The award-winning photojournalist looks back over his 50 year career on the front line. Witness to armed conflict and atrocity on battlefields around the world, these devastating experiences changed his motivation. The conflicting emotions still haunt him.
An interview to mark the opening of Shaped by War at the Imperial War Museum, the first major retrospective exhibition of Don McCullin’s work.
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Without a doubt, Don is my number one photographer
Don is an admirable human being whose message went straight over the head of the public. "Stop wars. Innocents suffer". Ironic how much he risked and how many scars he suffered to bring us this message, yet people are talking about "arranged pictures" showing the all too human "ability" to set priorities. Sit down on one evening alone with a McCullin album and go through it. Look into the eyes of his subjects. Realise that all this suffering and ability to cause this suffering is all in you too for you are human, THEN go and talk about arranged pictures.
thanks for sharing.
Very, honest and to a point very humble. If, these photos can teach the younger generation, that……War, is terrible and cruel and, if at all possible to be avoided at All costs!.
A politically-engaged photographer.
Ok
At least he admitted to staging..
Still more natural then an image manipulated in Photoshop which everybody loves. Great work McCullin.
Indeed, McCullin has dedicated his entire life to photographing the unphotographable, the compelling evidence, the unseen victims, the horrors, atrocities, and madness of civilized societies with civilized hoodlums and enlightened rogues….
I see no problem with arranging the man's possessions around him for a staged photo. He's not adding anything that wasn't already there. The wallet and family photos were always present at the scene, but just outside the frame. I think we are so used to seeing images of dead bodies from war zones, it's become very easy to look away. To deaden our emotions and be indifferent, especially if we are looking at the dead body of an "enemy" soldier. Being able to see those photos of his loved ones on the ground in front of him humanises him again.
To those that say he is editorialising. Well… Yeah, he is. So what? Every war photographer who ever shot in a war zone is making decisions on what to photograph to some degree. "Editorialising" is unavoidable.
Being confronted with the inhuman reality of war, whether ethical or not, he made a philosophical choice to condemn what he had seen. He seems to have been honest from the beginning about the context of the photo. It would have been obvious considering his description, to anyone actually present, that the young man was lying dead surrounded by pictures of his loved ones. Being that he wasn't shooting large format negatives, and that this type of detail would have been lost at the average sized, or even large sized enlargement of 35mm, I believe it's staging is excusable. Perhaps not under the strictest of professional ethics, but certainly according to his humanity and in line with his conscience. The real question of integrity would in this case lie with the editors who saw fit to use it. The piece should perhaps be considered fine art.
Personally I do not critique anyone doing something i probably couldn't or wouldn't do…its weak. Dons work documents great tragedy and human disaster, I'm sure you were eating cornflakes or watching TV at the time?….perhaps you were still in nappies?. No comments regarding the re-arrangment of the Vietnam "Dead Boys" wallet is required nor is it earned by you, unless of course you were there in the mud & blood with Don. Criticising the man publicly is ignorant and expresses a narcissistic mentality.
thank you Don.
*nothing journalistic about that…. I get that journalists have opinions….but to stage a photo???? disgusting…
Great watch! But really disgusting that he totally staged that picture of the dead soldier. Completely changed the meaning of that photo… that journalistic about that…
here is a video of a photographer that shot pictures of war. telling a story with his camera. and has seen more than i or anyone that is a part of me wants to see in there life time, and here ye are bikkering about facts figures. ye have learned nothing from this amazing person have ye
very touching and emotional.
So powerful…
"Avoiding" war with germany would be one thing….laying your populations' head on a chopping block and surrendering your sovereignty is another.Back to the pictures..IMNSHO…i dont mind photographers explaining their photos and telling the story of the images,,,i do have a problem with a "photojournalist" or any "journalist" for that matter editorializing under the guise of journalism.Same goes for propaganda.we do it,you do it we all do it….just dont call it journalism…..yavol!
hahaha that's more like it,honestly i was shocked at the first measured response from such a blatantly ignorant yank,goddam right chamberlain's not a photojournalist,he was a politician and i'm irish so i wouldn't be a big fan
GODDAMN RIGHT IM AN AMERICAN….what the fuck are you?…european?……i bet youre a fan of neville chamberlain too……hes also not a photojournalist either….hes a photographer….the second he editorializes,he surrenders the "journalist" moniker….british fuckers kill me
where do you intend to find the angels to administer this utopia you speak of ?….you know what iit sounds like to me…..
your attitude reminds me of the scene in apocalypse now where coppola is shouting this is for tv don't look at the camera
he took the pics,so he can say whatever he wants….but lets face it…..hes editorializing
he is a human being not a robot,some people like to hear the personal story behind the pictures and not just indulge in voyeurism,easy knowing you're american,'war has been here since the beginning of time'?what an idiot
very interesting photos…..poignant….professional…..but i get sour when photogs get preachy about war,,,,,,just take the photos and let them have the impact they are designed to have…not just this guy but most of them……war has been here since the beginning of time….just chronicle it and save the self important ,self pity…..get on your plane,go home ,sell the pictures and thats it…..
wow, you probably dont even know what you talking about i bet you you wouldnt have the balls to put your money were your mouth is, this is how these things happen by responding to hate with more hate. People like you who think it is so easy to solve things like that and just so you know its not that easy to take someones's life and im sure you never have, and if you have (probably not) then your just like those murderers in the video. the best form of revenge is success. we can be better people.
The message has not been changed by the manipulation. All the items in the image/scene are the same. It's just a simple way of clarifying a message. Nothing wrong with this manipulation when compared to other common image manipulations (pre and post exposure).
Love listening to Don talk. Its like he's trying to figure things out as he goes along, like you can listen to his brain working.
What's credibility when there is a message to be told? It's a sacrifice, not a scam
Don't fret Don, no body that has seen the pics is likely to forget em or who took em.
This is the stuff. It's not a game.
Should anyone speak on the art of photojournalism Mr McCullin shall always and forever be the man to listen to.
@vivatones66 I´m for a world with no war, no money, no gredd and no lies. Plus I´m always setting up pictures whenever I call a person´s name for him or her to look satraight in to my camera, I´m always setting up pictures when I wait for that specific moment to shoot. To set up photos is, for me, not an issue, and should not be to anyone. Either way we are showing other people what we see and they dont. You just need to be honest and Mccullin whas as honest as always when he staged that photo.
@vivatones66 I´m for a world with no war, no money, no gredd and no lies. Plus I´m always setting up pictures whenever I call a person´s name for him or her to look satraight in to my camera, I´m always setting up pictures when I wait for that specific moment to shoot. To set up photos is, for me, not an issue, and should not be to anyone. Either way we are showing other people what we see and they dont. You just need to be honest and Mccullin whas as honest as always when he staged that photo.
@vivatones66 Mccullin wasn´t trying to do art or any kind of favor to anyone, as you call it, he satated a very powerful message about war, with his own biases, but also with the dead enemy soldier´s life outside the war. And how about the american marines who robbed a coprse, are those atitudes excusable and the ones of a prize winig journalist not?. I´m a photojournalist and Mccullin is one of my inspirations, I knew of that photo a long time ago, in fact lots of people do, he never hide it.
a true human being…
Fantastic images and so very good and moving to listen to Don McCullin descriibng some of the shots
Gorgeous stuff.
FIRSTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT!!!!!!!!!