Don McCullin "Looking for England"

[CharlesDAMorgan]

Within such a short space of time that world has gone. I welcome the end of horrible smoke and pollution, but photos without it don't look half so good!

 

[peterm1]

Within such a short space of time that world has gone. I welcome the end of horrible smoke and pollution, but photos without it don't look half so good!

Yes. I think it's the grim bleakness of some of McCullin's photos and those of Bill Brandt and Robert Frank etc enhanced by being in black and white (if enhanced is the correct word) is what helps make all those images so evocative. When I look at the photos of the Northern England in that era I can't help but think of the autobiographical book "The Road to Wigan Pier" by George Orwell which tells a similarly bleak story in a similarly bleak industrial setting.

And even some of Fred Herzog's too, though he shot in color. What would this photo be without the smokestack spewing its fumes into the atmosphere. "The past" they say, "Is a foreign country". Too true.

 

[Michael Markey]

Within such a short space of time that world has gone. I welcome the end of horrible smoke and pollution, but photos without it don't look half so good!

Yes ,all too familiar here in the north.
Fog we called it when we were sent home early from school because you could barely see your hand in front of your face.
I guess it would be called smog these days .

 

[robert blu]

This has become an interesting thread, I understand Peter's points. It's all about the integrity and honesty of the photographer, as Dogman says.

At a certain extent photographs have always more or less treated to enhance the visual impact , starting from dodging and burning to more articulated processes. Digital makes it easier therefore more temptations.

I have friends who walk hours to take a landscape photo without electric wires or advertising plates when others just clone them out! The final result can be similar, ohh what an idyllic place !

Anyway thanks all for the additional links provided, it's always good to watch other photographers work and styles.

robert

PS: I have to add I like very much peterm1 photos and I'm a little envious of the processing ability!

 

[peterm1]

This has become an interesting thread, I understand Peter's points. It's all about the integrity and honesty of the photographer, as Dogman says.

At a certain extent photographs have always more or less treated to enhance the visual impact , starting from dodging and burning to more articulated processes. Digital makes it easier therefore more temptations.

I have friends who walk hours to take a landscape photo without electric wires or advertising plates when others just clone them out! The final result can be similar, ohh what an idyllic place !

Anyway thanks all for the additional links provided, it's always good to watch other photographers work and styles.

robert

PS: I have to add I like very much peterm1 photos and I'm a little envious of the processing ability!

Thanks for your kind words Robert. They are appreciated.

I do think people can learn the technical skills to post process (if I did it, anyone can). But I think what has to be learned most of all (and this may be harder to acquire, but I think can be learned too with persistence and experimentation) is a kind of "artistic eye". To my way of thinking much of this is about learning how to appreciate light and shadows then how to manipulate the light and shadow in your image to create the kind of final image you want.

Though, goodness knows, I can seldom quite predict how any image will turn out exactly - some, perhaps a lot of it, is luck and persistence - I may make a dozen post processed versions or more before I have one I like or can even tolerate. Seldom are these changes doing anything other than finessing how the picture looks (I am not adding or subtracting picture elements other than a bit of cropping perhaps). I can't say how important this attention to detail is and sometimes I will struggle for ages to fix some flaw in an image that makes the difference between an image that is "hmm it has potential but misses the mark" to one which I can live with or even like.

The other thing I have found that has to be learned is the thing that all photographers need - the ability to see an image "developing" in the viewfinder as its elements move about in the viewfinder frame and then press the shutter at HCB's decisive moment when composition is perfect (which it seldom is). This is hard with MF lenses and even harder with dynamic images like street photos. I would hate to say how many images I miss.

 

[d_c]

Thanks for posting the link to this. I saw the Tate show of his work earlier this year, and it was intersting to see him talking about his background in north London, which happens to be just down the road from where I'm living.

 

[icebear]

Here is a very nice documentary movie with Don McCulling, ...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KOTedHe-_lg

THANKS for posting the link, I ended up watching also the interview and the Kulkatta clip as well, so I kind of spend 3 hrs of my life on this. It was well worth it😉

 

[CharlesDAMorgan]

Yes. I think it's the grim bleakness of some of McCullin's photos and those of Bill Brandt and Robert Frank etc enhanced by being in black and white (if enhanced is the correct word) is what helps make all those images so evocative. When I look at the photos of the Northern England in that era I can't help but think of the autobiographical book "The Road to Wigan Pier" by George Orwell which tells a similarly bleak story in a similarly bleak industrial setting.

And even some of Fred Herzog's too, though he shot in color. What would this photo be without the smokestack spewing its fumes into the atmosphere. "The past" they say, "Is a foreign country". Too true.

That is a gorgeous photo - the colours themselves give it a time and place, and while the smokestack menaces in the background, there is a sense of the future and optimism in the bright colours (has to be Kodachrome) and the energy of the men. In the ones of McCullin just upthread the men are merely silhouettes, with hunched shoulders, walking in to that everlasting nighttime that is smog ridden heavy industry. Only the lights offer an inadequate sense of some future.

It's funny how the choice of black and white and colour can completely change a mood.

 

[Melancholy]

This has become an interesting thread, I understand Peter's points. It's all about the integrity and honesty of the photographer, as Dogman says.

I agree, and I´m very happy that the rest of you also found the movie interesting, personally I really like the comments and links postet. I´ve seen most of the documentaries of McCullin on youtube many times, I like all of them, but this one was a bit different in a positive way.

Please, keep posting thoughts and links in this thread, I enjoy it very much.

 

[Michael Markey]

I´ve seen most of the documentaries of McCullin on youtube many times, I like all of them, but this one was a bit different in a positive way.

I agree …. this one showed him working on home ground .

 

[RoccCity]

I agree, and I´m very happy that the rest of you also found the movie interesting, personally I really like the comments and links postet. I´ve seen most of the documentaries of McCullin on youtube many times, I like all of them, but this one was a bit different in a positive way.

Please, keep posting thoughts and links in this thread, I enjoy it very much.

Incase people havent seen it, here is his full length doc: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mdi6WhIC3rw

 

[M_alice]

Mamiya Super 23 or Universal, and Mamiya RB67 or RZ67.

Handheld RZ67, no strap. I know people, 50 years younger, who say it is "tripoid only" camera. BTW. I have strap even on my Minox...