Google Doodle pays tribute to war photographer Gerda Taro

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. (KGO) -- Google is dedicating its Doodle to a pioneering war photographer on what would have been her 108th birthday.

Gerda Taro is considered to be the first female photojournalist in the world to cover the front lines of conflict.

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She was born on August 1, 1910 in Stuttgart, Germany.

Taro was only 26 when she died in 1937 while covering the Spanish Civil War. Google says it's recognizing Taro for fearlessly capturing sensitive and critical images of conflict around the world, producing powerful black-and-white images.

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Google shared this message along with its Doodle: Though she was tiny in stature, Gerda Taro had the heart of a giant. Known as "the little red fox," the ginger-haired photographer fearlessly turned her camera lens to capture sensitive and critical images of conflict around the world, producing powerful black-and-white images that informed readers of the newspaper Ce Soir. In fact, Taro is considered to be the first female journalist in the world to cover the front lines of conflict.

Born on this day in 1910 in Stuttgart, Germany, Taro moved to France shortly after Adolf Hitler was appointed the chancellor of Germany 1933. In Paris, she met Robert Capa, a fellow refugee who taught her the basics of photography. They became friends, changed their names (she was originally named Gerta Pohorylle) and were enamored for a time.

Capa would go on to co-found the Magnum Photo agency while Taro became known for her fearless reportage. "The troops loved her and she kept pushing," said Taro's biographer Jane Rogoyska. "Capa warned her not to take so many risks."

During the last five months of Taro's short career, she worked alone in Spain before tragically losing her life near El Escorial, northwest of Madrid, while capturing images on the front line of the Spanish Civil War in July 1937. By the age of 26, her searing battlefield images made her a household name, even though many of those images were misattributed to Capa.

Here's to Gerda Taro, who had a photographer's eye, a journalist's soul, and a warrior's courage.