Don McCullin

[Bacardi]

Might be of interest to those interested in photography. Just noticed it mentioned on the news about Don McCullin’s retrospective at Tate Britain https://www.tate.org.uk/whats-on/tate-britain/exhi...

Also a documentary available on Player https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m0002dv0/don...

Nice to see him still shooting film and printing, as well as digital, although I don’t think he gets hung up on the latest spec sheets, he just takes pictures.

[Pupp]

I saw that too and would really like to catch the Tate Britain exhibition. His work is stunning and his life experiences unimaginable to most I would think.

[Elderly]

Whilst I know that he doesn't want to be known just as a war photographer,
in my opinion that body of work is by far his finest.

I was really disappointed by last night's documentary,
a lot of waffle, too much self congratulation and not enough photographs;
I suspect it was made as a convenient puff for his retrospective
(which I'm looking forward to going to).

His previous documentary about Palmyra was much more interesting.

I used to really admire his photos, but I'm not sure about his present work;
he's not moved on - wide angle moody black and white landscapes, with the
blue filtered from the skies is rather passé …….

…… all in my humble opinion of course .

I did enjoy seeing his darkroom - I still have a similar cold cathode De Vere enlarger
and cream painted clockwork timer up in my loft from 30 to 40 years ago .

[tog]

On the other hand I thought the documentary was great. Really inspiring to see that he still has such passion for taking photographs after such a long career. It's also nice to see how he conducts himself while shooting, the self-confidence and chutzpah of just getting on with it, not trying to be sneaky or surreptitious. There's a film he did for Canon a year or two ago showing him shooting on the streets of India where the same openness and confidence of experience come across clearly.

[Elderly]

tog said:

……….. Really inspiring to see that he still has such passion for taking photographs after such a long career. It's also nice to see how he conducts himself while shooting, the self-confidence and chutzpah of just getting on with it, not trying to be sneaky or surreptitious. There's a film he did for Canon a year or two ago showing him shooting on the streets of India where the same openness and confidence of experience come across clearly.

It would be difficult to be sneaky or surreptitious whilst accompanied by a small crew and your assistant,
and easier to be self-confident (which he very much is) with that back-up.

The passion …… I don't think that you lose it - I was a pro for about forty years and still love the process of taking photographs (for myself).

I must look out that India programme, thanks for the heads up.

[Macneil]

Check out his autobiography "Unreasonable Behaviour" it is a great read.

I thought the scene where he went back to his home was very moving, there seemed to be some tension coming from the current inhabitant though.

[tog]

Elderly said:

It would be difficult to be sneaky or surreptitious whilst accompanied by a small crew and your assistant,
and easier to be self-confident (which he very much is) with that back-up.

The passion …… I don't think that you lose it - I was a pro for about forty years and still love the process of taking photographs (for myself).

I must look out that India programme, thanks for the heads up.

I didn't get the impression he was putting it on for the crew, I think to get the pictures he's got over his career you'd have to be open and honest about what you're doing. There's always a connection.

India is here: https://www.canon-europe.com/pro/stories/sir-don-m...
It's an ad for Canon of course, but interesting nonetheless. I was impressed with his RB67 handholding skills!

[knk]

One of my favourite photographic artists. I will make sure I visit the Tate exhibition. There was a fantastic exhibit at Hauser & Wirth in Somerset a year or two ago.

I was luck to get a copy of his three volume work "Irreconcilable Truths".

https://huxleyparlourbooks.com/products/irreconcil...

[droopsnoot]

I enjoyed the documentary that was on BBC4 the other day more than I thought I would, interesting to see him revisit places he'd photographed before, and some of his darkroom stuff brought back memories of trying to adjust exposure balance when printing.