On Don McCullen
HND Design PhotographyI intend in this following essay to show how much of Don McCullins work, throughout his career, represents pictures of people rather than pictures of war, as Edward Steichen said, " the real mission of photography is explaining man to himself ". I feel that a lot of McCullins work is more often about the social circumstances of people, with war and suffering, often, simply a background to the subject of people making the most of things, even though the lions share of these social situations do happen amongst the wars and famines that have blighted the twentieth century. 1 - The first shot I intend to look at is called 'The Guvnors', a striking picture of post-war youth. This picture started McCullins photographic career. At first glance the picture seems instantly recognisable, Gangsters, catching that rugged style of 50's London that film has often tried to recreate. Although the "Guvnors" themselves are posed, you instantly see that this is real, sensing that these people are real gangsters. The fact that these young men are pictured not in a nightclub or in the back of a big black jaguar
The most striking thing about the picture is that the man is walking by has a certain look on his face, a look which tells it's own story, in my view it is a look of distrust, his eyes seem to say, "We don't need you. When looking at this picture you have to bare in mind that in the early seventies, Northern Ireland was essentially a war zone in contrast to recently past years, parts of Derry were no go zones for British troops who had been damned by the IRA. The picture is of a British soldier taking a covering position on a street corner as a young man nonchalantly walks by. What food there was went to feed army bellies. Grief is a very serious business in the Mediterranean. He found a number of dead bodies in a small house almost all the men in one large family. These people wanted the pictures to be taken, they wanted the people to see their loss, and they wanted to show people what was happening. Quarantina was a Muslim slum that had some how planted itself in the midst of Christian East Beirut. The young men seem almost oblivious to the dead girl laying a few metres away from them, as if they have and are doing nothing wrong. I believe we see that they are, pictures of social interaction and human nature presented against the backdrop of the world's troubles but most importantly pictures of people. The composition adds a lot to the picture. The fact that the picture shows a group of people celebrating the death of a young girl, tells me a lot about the photographer, the way the picture has been taken doesn't immediately say it's a celebration of death, I feel its more a distracting performance for the performers themselves, who must feel regret considering the casualties all appear to be innocents. 3 - The next picture that I am going to look at was taken by McCullin in Biafra. Again as with most of McCullin's work you need to understand the situations to truly 'get' the picture. Britain's changed it's stance on Nigeria as public support demanded aid for the Biafrans.
Common topics in this essay:
Don McCullin,
Biafra McCullin,
Edward Steichen,
Northern Ireland,
Unreasonable Behaviour',
Nicosia British,
Bog Catholic,
East Beirut,
Needless Christian,
McCullin Britain's,
pictures people,
war zone,
picture people,
northern ireland,
picture mccullin,
albino boy,
striking picture,
east beirut,
picture i'm,
people war,
|
Acceptance Essays
