Don McCullin - Changes War Photography

Don McCullin - Changes War Photography?

Don McCullin is a British born photojournalist who is best known internationally for his war photography and front cover images for The Sunday Times Magazine. During his active years as a photojournalist he covered events/wars/disasters in: Cyprus, The Congo, Vietnam, Biafra, Northern Ireland, Cambodia, Bangladesh and Beirut to name some.

            The reason McCullin photographed war is because he wanted as much of the world to see the stone cold consequences of what war brought. It brought death, hunger, disease, pain, the taking away of human rights and continuous suffering. He has said in interviews that he is reminded every single day of the things he has seen and can never shake them off. He said that as much as he hated being a war photographer he was addicted to war and would have withdrawal so I think that could also be another reason as to why he continued to photograph war zones as well as him wanting to raise the awareness.
             Although previous war photographers captured war, I think that the way in which Don McCullin captured war is something else and on a completely different level as to what photographers like Mathew Brady and Robert Capa before him would have shown. Of course that would also have been down to the developments in technology. A lot of McCullin’s war imagery is very raw, detailed and hard hitting in the sense that it really brings to reality, the horribly heart breaking shock of what war causes and what humans will and have done to each other. With his images being in black and white the detail stands out pretty clear and I think that if he had been shooting in colour it may have taken away too much from what he was showing and would have been distracting to the eye.
            I think that McCullin’s work is really powerful and in all honesty brings tears to my eyes when I see a lot of it. I think that he was very successful in bringing to light the reality and consequence of war through his real imagery. It makes me realise how much bad actually happens in the world and it reminds me that mankind can do extremely cruel heartless things to one another in the name of war for territory of land, religion, money and power. His work is very thought provoking and makes you question your own ethical beliefs as well as others from the person pulling the trigger of the gun, to the person taking the photo and beyond. I think that if there weren’t photographers like Don McCullin around - who portray truth – the world media would sugar coat so many things and no one would ever know what really goes on in the world – it would just be a constant barrage of celebrity culture and nothing else.