Don McCullin: Nobody wants the pictures I used to take.

[Arthurwg]

A little surprised to see this lack of comprehension among photographers.

 

[Sirius Glass]

Is that the famous back of a Nikon, I presume, that stopped a bullet doing fatal damage to the owner? Yes it is proof that a handful of "war" photographers ( in terms of the then photographing population) put themselves in danger and because they were few in number we then got to know their stories. However with the advent of i phones with their ever improving ability to both take stills and video, everyone can be potentially a "war" photographer. So I suspect many more are now in that category, be it only in one specific area of their theatre of war and be it only for a few minutes, hours or days while the action takes place in their area. What they collectively produce if it is transmitted as inevitably it is, can become a more all round picture of what is going on than a handful of professional war photographers like Don could ever have achieved

So surely it is not that no-one wants his kind of pictures anymore but that even equipped with a digital camera and the equipment to transmit his pictures instantly he becomes only one of many more war photographers who may or may not get his pictures seen. In today's world a picture of street fighting in Nicosia such as Don captured in the early 1960s would be available to 100s of would- be war photographers who taken as a whole may produce a bigger picture of what is going on and in real time than Don could ever in the early 60s have hoped to produce.

An i phone will never "stop a bullet" but I'd have thought that there is a good chance by now or very soon in the future that there will be a great number of dead war photographers with i phones of whom the general public will be none the wiser about their exploits because none of them will ever be known to other than their immediate family

pentaxuser

with the advent of digital cameras and smart phones, everyone takes photos and want them posted on the internet or on news platforms for free just to get seen. That has hurt all free lance and professional photographers especially in the photo journalism.

 

[pentaxuser]

with the advent of digital cameras and smart phones, everyone takes photos and want them posted on the internet or on news platforms for free just to get seen. That has hurt all free lance and professional photographers especially in the photo journalism.

Very true but it's what has happened. There is no turning the clock back and in terms of what we have may or may not have lost in terms of the quality of photos reflecting the actual situation, there seems to me to be no certainty that if everyone can be an instant photographer that some or most of Don's pictures or those of other war journalists would not be made by one of those instant photographers.

Some might only be made by being allowed to be in "front line " positions and there the professional photographer allowed to be there has the advantage but these situations are still covered by various news agencies such as the BBC and often with equipment that confers facilities to the cameraman that makes Don's equipment look like something out of a forgotten age which it largely is.


pentaxuser

 

[KitosLAB]

Photographer Vladimir Mironyuk died. Ukrainian, US citizen. This happened 20 km from my home, which is under occupation Vladimir Mironyuk

 

[GregY]

Photographer Vladimir Mironyuk died. Ukrainian, US citizen. This happened 20 km from my home, which is under occupation Vladimir Mironyuk

Thank you even so, for the sad news

 

[logan2z]

A new interview in The Telegraph:

War photographer Don McCullin: ‘I wish I was in Ukraine’

His images of conflict he captures are unequalled. At 88, his focus has switched – but his wit is as caustic as ever

www.telegraph.co.uk

 

[MTGseattle]

Perhaps we can infer from Mr. McCullin that nobody (publishers of print media) wants to pay for a photographer to imbed themselves for weeks/months at a time and turn in hundreds of images to an editor anymore? I think that is the crux of what he is saying. Are there still photographers out there doing long form projects? Sure. And stated many times above, there are still photographers out there in harm's way as well.
It's getting harder to market that work though.

 

[pentaxuser]

Perhaps we can infer from Mr. McCullin that nobody (publishers of print media) wants to pay for a photographer to imbed themselves for weeks/months at a time and turn in hundreds of images to an editor anymore? I think that is the crux of what he is saying. Are there still photographers out there doing long form projects? Sure. And stated many times above, there are still photographers out there in harm's way as well.
It's getting harder to market that work though.

Yes and it's also getting "bang for buck" The BBC has more or less retained enough of a presence in Ukraine to be able to broadcast from there since the war started. That's not cheap but it's what it's able to do with a small team and what's demanded by the public that outweighs anything that Don or the likes of Larry Burrows and their ilk were ever able to do, in my opinion

pentaxuser