Slightly Out of Focus

By: Robert Capa

Narrated by: Paul Boehmer

In 1942, a dashing young man who liked nothing so much as a heated game of poker, a good bottle of scotch, and the company of a pretty girl hopped a merchant ship to England. He was Robert Capa, the brilliant and daring photojournalist, and Collier's magazine had put him on assignment to photograph the war raging in Europe. In this book, Capa recounts his terrifying journey through the darkest battles of World War II and shares his memories of the men and women of the Allied forces who befriended, amused, and captivated him along the way. His photographs are masterpieces - John G. Morris, Magnum Photos' first executive editor, called Capa "the century's greatest battlefield photographer" - and his writing is by turns riotously funny and deeply moving.

From Sicily to London, Normandy to Algiers, Capa experienced some of the most trying conditions imaginable, yet his compassion and wit shine throughout this book. Charming and profound, Slightly Out of Focus is a marvelous memoir told by an extraordinary man.

©1999 Cornell Capa (P)2019 Tantor

Perfectly Named

This book is very quirky in all the best ways. Robert Capa was quit a character and most adventurous in his war exploits. This covers a bit of everything, and the war is just one part. What a most interesting life.

A gifted story-teller with a great story to tell

Robert Capa is a legend in the photography world, a brave and gifted story-teller with a camera. His photographs from the Spanish civil war and WWII are some of the most iconic images of the XX century. What I didn’t know is that Capa was equally gifted with a different kind of machine: the typewriter. The man was a story-teller in every way. This memoir starts with his call to action at the beginning of US involvement in the war and concludes with the end of the war in Europe. Along the way, Capa takes us through his adventures with wit and humor in the crazy world of war, when reality is stranger than fiction. The narration is superb in bringing Capa’s voice to life.

Sure sounded like a novel!

It’s almost hard to believe this story is true. I mean I know of Robert Capa by his reputation, but after reading the books by war photographers like Don McCullin (who should be dead) or Chris Hondros (who did give his life for his craft), this reads more like a travelogue than Capa’s work during a world war.

Maybe it’s the idea that at least the Germans fought by the “rules,” versus today’s soldiers of ideology rather than for a country.

But I guess the idea that chasing women, getting VIP treatment by hoodwinking the British navy or that his next great adventure isn’t about whether he survives or gets that amazing history-making photograph - it’s about where he’ll might score another free bottle of scotch.

I will gladly give Capra the benefit of the doubt that maybe these stories got more colorful over over the 75 years since they took place, or that there was maybe a more convivial and protective relationship between (most) allied soldiers and the photographers that shadowed him.

Whatever the case - it’s a fun read. And spoiler alert: We win!! :)

Fantastic read / listen

This story captures a lesser known aspect of World War II. The men who shot, not with rifles but with cameras. Highly recommended and artfully told

Great war photographer’s diary

As his fellow Hungarian and (amateur) photographer I very much enjoyed the war photographer’s memoir. A first hand account of “being there”. I looked up the photos in my Capa books. They told me more now than before.