Don McCullin

Beautiful pictures, I like this work of McCullin more, his more famous pictures are too brutal for me to appreciate them.
 
I've seen some interviews with Don McCullin in which he explains that his landscape pictures are an antidote to his wartime pictures.
 
p.giannakis said:
Beautiful pictures, I like this work of McCullin more, his more famous pictures are too brutal for me to appreciate them.
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I'm with you on this. I saw a video (you tube) and he takes his time with the landscapes. Also, on that video (or maybe I'm thinking of two videos) he runs into a man that he photographed playing soccer (football) 40-50 years earlier.

Thanks for posting David.
 
That Pushkar fair photo is sublime.

Interesting to see he seems to be affected by the same film dev issues that I experience! Check the #1 and #2.
If MCullin is ok with it, I should stop worrying!
 
I went to this exhibition last week - a set of wonderful images in a very dramatic style. I took the odd photo (they caught me with them leaving) but bought the book to study style and technique at leisure. Then watched the Ravilious documentary of someone with a very different approach, yet so much in common.

donmccullin-1-of-1.jpg
 
rulnacco said:
If you'd like to see a clip of McCullin shooting portraits on the street (in London's Whitechapel), which reveals his compassionate and respectful manner that persuades people to let him photograph them, I posted this a few years back: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pbDUk3rlmBo.
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Excellent clip and so, too, was the follower, "Seeking the Light." The light is the key as he stresses often. He cautions against viewing what you just took because then your eye is away from the viewfinder. He praises digital autofocus for releasing him from the tyranny of having to focus every shot, The super high ISO's are so welcome especially now that noise reduction has improved. And he is quite pleased with the ease and broadness of post editing. All in all he is quite thrilled with progress. Because it makes photographing easier. And, like Overgaard, he says in his way to always wear a camera. I sure as Hell can't fault the guy. His images are quite wonderful, too.
 
I bought his landscape book. Really fantastic. His war experiences seem to permeate even his landscapes. They are dark and brooding with touches of melancholy, yet are beautiful at the same time. Truly a master of his craft and style
 
Ccoppola82 said:
I bought his landscape book. Really fantastic. His war experiences seem to permeate even his landscapes. They are dark and brooding with touches of melancholy, yet are beautiful at the same time. Truly a master of his craft and style
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This video kinds of gives a nice overview of the war work translating into the landscape work. Most interviews I've seen of him, he's a wee bit dark and brooding, so it seems that's his thang in many respects to his work.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SdIESEzIX4M
 
Years ago I saw him interviewed on TV, maybe by Michael Parkinson - forget now as I only saw McCullin. Most compelling interview or any piece of television I’ve seen.
 
filmtwit said:
Shadows of War hour long interview from 2019

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R6WMclJ2iSM
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This one is terrific also. Interesting, early in the interview, he mentions discussion with other photographers in his early career as a photographer. What impresses me in all of his interviews is his very deft intellect and his eloquence in examining the morality and the psychology of his war photography, and then his very deliberate and detailed exposition of what it is in the landscape that he is looking for in his later pictures. All of this without much in the way of formal education. He must have been a great talker as a kid and his parents must have encouraged him in conversations and he was likely a charming and likeable young man and all of that formed his intellect in the field as it were, seemingly needing little in the way of formal instruction or extensive reading—which presumably later he may have done.
 
Richard G said:
This one is terrific also. Interesting, early in the interview, he mentions discussion with other photographers in his early career as a photographer. What impresses me in all of his interviews is his very deft intellect and his eloquence in examining the morality and the psychology of his war photography, and then his very deliberate and detailed exposition of what it is in the landscape that he is looking for in his later pictures. All of this without much in the way of formal education. He must have been a great talker as a kid and his parents must have encouraged him in conversations and he was likely a charming and likeable young man and all of that formed his intellect in the field as it were, seemingly needing little in the way of formal instruction or extensive reading—which presumably later he may have done.
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Completely agree about his clear and analytical thinking and articulation. It does suggest that he has spent plenty of time talking and discussing, quite apart from formal education. Of course, no screens as he was growing up.

I find it interesting that he and David Hurn are both very well worth listening to. Both, now, old men but with much to offer.

I’ll watch this later. Thanks

Mike
 
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