worldwarii

Righting the Record on Photos of Wartime Europe

A war in Europe instantly creates parallels with the world wars for people in the UK and other European countries. This connection represents what most people know and are taught about conflict on the continent.

Kenneth McKenzie’s Lost Photos from World War II

I met a man who owned a ton of his uncle's photos he took during his time in World War II. The images by Kenneth McKenzie start in Vancouver and Banff where they did their training, then all across Europe.

Restoring and Using One of the Rarest Cameras on the Planet

Arizona-based journalist and photographer Jim Headley recently set out on a "mission" to shoot an ultra-rare Japanese twin lens reflex camera called the Taroflex. Only 10 of these cameras are thought to still exist, and Headley is the proud owner of a fully-functioning copy in "excellent condition."

This Famous WWII Photographer Just Beat COVID-19 at 97 Years Old

In the spirit of spreading some much-needed good news, the Associated Press recently revealed that Tony Vaccaro—the famed World War II photographer whose professional career spanned almost 80 years and 500,000 images—caught and survived coronavirus at the ripe old age of 97-years-old.

Historic Print Collection Including Rare Negative of Hiroshima Bombing is Selling for $2 Million on eBay

There's an unbelievable auction currently live on eBay that might rank as the most expensive item we've ever seen on the site. Uncovered by the folks over at The Phoblographer, the auction is offering hundreds of historic WWII prints, a Kodak Pocket camera, and an extremely rare negative of the Hiroshima bombing, all for the whopping buy-it-now price of $2,000,000.33.

Photoflash Bombs Were Once Used to Light Nighttime Aerial Photos

Digital cameras can see in color in near darkness these days, but decades ago, there were very different solutions for capturing usable photos at night. One example is the photoflash bomb, a special type of bomb that was designed specifically to explode in midair and illuminate the world below for aerial photos.

Debunking the Myths of Robert Capa on D-Day

I want to give you a brief overview of an investigation that began almost five years ago, led by me but involving the efforts of photojournalist J. Ross Baughman, photo historian Rob McElroy, and ex-infantryman and amateur military historian Charles Herrick.

Ansel Adams’ Pictures of an American Relocation Camp During WWII

Ansel Adams is best known for his breathtaking landscape photos, but he photographed much more than nature during his decades-long career. In 1943, already the best-known American photographer, Adams visited the Manzanar War Relocation Center in California, one of the relocation camps the US gathered Japanese-Americans into during World War II.

D-Day Photos Recreated Through a War Reenactment

If you want to experience what it's like to shoot as a combat photographer, but don't want to actually risk getting shot at, you can look into photographing war reenactments. Lucas Ryan is a photographer who shoots reenactments, and last year he covered D-Day Conneaut, one of the world's premier D-Day reenactment events.

Photographer Joe Rosenthal Shares the Story Behind ‘Raising the Flag on Iwo Jima’

70 years ago today, photographer Joe Rosenthal captured a photograph of six US soldiers raising a flag on Mount Suribachi during the Battle of Iwo Jima in World War II. That photo (shown above), became an instant iconic image -- these days we would say it "went viral" -- and was published in thousands of publications around the world.

It went on to became the only photo to win a Pulitzer Prize in the same year it was published, and the image is now one of the most republished and recognizable photos of all time.

Over 400 Photos from 1938 Italy, Including One of Hitler, Found on Film Purchased at a Thrift Shop

I have a feeling this is something every photographer does or has done at some point in their life. Walking through a flea market or thrift shop, they look around and see an older camera. Not one they have any interest in purchasing, but one they do have interest in. Why? For what could be inside. They are in the search of film... film that isn’t theirs. They hope to find photographs from a time long gone and possibly forgotten.

I’ve done it myself and I’d put good money down that many of you have as well. Usually the cameras come up empty, and even if they don’t, oftentimes the photographs themselves are nothing special. But every so often someone hits the jackpot, and that was the case recently with Matt Ames.

The Most Honored Photograph

Doesn’t look like much, does it? But, depending upon your definition, this photograph, a team effort by 9 men, is the most honored picture in U. S. History. If you want to find out about it, read on. It’s an interesting tale about how people sometimes rise beyond all expectations.

Minox Riga: A Subminiature Spy Camera from the 1930s

In 1938, after many prototypes, the first 8x11mm subminiature camera was brought to market by German inventor Walter Zapp. It was called the Minox Riga, and the tiny camera actually saw espionage action in both WWII and the Cold War.

Glimpses of World War 2 Seen Through Photos of Modern Day Europe

After collecting old World War 2 photographs taken in major European cities, Russian photographer Sergey Larenkov spent a year traveling around Europe to re-photograph the same scenes as they look today. He then carefully combined the old images with the new ones to create photographs that show two views of the same location captured over 60 years apart.