Voting Station

Joe Rosenthal

Please vote to return to collections.

Photographer

The Resume

    (October 9, 1911-August 20, 2006)
    Born in Washington, District of Columbia
    Photographer for the 'San Francisco News' (1932-41), Associated Press (1941-45) and 'San Francisco Chronicle' (1945-81)
    Best known for the photo 'Raising the Flag on Iwo Jima' (1945)
    Won the Pulitzer Prize for Photography (1945)

Why he might be annoying:

    Ironically, he was declared 4F by the Army for having bad eyesight.
    Because he was only 5'5, he had to pile sandbags and stones into a stand to take the picture of the flag raising.
    He actually photographed a second flag raising, which led to accusations that the event was staged for his camera.
    He added to the controversy by saying 'Sure' when asked if he had posed the photo. (He later said he had assumed he was being asked about another photo he took of Marines in a group shot in front of the flag.)

Why he might not be annoying:

    The second flag was raised because the original flag was too small to be seen from ships offshore.
    A film of the event taken by a Marine cameraman shows that Rosenthal did not stage it.
    He later said, 'If I had set it up, I probably would have ruined the shot. I was lucky.'
    His photo was the model for the US Marine Corps War Memorial at Arlington.
    He said his proudest possession was the certificate he received in 1996 naming him an honorary Marine.

Credit: C. Fishel


Featured in the following Annoying Collections:

Year In Review:

    For 2024, as of last weekly ranking, Out of 1 Votes: 0% Annoying
    In 2023, Out of 6 Votes: 0% Annoying
    In 2022, Out of 1 Votes: 0% Annoying
    In 2021, Out of 10 Votes: 70.0% Annoying
    In 2020, Out of 2 Votes: 50.0% Annoying
    In 2019, Out of 16 Votes: 56.25% Annoying
    In 2018, Out of 3 Votes: 0% Annoying
    In 2017, Out of 5 Votes: 60.0% Annoying
    In 2016, Out of 4 Votes: 75.00% Annoying
    In 2015, Out of 7 Votes: 42.86% Annoying
    In 2014, Out of 13 Votes: 38.46% Annoying
    In 2013, Out of 10 Votes: 60.0% Annoying