The whole story
So it's a fake. Or at least that's the claim by Spanish newspaper El Periodico and followed up in The Independent amongst others.
Robert Capa's picture (above) is known as the falling soldier and is allegedly of a man's last moments during the Spanish Civil War in September 1936. It's a picture that has confounded critics and historians for many years.
Some argue it's a set up, and others, including Capa's biographer Richard Whelan, state that while the soldiers were posing for the camera a sniper managed to shoot this man, Federico Borrell García.
Whelan set out his argument in 2002 and concludes "There can be no further doubt that The Falling Soldier is a photograph of Federico Borrell García at the moment of his death during the battle at Cerro Muriano on September 5, 1936."
The latest claims however indicate that the pictures were taken 30miles (50km) away from any fighting, and seem to be worthy of further examination. The Spanish newspaper El Periodico has examined two other frames that help identify the location of the pictures and have found there was no fighting at this time in that area. Assuming this is accurate; it would indicate that the picture does not show the death of a soldier.
Does this matter now that the picture is more than 70 years old and no longer a news picture, but a work of art? Yes, of course it does. If it just shows a few men fooling around then it makes the world of difference. But does that ruin Capa's reputation? Most defiantly not.
The picture was initially published in the French magazine, Vu in September 1936 under the headline, How they fell, and later in the July 1937 issue of Life magazine.
Remember this photograph wasn't wired from the heat of battle. Capa's films would have been packaged with captions, shipped off, developed and published, probably before he'd seen a frame.
For me at least, this was never Capa's defining picture. If it's real, then it's a great news picture, but to me it has always looked like a man falling over. Unlike so many other pictures he took where you can feel the emotions dripping off the print, this one is remote.
His dictum that you need to get close to get a good picture rings true today. Not just physically, but emotionally too. Everyone has seen his pictures form Omaha beach on D-Day, the one reproduced here being arguably the defining image of the Second World War, but there are many more in the Magnum archive.
He was undeniably a brave photographer, and one that enjoyed the thrill of getting the picture. It should also be remembered that his untimely death in 1954 meant he was never able to address any concerns about the validity of the picture as it wasn't questioned until 1975.
One final thought, and that is that perhaps the falling soldier's legacy is to remind us pictures are not real, indeed all are fabrications to some extent. Yes, they are vital in that they provide a record of historical and personal moments, but they don't tell the whole story, the real story, just fragments of it.
PS. You can also view an audio slideshow I created with my colleague Caroline Briggs in which Cynthia Young, the curator of Capa's pictures at the International Center of Photography in New York, talks about Capa's pictures when they were on show at the Barbican in London in October 2008.
I'm 
~RS~q~RS~~RS~z~RS~42~RS~)
Comments
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It interests me that, in this day and age of Photoshop and wanton photographic falsifying and manipulation, there is still room for discussion over such an iconic image from an age where "manipulating" a photograph would more likely have been in the form of staging rather than airbrushing.
For me, the argument over the authenticity of the falling soldier is of huge importance as relates to Cappa's reputation, yet at the same time I struggle with the notion that, given his huge body of era-defining work, Cappa would feel the need to falsify this particular image.
The truth is surely that we can and will never know for certain, and I perhaps fall into the camp that say Cappa should, given the importance of his work and otherwise untarnished reputation, be afforded the benefit of the doubt.
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Might I also apologise for repeatedly mis-spelling Capa as "Cappa". Whoops!
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It doesn't relate to Capa's reputation at all. This was his earliest work, before he was really considered a Photo journalist, let alone a great one. This photo got him noticed, everything else afterwards made him what he became. This photo has always (since '75) caused controversy...and as mentioned he can't defend or explain. If it was fake I'm sure with a wry smile he'd say the game was up.
Capa will always be remembered for Omaha Beach. That was his defining moment and that's where his reputation was made.
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I think ALL his photos are fakes and set-ups (and NOT very good at that!
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Just like the faked WMD invented by BUSH and Blair to invade Iraq and causing more than a million deaths. Does it matter?
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I think it's real - after all wasn't Capa killed during a battle in Vietnam? Then again why does it matter after all these years? War sucks, whether or not this guy died or not.
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The mountains in the background of Capa's photos identify beyond doubt the spot, and prove that they were taken where no action took place at the time. But that does not mean that they were 'faked' exactly...a Republican PR arranged a 'photoshoot' in which Loyalists aimed their guns, charged and cheered for the cameras, and played dead. Capa duly took his pictures. And sent them to the publishers, without any extravagant claims that they were pictures of genuine action. It was the editors of the journals in which they appeared made up the captions. All Capa was guilt of was not refuting the misleading captions.
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I've always thought that this photo looks staged, though I'm no great authority. Further investigation is definitely warranted. As for Capa's reputation, I think it can survive these questions. As another poster said, his defining body of work are those pictures he took on the beaches of Normandy, photos of definite veracity.
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Your article is with nothing but speculation. It's hollow, and proof of why blogging or personal diaries should stay out of journalism in general... why is this even on this website? We all know personal opinions are as common as, well, a lot of things.
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I'd love to know more about what the expectations were for photojournalism in 1936. In an age before portable video, when it would have been nearly impossible to capture a split-second moment like this, a photographer might not have considered it exactly "faking" to send to his editors a photograph of an enactment of something he had, in fact, recently seen with his own eyes. How much precision did the audience in 1936 expect from the captions in publication like Vu and Life? Was the trust at a higher level -- that the publication was giving them an accurate overall picture of the story? Why did it take 40 years for controversy about the image to emerge -- long after its value as propaganda had passed?
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This tired old story pops up every summer when papers have pages to fill. What's next? The controversy over the photos taken during the bombing of Beirut during 2006 and after that it will be time to resurrect the Diana car crash photos.
I spent a lot of time with people who had worked with Capa and they said it wasn't his style to fake a photo because he was seeing enough action as it was without having to set up a shot.
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It was real. That guy didn't know what hit him...neither did Frank Capa for an instant.
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This comment was removed because the moderators found it broke the House Rules.
In photography there is no such thing as Black & While unless we deliberately want the both extreme. We use the term tonal range. Such wise all humans has a tonality, but those in media focus has to choose the extreme 'righteous' which I personally believe is impossible and only a hype. Why ? - because most of us make mistakes, when we are emotionally driven and lose institutional rationale. My point is we all strive to be the 'right white' but most of the time we stay Grey. And probably in Capa's case I believe all around him had a part to play for this particular photograph and Capa was only human and reasoned fame. I would like to remember him for all of his other imagery.
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Maybe things are still far from being settled as to this topic and what really happened. I came across an essay on it on elrectanguloenlamano.blogspot.com
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