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

Arthurwg

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

Sirius Glass

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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

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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
 

MTGseattle

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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

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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
 
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