Description

When Gustave Eiffel’s company built Paris’ most recognizable monument for the 1889 World’s Fair, many regarded the massive iron structure with scepticism. Today, the Eiffel Tower is considered an architectural wonder and attracts more visitors than any other paid tourist attraction in the world. Here, it can be seen from the roof of the equally iconic Notre Dame cathedral in 1955.

You must feel an affinity for what you are photographing. You must be part of it, and yet remain sufficiently detached to see it objectively. Like watching from the audience a play you already know by heart

George Rodger
© George Rodger | Magnum Photos

Born in Cheshire in 1908, George Rodger served in the British Merchant Navy. His pictures of the London blitz brought him to the attention of Life magazine, and he became a war correspondent. He won eighteen campaign medals covering Free French activities in West Africa, and went on to document the war front in Eritrea, Abyssinia and the Western Desert. He photographed the German surrender at Lüneburg for Time and Life.

Traumatized by the experience of looking for ‘nice compositions’ in front of the dead, Rodger embarked on a 28,000-mile journey all over Africa and the Middle East, focusing on ways of life that exist in a close relationship with nature.

In 1947 Rodger was invited to join Robert Capa, Henri Cartier-Bresson, David Seymour and William Vandivert in founding Magnum. Africa remained a preoccupation for him for over thirty years. George Rodger died in Kent on 24 July 1995.

© George Rodger | Magnum Photos

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