Magnum Photos
Warren Trabant showed Robert Capa, the renowned war photographer, Haas’s “Homecoming” photographs before they were published. Upon reviewing his work, Capa invited the young photographer to travel to Paris, where he was invited to join the new international photographic cooperative Magnum Photos (“Magnum”), then two years old. Henri Cartier-Bresson, George Rodger, David “Chim” Seymour, Werner Bischof, and William Vandivert were already members.
At the same time, Haas was also offered a staff photographer position at Life. Forced to choose between two extraordinary opportunities, he decided he did not want to be limited by Life’s restrictive scope. As a Magnum photographer, Haas would have autonomy over the stories he decided to tell and where he traveled. Describing his decision in a letter to Life editor Wilson Hicks, Haas wrote “What I want is to stay free, so that I can carry out my ideas... I don’t think there are many editors who could give me the assignments I give myself...”
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