Por José Manuel Serrano Esparza
The statement made by Irme Schaber, greatest expert on Gerda Taro in the world, in her book Gerda Taro, Fotoreporterin. Mit Robert Capa in Spanischen Bürgerkrieg, edited by Jonas Verlag in 2013, that the German photojournalist from Jewish descent used a 6 x 6 cm medium format camera Reflex-Korelle during her first months of coverage of the Spanish Civil War, and not a Rolleiflex Old Standard as had been believed hitherto, has been verified by José Manuel Serrano Esparza which has been able to identify that camera in an image appearing in the documentary film from 2002 Robert Capa in Love and War, produced and directed by Anne Makepeace, in which can be seen Gerda Taro surrounded by two militiawomen and holding from its strap a medium format camera showing a large central square structure and borders resembling the ones typical in the Zeiss Super Ikontas, but featuring more rounded contours.
Frame of the documentary film Robert Capa in Love and War in which can be seen Gerda Taro grabbing from its strap a 6 x 6 cm medium format camera Reflex-Korelle II with Schneider-Kreuznach Xenar 7,5 cm f/2.8 lens.
It is a picture
made by Capa in 1936. Gerda Taro smiles - in the same way as
the other two militiawomen with whom she fraternizes – while she leans her right hand
on the left shoulder of the smiling militiawoman wearing clear clothes located on her right, and she is holding the camera from its strap and
simultaneously resting between her body and the one of that militiawoman on her right, while at the same time she has her left arm stretched and putting her
left hand on the left shoulder of the militiawoman placed on her left and
wearing a short-sleeved shirt.
2 ¼ x 2 ¼ medium
format camera Reflex-Korelle II with Schneider-Kreuznach Xenar 7,5 cm f/2.8
manufactured in Dresden (Germany) by Franz Kochmann Fabrik, the model used by
Gerda Taro during her first months of stay in Spain with Robert Capa. On the upper right area of the camera can be seen the standard dial for shutter speeds between 1/25 sec-1/500 sec + B, and just on the right, slightly in front of it and featuring a smaller size, the independent dial for slow shutter speeds between 1/20 sec, 1/10 sec, 1/5 sec, 1/2 sec, 1 sec and 2 sec.
It all verifies something that was already known and that – aside from the difficulty of attribution of many photographs made between August of 1936 and February 1937 to Capa or Taro- had been proven beyond any doubt by Richard Whelan, Irme Schaber, Kristen Lubben and Cynthia Young: Gerda Taro used a medium format camera during her first months of stay in Spain getting pictures, in the same was as Capa, though he used two 35 mm format Leica cameras: a Leica II (Model D) with Leitz Elmar 50 mm f/3.5 and a Leica III (Model F) with Leitz Summar 5 cm f/2.
The discovery made by Irme Schaber is important, because it was believed until now (also by the author of this modest article) that Gerda Taro had used a 6 x 6 cm medium format Rolleiflex Old Standard Model 622 camera with Carl Zeiss Jena Tessar 7,5 cm f/3.5.
German advertisement of the 2 1/4 x 2 1/4 medium format camera Franz Kochmann Reflex-Korelle in mid thirties.
It all verifies something that was already known and that – aside from the difficulty of attribution of many photographs made between August of 1936 and February 1937 to Capa or Taro- had been proven beyond any doubt by Richard Whelan, Irme Schaber, Kristen Lubben and Cynthia Young: Gerda Taro used a medium format camera during her first months of stay in Spain getting pictures, in the same was as Capa, though he used two 35 mm format Leica cameras: a Leica II (Model D) with Leitz Elmar 50 mm f/3.5 and a Leica III (Model F) with Leitz Summar 5 cm f/2.
The discovery made by Irme Schaber is important, because it was believed until now (also by the author of this modest article) that Gerda Taro had used a 6 x 6 cm medium format Rolleiflex Old Standard Model 622 camera with Carl Zeiss Jena Tessar 7,5 cm f/3.5.
Advertisement in
the Popular Photography magazine of 1939 of the 2 ¼ x 2 ¼ medium format camera
Reflex-Korelle II with Schneider-Kreuznach Xenar 7,5 cm f/2.8 lens, sold in United
States by the firm Burke & James, Inc. of Chicago (Illinois) in 1939 and practically identical to the Franz Kochmann Reflex-Korelle II made in Dresde (Germany) in 1936 and used by Gerda Taro in Spain.
And it makes
sense, because when Robert Capa and Gerda Taro arrived in Spain in August of 1936, the
Spanish Civil War had aroused a huge interest and the most prestigious
illustrated magazines at the time (Vu, Regards, Weekly Illustrated, Illustrated London News, etc) craved for filling their pages with pictures of the conflict,
so if besides the photographs made by Capa with his Leicas, there was a
supplement of images made with a medium format camera like the Reflex-Korelle
II, featuring a high quality and very luminous lens for the time, and which was
able to expose 6 x 6 cm negatives (400% bigger than 35 mm format) much more
adequate when tackling the editing and make reframings, because of its much
greater preservation of quality on making enlargements than the 24 x 36 mm
format, the chances of publication increased significantly.
The
Reflex-Korelle II also featured an independent dial for slow speeds of 1/20
sec , 1/10 sec, 1/5 sec, ½ sec, 1 sec and 2 sec.
Published in FV Foto-Video Photography Magazine Number 237.
© José Manuel Serrano Esparza.
Inscribed in the Territorial Registry of the Intellectual Property of Madrid.
