Category Archives: Staged Photos

This infant—traumatized, possibly injured and abandoned—was one of many victims when Japanese bombers blasted Shanghai South train station to smithereens in August 1937.

The incident has a name: “Bloody Saturday.” We know the photographer: H. S. Wong (a.k.a Wong Hai-Sheng, Wang Xiaoting and by his nickname “Newsreel”). We know almost nothing about the baby. Read more

The bathtub? Adolf Hitler’s. 

The beauty in the tub? Lee Miller, an American-born model, artist, photographer, and wartime photojournalist for British Vogue.

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Phony War

When British Major William Martin’s body washed up near Spain in 1943, the Germans obtained a snap of his fiancée Pam – and Allied invasion plans. The Germans were delighted. So were the Allies. Read more

red_flag-2-watchesThe Reichstag Red Flag: Faked?

Staged? Faked? Like Joe Rosenthal’s famous Iwo Jima image that inspired him, Evgeny Khaldei’s dramatic photograph attracted controversy – and still appears in different versions.   Read more

Iwo Jima flag-raisingIwo Jima! Staged?

Six soldiers raised the flag, photographer Joe Rosenthal took his shot, his photo quickly became a phenomenon – and he was accused of staging the whole thing.  Read more