lazy sunday afternoon

the heat was unbearable as i lay on the floor, eyes poring over the photographs taken by robert capa, the legendary war photog who died during the Vietnam War as he walked up the grassy slope and unknowingly stepped on a Vietminh anti-personnel mine. When they found his body, "his Contax was clutched in his left hand, but his Nikon had been blown several feet away by the blast."

To me, a good photog is someone who can engage with his surroundings, to the extent of blending in seamlessly and becoming invisible, like a chameleon, observing life quietly and patiently creating the opportunities to capture moments of a particular time and place and record them down, as a reminder of what life was at that very sec when he pressed the shutter.

Robert Capa can be said to be at the right place at the right time, but as i read on, i was impressed by the way he showed so much interest in life which was reflected in his photos. like the pics of refugees walking on for miles with whatever possessions they have to safer lands, pics of children and their reactions to the adult world ard them, portraits of pple in china, japan, vietnam, paris, berlin on the streets. When he was asked how he managed to get such natural and honest expressions in the portraits he took of strangers, he replied, 'like people and let them know it.'

he belonged to those who love humanity and photography was his medium and tool

till now, i dun realli recall seeing many pictures which conveyed that kind of interest in life in singapore, there is somehow a kind of detachment i see in those pictures, it feels as though most photog jus want to take pictures for the sake of taking pictures, there is somehow a lack of commitment to the subjects we are shooting, a kind of distance between the photog and subject which makes the photos so cold and umimpressive.

when i looked at capa's photos and read the captions, it reminds me once and again how good pictures are made only when one is willing to open himself up to his surroundings and get fully enagaged with it.

wanted to post pics taken by my fuji finepix but found myself engrossed in this collection of capa's photographs .... 937 out of the 70,000 he shot... woah...