The most iconic photo of WW2 and, perhaps, the best of American photography.
Not sure what the history says, but the truth is that a nearsighted middle aged "gum shoe beat shooter" who, prior to the war, was eeking out a living shooting the police beat and the court docket, saw an opportunity as a combat photog for the Associated Press and soon found himself under fire with the Marines on Iwo Jima. By the time he had made it to the summit, Marine Combat Photographer SSgt Lou Lowery, had already shot the first flag raising. When word came up that a second, bigger flag was about to replace the first one, Rosenthal suddenly whipped his Speed Graphic around and hurriedly snapped the shot that arguably "won the war." It was poorly composed and he didn't have time to think about setting his aperture -- he went with what he had (cameras weren't "smart" back then). He sent the undeveloped film back to AP, along with a lot of other film.
And that's when the magic happened. In the darkroom back at AP, an unknown (to me, anyway) photo editor took Rosenthal's hastily composed, poorly lit shot, put it in the enlarger to crop and fix the lighting ... and we have the image you see today.
He later gathered the Marines present for a group shot with the flag which he later incorrectly remembered as "the flag raising shot" which led to the erroneous claim that his famous shot was composed, not a true action shot.
Meanwhile, SSgt (later Captain, USMC Retired) Lowery's shot of the actual first flag raising has been consigned to USMC history books and only resurrected on holidays like this to remind everyone that Joe Rosenthal's Pulitzer prize-winning shot was the *second* flag raising.
Lou Lowery went on after the war to found the United States Marine Corps Combat Correspondents Association of which I am a Life Member.
Lesson: Behind every "great" photographer or writer is an anonymous but talented editor
Semper Fi,
Capt John
