Name of Artist: Don McCullin
Dates of Artist’s Life: 1935-current
1) McCullin was born in 1935 in London, England. During his early life, his country was plagued by Hitler’s bombs and he was relocated to a farm in Somerset. He did exceptionally at the Secondary Modern School, having won a scholarship to the Hammersmith School of Arts and Crafts, despite his dyslexia. Then, upon the death of his beloved father, he dropped out of school at age 15 and left to work for catering on a train. He was then drafted for service with the Royal Air Force. When dispatched, he failed the test to become a real Air Force Photographer, so he worked in the dark room for the remainder of his service.
2) McCullin’s photographer are mostly of people at war. He takes primarily portrait shots, but also takes larger-span photos that display his time at war. Almost all of his photos are in black and white, which has something to do with the fact that he started photography in 1959, before color photography was invented in 1975. His photos usually possess a sullen feeling, and they make you really think about the person’s life that he’s taken a snapshot of. His photography style seems unposed, raw, and real. It gives us a look into the horrors of war, a thing most everyday people have not experienced. His style is to give it to you straight: to show you things you have never seen before and leave you to feel whatever it makes you.
3) McCullin’s photography is political, yet personal at the same time. He shows you the things he has been through, his personal experiences with war. But he also shows you the things the government is opposing on it’s citizens, he shows you exactly the people put in danger for our own safety, and how ruthless war can be. War photography is never without meaning, and through his pictures along you can understand the tone of his story: weighted. He says photography to him “...is not looking, it’s feeling. If you can’t feel what you’re looking at, then you’re never going to get others to feel anything when they look at your pictures” which is very indicative of his philosophy. He wants his viewers to look at the horrible scenes of war and think to themselves how wrong it is, how much these brave people have been through in their time of service.
4) McCullin has influenced my work in an amazing variety of ways. However, the main way he has touched my work is to really make me think about the feeling invoked by my pictures. I know feel that if you don’t feel anything through your picture, if you don’t really care about what you’re shooting, thepicture isn’t worth taking at all. He’s really helped me explore what photography means to me, which is simple: feeling. It’s the message you give your viewers through pixels and values and your very thoughts. The whole purpose of photography, to me, is to convey a piece of me within my pictures, whether that be my opinions, my thoughts, or my story.
Dates of Artist’s Life: 1935-current
1) McCullin was born in 1935 in London, England. During his early life, his country was plagued by Hitler’s bombs and he was relocated to a farm in Somerset. He did exceptionally at the Secondary Modern School, having won a scholarship to the Hammersmith School of Arts and Crafts, despite his dyslexia. Then, upon the death of his beloved father, he dropped out of school at age 15 and left to work for catering on a train. He was then drafted for service with the Royal Air Force. When dispatched, he failed the test to become a real Air Force Photographer, so he worked in the dark room for the remainder of his service.
2) McCullin’s photographer are mostly of people at war. He takes primarily portrait shots, but also takes larger-span photos that display his time at war. Almost all of his photos are in black and white, which has something to do with the fact that he started photography in 1959, before color photography was invented in 1975. His photos usually possess a sullen feeling, and they make you really think about the person’s life that he’s taken a snapshot of. His photography style seems unposed, raw, and real. It gives us a look into the horrors of war, a thing most everyday people have not experienced. His style is to give it to you straight: to show you things you have never seen before and leave you to feel whatever it makes you.
3) McCullin’s photography is political, yet personal at the same time. He shows you the things he has been through, his personal experiences with war. But he also shows you the things the government is opposing on it’s citizens, he shows you exactly the people put in danger for our own safety, and how ruthless war can be. War photography is never without meaning, and through his pictures along you can understand the tone of his story: weighted. He says photography to him “...is not looking, it’s feeling. If you can’t feel what you’re looking at, then you’re never going to get others to feel anything when they look at your pictures” which is very indicative of his philosophy. He wants his viewers to look at the horrible scenes of war and think to themselves how wrong it is, how much these brave people have been through in their time of service.
4) McCullin has influenced my work in an amazing variety of ways. However, the main way he has touched my work is to really make me think about the feeling invoked by my pictures. I know feel that if you don’t feel anything through your picture, if you don’t really care about what you’re shooting, thepicture isn’t worth taking at all. He’s really helped me explore what photography means to me, which is simple: feeling. It’s the message you give your viewers through pixels and values and your very thoughts. The whole purpose of photography, to me, is to convey a piece of me within my pictures, whether that be my opinions, my thoughts, or my story.
The image on the left was taken by my artist, Don McCullin and the photo on the right was taken by me. A lot of the components of the photo by McCullin are present in mine, such as the cardboard sign, cityscape background, and the man holding the sign. My picture should have been more close up, but overall I could definitely connect the two. My actual model for this photo is my ten year old brother, so I did have to edit the beard and moustache onto him
The image on the left was by Don McCullin and the image on the right is by me. These images have a lot in common, but also some differences. The hand position on both the photos is exactly the same and the facial expressions are very similar. The color of shirt is similar, and the headscarf is as well. There are some physical differences among these two photos, but that's not exactly something I can help. The woman on the left is much older, much darker, and has much sharper cheekbones than me. The backgrounds are pretty similar, and I think the lighting is similar as well.
These two images are very similar. They have a lot of similar elements, such as the slicked back hair and the collared shirt. I also think these expressions are very similar, while not completely the same. I had the same problem with this image that I've had with all of the other ones: the photos McCullin takes are of people far older than my subjects. This is not really something I could help, so I just did the best I could with what I had planned for. Overall, I believe a lot is similar about these images and if I saw them next to each other, I would see the resemblance.