Robert Capa
American photographer, 1913-1954
GI in Surf, Normandy Landing, World War II
June 6, 1944
Gelatin silver print
8 x 10 inches (20.32 x 25.4 centimeters)
Gift of Audrey and Bernard Berman, 1983.
1983.053.079

The photojournalist Robert Capa joined Company E of the 2nd Battalion in the first wave of the Normandy invasion at Omaha Beach. This image, published in Life Magazine as "D-Day: On to the Beach," was shot early that morning, and Capa acknowledged that the gray sky and water, though not normally ideal for photography, made for an effective picture. The blurring was not caused by the "immense excitement," as Life Magazine reported. It was the result of a processing mishap that destroyed all but eleven of the images Capa shot that morning.