By José Manuel Serrano Esparza
José Manuel Serrano Esparza was the person who discovered in 2014 that the camera being held by Gerda Taro in two photographs made by Robert Capa in Villa del Río (Córdoba, Spain) is a 6 x 6 cm medium format Reflex Korelle camera, identification that was published in his photographic blog elrectanguloenlamano.blogspot.com on September 25, 2014 and in the FV Foto-Video Actualidad photographic magazine, in adddition to being inscribed that same year in the General Registry of the Intelectual Property of Madrid (Spain).
After the statements made by Fernando Penco for The Telegraph on September 4, 2026, Cordópolis on September 7, 2026, The Guardian on September 11, 2026 and La Razón on September 17, 2026, Serrano Esparza does explain with every kind of evidence that the source of the information has been omitted and that Fernando Penco seems to want to appropriate a discovery that wasn´t made by him.
In the article published by Cordópolis, one of the reference-class cultural and journalistic newspapers in the province of Córdoba, on September 7, 2026
appears this paragraph :
" La escena adquiere importancia al situarla cronológicamente. Penco ha revisado la secuencia de fotografías realizada durante aquella jornada y sostiene que las imágenes de Villa del Río fueron tomadas poco antes de que la pareja se dirigiera hacia la zona donde posteriormente realizarían la famosa serie, de la que se extrajo la icónica foto. Según su reconstrucción, en esas fotografías aparece Taro con la cámara Reflex Korelle, antes de continuar el recorrido hacia el frente en Espejo ".
" The scene acquires relevance on placing it chronologically. Penco has revised the sequence of the photographs made during that day and states that the images of Villa del Río were taken shortly before the couple wnet to the area where they would subsequently capture the famous series, from which was drawn the iconic photo. According to his reconstruction, in those two photographs appears Taro with the Reflex Korelle camera, before keeping on their path to the Espejo front ".
But it can´t be true at all that " according to his reconstruction of the events " Fernando Penco has discovered that the camera with whiche Gerda Taro appears in those two photographs made in Villa del Río is a reflex Korelle, because such finding was made by José Manuel Serrano Esparza and published twelve years ago, in an article published in his photographic blog elrectanguloenlamano.blogspot.com on September 25, 2014 :
http://elrectanguloenlamano.blogspot.com/2014/09/verificado-el-hallazgo-de-irme-schaber.html
Frame of the documentary film " Robert Capa in Love and War " from 2002, appearing reproduced in the article made by José Manuel Serrano Esparza on September 25, 2014 in his blog elrectanguloenlamano.blogspot.com in which you can see Gerda Taro holding by its leather strap a 6 x 6 cm medium format Reflex Korelle II camera with Schneider-Kreuznach Xenar 7,5 cm f/2.8, which was discovered by José Manuel Serrano Esparza that date and year. © 2000 American Masters.
in which appears a selective framing of the middle upper area
Complete photograph in which Gerda Taro is visible in the upper zone of the image, surrounded by some militiawomen and holding a Reflex Korelle camera, discovery made by José Manuel Serrano Esparza on September 25, 2014 in his article in his blog elrectanguloenlamano.blogspot.com. Photo : Robert Capa / © ICP New York.
of one of those pictures.
Detail of the camera held by its leather strap by Gerda Taro and supported for the photograph between her body and the one of the militiawoman clad in white colour visible on her right. Image which appeared on September 25, 2014 in his photographic blog elrectanguloenlamano.blogspot.com in which he reported about his finding that the camera with which Gerda Taro appears in this photograph is a 6 x 6 cm medium format Reflex Korelle camera.
Besides, José Manuel Serrano Esparza inserted within this image some texts explaining in an exceedingly detailed way, the different visible areas of the image that enabled him to discover in September of 2014 that the camera was a Reflex Korelle.
Medium format Reflex-Korelle II camera from 1936 with Schneider-Kreuznach Xenar 7,5 cm f/2.8 with 40.5 mm small thread mount, focal-plane shutter and range of speeds between 2 seconds-1/500 + B. Photograph of the camera and caption belonging to the article published by José Manuel Serrano Esparza on September 25, 2014 in his blog elrectanguloenlamano.blogspot.com, in which he discovered in that date that the camera being held by Gerda Taro in the aformentioned picture is a Reflex Korelle.
Reflex Korelle II 6 x 6 cm medium format camera with Schneider-Kreuznach Xenar 7,5 cm f/2.8 made in Dresden (Germany) by Franz Kochmann Fabrik. model used by Gerda Taro during her first months of stay in Spain with Capa. On the upper right zone of the camera can bee seen the standard dial for shutter speeds between 1/25 s and 1/500 s + B and just on the right, slightly beyond it and in a smaller size, the independent dial for slow 1/20 s, 1/10 s, 1/5 s, 1/2 s, 1 s and 2 s. Photograph and caption belonging to the article published by José manuel Serrano Esparza on September 25, 2014 in his blog elrectanguloenlamano.blogspot.com in which he discovered that the camera being held by Gerda Taro in the aformentioned picture is a Reflex Korelle.
This article was also published in the year 2014 in the number 237 of the FV Foto-Video Actualidad magazine, the most important in the world written in Spanish, which reported that José Manuel Serrano Esparza had discovered that the camera with which appears Gerda Taro in that picture is a Reflex Korelle :
Cover of the article published by FV Foto-Vídeo Actualidad magazine in its number 237 from 2014.
Page 28 of the article published by FV Foto-Vídeo Actualidad magazine in its number 237 from 2014.
Page 29 of the article published by FV Foto-Vídeo Actualidad magazine in its number 237 from 2014.
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Page 30 of the article published by FV Foto-Video Actualidad magazine in its number 237 from 2014.
Therefore, Fernando Penco shouldn´t have forgotten to mention the source of the information, because he hasn´t been the person who has discovered that the camera being held by Gerda Taro in the two pictures which were made in Villa del Río is a 6 x 6 cm medium format Reflex Korelle, a finding that he apparently tries to attribute for himself after his declarations pubished in some newspapers and media, with great glibness and little prudence, with a behaviour which doesn´t seem to befit an archaeologist of his level.
Moreover, the discovery by José Manuel Serrano Esparza in September of 2014 that the camera with which Gerda Taro appears in these images is a Reflex Korelle was presented in the Territorial Registry of the Intellectual Property of Madrid on September 29, 2014 and approved and inscribed on October 30, 2014 :
It is also reiterated the statement of the " reconstruction " in this other paragraph of the aforementioned article published by Cordópolis on September 7, 2026 :
" Penco´s research is based on the reconstruction of the previous hours to the making of the photograph. The researcher states that Taro was taking with her a Reflex Korelle when both of them arrived at the Córdoba front. One of the images he considers particularly relevant shows Gerda Taro in Villa del Río with that camera hanging from her some hours before making the Falling Soldier photograph ".
But truth is that it has been known since 2014 that Gerda Taro appears in that image with a 6 x 6 cm medium format Reflex Korelle hanging from its leather strap, because such as is previously explained, it was José Manuel Serrano Esparza who identified for the first time such camera in those photographs.
On the other hand, Fernando Penco, in declarations to the Britsh newspeper The Guardian on September 11, 2026 states :
" I have found photographs taken by Capa with Taro holding her Reflex Korelle earlier that day in Villa del Río, from where they headed off to the front. Taken together, I think this is strong point that it was she who took the Falling Soldier ".
On the other hand, under the selective framing of the picture appearing in The Guardian newspaper there is a caption saying :
A close-up of the photo, held by the International Center of Photography in New York, shows Taro clutching her Korelle Reflex camera. Credit : International Center of Photography.
But it isn´t true.
The close-up of the photo appearing at The Guardian article is the selective framing of the image appearing at the beginning of the September 25, 2014 article in the photographic blog elrectanguloenlamano.blogspot.com and which was made by José Manuel Serrano Esparza doing a screen picture of the documentary film " Robert Capa in Love and War " from 2002.
The image appearing in the article of The Guardian newspaper has evidently been drawn from the article made by José Manuel Serrano Esparza on September 25, 2014 in his blog elrectanguloenlamano.blogspot.com, subsequently cutting a small percentage of its lower area :
It is the selective framing from screen appearing at the beginning of the article of September 25, 2014 in the photographic blog
http://elrectanguloenlamano.blogspot.com/2014/09/discovery-made-by-irme-schaber-verified.html
made in 2014 by José Manuel Serrano Esparza with a Canon EOS digital camera of a selective cropping appearing in 25:07-25:08 of the documentary film " Robert Capa in Love and War ",
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uwROcVwCce4
made in 2002, and produced and directed by Anne Makepeace for the documentary series American Masters, broadcast to millions of people by the American public TV channel PBS.
.JPG)
It can be seen that the screen picture made by José Manuel Serrano Esparza in his article in elrectanguloenlamano.blogspot.com is a bit more closed on the left of the image
than the original selective framing of the documentary film, cutting a samll part of the militiawoman visible in the selective cropping of the video, which appears in 25:07-25:08, because after making the picture of the screen, José Manuel Serrano Esparza cut slightly the image in its left side, and besides, the image experienced a change of tonality, becoming darker than the image in the documentary film.
Therefore, in the British newspaper The Guardian, Fernando Penco doesn´t mention the source of the information either, since it was José Manuel Serrano Esparza who identified for the first time, on September 25, 2014, in his article in his blog elrectanguloenlamano.blogspot.com, that the camera Gerda Taro has with her in one of these images (the one in which can be discerned the camera it is, because in the other one only the back zone of the camera can be seen) is a Reflex Korelle, seemingly trying to appear as the author of that discovery, when truth is that it has been known for twelve years that the camera held by Gerda Taro in that picture is a Reflex Korelle.
On the other hand, the Spanish newspaper Cordópolis published on March 1, 2021, five years ago, an article in which it echoed the statement by Fernando Penco that these two photographs in which Gerda Taro appears beside some militiawomen and militiamen chiefs had been made in Castro del Río (Córdoba), in the bridge going from Castro del Río to Espejo, and that what can be seen in the background of the image is the Cerro de San Cristóbal Hill and El Camino del Cortijo de los Santos :
Sitúan la foto de Robert Capa a Gerda Taro : fue en Castro del Río, poco antes de la del miliciano.
The photograph made by Robert Capa to Gerda Taro is situated : it was in Castro del Río, shortly before the Falling Soldier picture.
And the prestigious Diario Córdoba, dean of this city press, published on February 26, 2021, an article in which it also reported about the statement by Fernando Penco that both photographs in which Gerda Taro appears had been made in Castro del Río :
A picture made by Robert Capa to Gerda Taro is placed in Castro del Río.
With all respect,
Where was the photograph made, in Castro del Río or in Villa del Río ? They are two different villages, at a distance of approximately 48 km from each other.
Updating September 17, 2026 :
After sending today September 17, 2026 at 12 : 13 h an email with the link to this article to Juan Velasco, a recognized journalist of Cordópolis newspaper featuring a lot of years of experience, he has kindly answered with an email sent to me at 12:36 h, in which he reports me that he has added in the article of Cordópolis on September 7, 2026 my name and surnames as a discoverer on September 25, 2014 that the camera with which Gerda Taro appears surrounded by some militiawomen in a photograph made by Robert Capa in 1936 is a 6 x 6 cm medium format Reflex Korelle :
I want to express my sincere thanks to Juan Velasco and Cordópolis, an online newspaper that I have read for many years and which is one of the cultural benchmarks of journalism in Córdoba, having within its ranks other top-notch journalists and writers like Alfonso Alba, Carmen Reina, Alejandra Luque, etc.
It is likewise apparent that a significant percentage of the people writing in Cordópolis feature tons of experience, unflinching love for journalism and come from the golden era of journalism on paper, with craftsmanship mentality in everything they do and remarkable passion for their trade, nowadays being one of the qualitative and informative yardsticks of the province along with Diario Córdoba and others.
Frame of the documentary film " Robert Capa in Love and War ", made in 2002, in which appeared for the first time the photograph made in 1936 in which Gerda Taro is taking a 6 x 6 cm medium format Reflex Korelle camera, which was discovered on September 25, 2014 by José Manuel Serrano Esparza.
