visual commuications research blog 1

Don Mccullen was a British photojournalist who was originally from London. Who specialised in war time photography his career being in 1959 when he did his national service where he worked as a photography assistant. He failed to pass the theory paper he needed to pass in order to become a photographer in the RAF as he had dyslexia so he spent more of his service in the dark room. This was when he had brought his first camera which was a  Rolleicord. In 1959 a photo he took of a London  gang got published in The Observer. Between 1966 and 1984 he worked over seas as a correspondent he is most famous for his work he did of the Vietnam war.




Dom Mccullin said he felt photography had been hijacked because of digital photography.
 As he shot in film and uses a dark room. He said "digital photography can be a totally lying kind of experience, you can move anything you want … the whole thing can’t be trusted really.” however he does shoot with digital camera "because of the pressure of people wanting things now" but he does feel more comfortable and prefers working with film. "recalling one of his best experiences this year, standing on Hadrian’s Wall in a blizzard. “If I’d have used a digital camera I would have made that look attractive, but I wanted you to get the feeling that it was cold and lonely,” McCullin particularly dislikes how digital cameras allow for manipulation of colours. “These extraordinary pictures in colour, it looks as if someone has tried to redesign a chocolate box,” he said. “In the end, it doesn’t work, it’s hideous.”




These images were very shocking to the people of the world as they showed really life and it was very graphic what he took. He didn't not want to paint over any of it and really wanted to shock the world. His images are very dark and show great emotion and have a great sense of fear to them. I like the way he photographed both side of the war as this showed an unbiased eye to the war which I think is what the observer were looking for when recruiting photographers for this. I also feel this job needed great courage when taking photographs as it was a very scary situation to be in and Don Mccullin was really thrown into the deep end and almost needed to have the same courage the soilders.





I find his portraiture work very dramatic and very striking. They are very graphic and all of them are full of detail.The images show so much emotion within them especially in the eyes as they all have
a glimmer in them. You can see the fear in their eyes. All of his portraits are framed so they are central and fill the frame I think this makes a lot more impact on these images as it makes you focus on the person and not what is going in the background.