases of press photography and documentary photography. The first thesis considers that in press photography, staging is fraudulent information, but not in documentary photography. The second thesis posits that staging is an unacceptable fraud in both photographic biases. The methodology applied in both theses compares two icons of Robert Capa, considered typical of press photography, with two other icons by photographer Arthur Rothstein, namely, “Cattle Skull” and “Dust Storm”. Rothstein is a reference figure in documentary photography and the 1936 Resettlement Administration program, later known as Farm Security Administration. The press’s reaction to the staging of the photograph Cattle Skull left no doubt about the incompatibility of staging in the context of documentary photography.