October 9th marks the 50th death anniversary of Argentine Marxist revolutionary Ernesto Che Guevara. Half a century after his murder, Che remains one of the most recognizable faces on earth because of a picture taken by a Cuban photographer, Alberto Korda. But as CGTN's Michael Voss reports, Korda was never paid for capturing the iconic moment.

 

It's an image which has graced millions of posters and T shirts. This portrait of Che Guevara is said to be the most reproduced picture in the history of photography. Yet the man who shot it, Cuban photographer, Alberto Korda, never received any royalties for the work. Something, his daughter says, Korda never regretted. 

 

DIANA DIAZ KORDA'S DAUGHTER My father actually never got a cent out of that, and he said he didn't care. He was happy that the image became so well-known and helped make Che so famous.

 

Before the Cuban revolution, Korda was an established photographer, who specialized in advertising and fashion shoots. But he left that behind to become a news photographer. His pictures quickly caught Fidel Castro's attention and Korda was regularly at his side. It was during one of Fidel's mass rallies that Korda noticed Che Guevara and managed to get off a couple of quick shots. Korda's newspaper didn't publish the picture, but he liked it and kept a copy on his wall.

 

MICHAEL VOSS HAVANA, CUBA  Seven years later, in 1967 a radical Italian publisher Giangiacomo Feltrinelli came to Havana looking for a picture of Che. Korda gave him a copy for free, a gift to a fellow socialist.

 

DIANA DIAZ KORDA'S DAUGHTER This happened in August, and in October, Che died and Feltrinelli ordered one million posters be published.

 

Very quickly the image was shared around the world but with no mention of Korda's name. In an interview for a documentary in 2000, the year before he died Korda spoke of how proud he was to have taken Che's iconic photograph.

 

ALBERTO KORDA PHOTOGRAPHER  I had the luck to take this photo and leave something for humanity. I didn't leave great palaces, yachts, money in the bank, none of that. I left an example of my work during my time in this world.  Michael Voss, CGTN, Havana.