#wristshots

Some say this is the original wristshot: Josef Koudelka, Warsaw Pact troops invasion. Prague, Czechoslovakia. August, 1968. [The watch is a Raketa 2603.]

From “Koudelka’s Prague, Fifty Years Later When Soviet troops invaded Czechoslovakia’s capital in August 1968, Josef Koudelka was one of the first on the scene.“:

Koudelka: I wanted to take a photograph of the Soviet tanks and soldiers alone in Wenceslas Square after the people of Prague had decided not to demonstrate so as not to give the Soviet occupiers a pretext for a massacre-the Czechs realized they were being set up. In my photograph of the hand with the watch, you don’t see the Soviets … I climbed to the top of one of the buildings, and the Soviets saw me. They thought I was a sniper and started to chase me. I ran through hallways into another building, and by chance found that a friend of mine was living there. I left all the film I had shot that day-about twenty rolls-with him, just in case the Soviets caught me when I left the building.

For more information about that photograph, Josef Koudelka, and wristshots see:

“Josef Koudelka’s Wristwatch”

“Just in Time: The Brilliant Career of Josef Koudelka”

“Josef Koudelka, décryptage du plus célèbre wristshot de l’histoire (Partie 1)”

“Raketa 2603, la montre de Koudelka enfin révélée”

“Josef Koudelka and the Raketa 2603 (Prague Spring)”

”A Brief History of the First Watch Wrist Shot“ (video)

“Wristshots and Online Watch Photography: The Saga Continues, and, Yes, There’s Instagram Too – Reprise”

“How to (and not to) Photograph a Watch”

“Wristshots: The Story So Far”

”Reminiscence“ (a 2016 remake of that shot)