Dennis Banks
Doubtless, Dennis Banks spent his entire life regretting that he ruined some of the most important photographs ever made. Morris, who was naïve to darkroom processes, probably accepted the darkroom lad’s theory of emulsion melt. When he saw Capa later he had to break the news to him. Capa understandably accepted his explanation, at worst because it obscured the fact that the film got wet, or he might simply have accepted it. No cowardice, no conspiracy, no fabrication. Welcome home, Dennis Banks!
AI-generated image of Dennis Banks after learning that he did not ruin some of the greatest photographs of the Twentieth Century. Banks spent his entire life cleaning toilets in a camera store in the Outer Hebrides, having been banished in shame from London at a young age.
Life New York
Coleman claims that the Life editors in New York fabricated this story of film ruined by seawater. They even published it in the magazine. It is unlikely that the censors would have seen or withheld this film, and John Morris might have included it with the rest of the shipment just to show the conditions Capa faced that morning. The highly experienced darkroom technicians and editors at Life in New York may have recognized telltale signs of film ruined by seawater. Again, no evil, corporate, profit-driven lying here, just people trying to do their best under trying circumstances.
Censors
One aspect of my interpretation of the events surrounding the handling of Capa’s film relates to censorship. Morris and Capa omitted this aspect of the story, which effectively only had the effect of delaying film processing and withholding some images. This is complicated and would be a diversion at this point, so I will address it in a later blog post.
In addition to the roll with the surviving images, and the ruined roll, Morris claimed there were two other ruined rolls that he threw away. If so, these probably were the two extra unexposed rolls Capa carried in his camera bag that morning that also were exposed to seawater.