George Strock: Famed, but Forgotten by Samuel Biehn

Photo of Strock while he is taking a photo. Wikipedia What happened to George Strock? Not during his photography career, but after? Why has he been such an enigma, in a way, to the history of WWII photography? Surprisingly enough, given Strock's credentials and prior work in his field, his private life has been able to stay (let's say it) more private than some would expect. During my own research for this blog, I made some strange initial discoveries. Being the college student that I am, I was hoping to find some information about his life post-LIFE Magazine and LA Times after I first heard about Strock by doing a search on Wiki. But, interestingly enough, on his Wiki page there isn't too much detail about what occurred following his photography career or even a quick synopsis about how he died. All there is, is a date. Trying to dive deeper into the issue, I made an attempt to search up details about Strock's cause of death and what occurred following his ca...

George Strock was a photographer during WWII, however, this doesn't mean he didn't photograph anything but high-stress battles. Strock was a LIFE Magazine staff photographer from 1940 to 1944 (according to the NY Times), before that working for the Los Angeles Times taking photos for the sports and crime sections. In fact, if one were to search for it, they could find a number of different photos that Strock took during his career. For example, this photo of legendary Major League Baeball pitcher Satchel Paige. Strock took photos of the sports icon before he went broke into the league. According to a TIME article by Eliza Berman about a profile of Paige which was published in TIME Magazine in 1941, the player used to play for a variety of teams for short periods of time in order to showcase his skills before making it to the majors. Satchel Paige smokes a cigarette in Harlem. George Strock, The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images Strock was the main photographer of th...

Strock's famous photo of American dead at Buna. George Strock, TIME & LIFE Pictures/Getty Images Many who have analyzed WWII photography or a history of photography in general may have run across one of the most prominent photos of dead soldiers, "Three dead Americans on the beach at Buna" which came from LIFE Magazine. This photo symbolizes a contrast to previous war photos, a constant in North American war time where photos were typically discouraged of showcasing any U.S. casualties. The structure of the photo is one which still garners praise to this day. In an article from the New York Times by David W. Dunlap titled "Photo That Was Hard to Get Published, but Even Harder to Get" detailed that the process of getting the photo approved to be in publication was a challenge on its own. For example, it is quoted "the issue of printing Mr. Strock's photo went all the way to President Franklin D. Roosevelt, who lifted the ban with the canny under...