Example of Written Work.

Don McCullin – Shaped By War

The Imperial War Museum North, Salford Keys.

In the United Kingdom there are three Imperial War Museums, each representing a different theatre of war; Water, Air and in this case Earth, shown by the museum’s strong, sturdy, steel exterior. The museum opened its doors to the public on 5^th July 2002 and survives on donations made by some of the 400,000 visitors it sees per year. The Imperial War Museum North presented the largest UK exhibition about Don McCullin’s life and over 50 years work. Shaped By War (6^th February 2010 until 13^th June 2010), gave visitors an insight into the man behind the camera, and featured items on public display for the first time.

World-renowned war photographer McCullin started out in the Royal Air Force as part of his national service, then began his Photography career photographing protest gangs in London. Some of the images he captured were published in the Observer, and was probably the beginnings of his addiction to war and protest.

The exhibition was a mixture of photography from many war zones, such as Vietnam. Only a few images were shot in colour causing the eye to get distracted and take focus away from the purpose/meaning of the photograph. McCullin still uses black and white film as he feels it’s a more controlled way of working.

The images McCullin produced show events that we could never imagine in our day-to-day lives, such as the image of a motherless baby laying in the middle of the road crying, an image that communicates death in a truly horrifying way. We would probably gone to help the baby but under the circumstances’ McCullin was not allowed to step in and help, as much as he may have wanted to. McCullin has only ever manipulated one of his war images; the image of a dead Vietnamese soldier, in which he places the soldier’s family portrait/wallet in front of him, to give the image more identity, rather than another nameless soldier.

Self confessed “war junkie’ McCullin now focuses on still life and landscape photography, he feels this relieves his guilt from the things he witnessed and photographed during his photojournalism career. He recently began working with Christian Aid to help combat the A.I.D’s pandemic in third world countries. He admits that when he wasn’t documenting war, he was at home, unhappy.

The exhibition was eye opening and thought provoking, with some images that were hard to digest due to the negative feelings that were produced by the image, however no matter how negative the image may be there is always empathy for the victims in the images. I would personally recommend looking into Don McCullin’s work , no matter what kind of photography your produce, as it gives an insight into raw human emotion captured by the camera.