Don McCullin: ‘Nobody wants the pictures I used to take’

raydm6

raydm6

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Interesting. In a similar (nobody wants the photos..) vein .. recently, on his blog, Mike Johnston has talked about the death of formal portrait photos. Essentially, nobody wants them anymore: not only do they think them unnecessary in these days of 'selfies' - they think old-style portrait photos look somehow 'wrong' - they don't have the wide-angle-lens perspective they're used to. :unsure:

...Mike
 
Honesty. The interview of McCullin by Parkinson was the most compelling television I’ve seen. His disenchantment with modern preoccupations is a lesson in itself. What did I read earlier today: safety, and harm - concern about these trivialities by elites allows them to ignore any injustice or scandal affecting the very young or the very old. We need to be reading Thomas Hobbes or de Tocqueville and get our bearings again. Civilization in decline. Perhaps it’s irreversible. Sorry. I’m still hoping not.
 
Thank you for posting this, i will spend some time reading it. Also thanks @Richard G for the interview, I wasn't aware of it.

It all reminds me an interview of Kostas Balafas, one of the greatest Greek photographers who - back in the 50s- was discouraged from recording life in the villages and it's struggles as "No one buys those things" - back then it was the era of carte postale photography in Greece. He was discovered and revered later on.

My view is that people get fed up with what is constantly being served and look for something else. There will be a new generation of photographers who will rediscover these types of photography.
 
p.giannakis said:
There will be a new generation of photographers who will rediscover these types of photography.
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Don McCullin is best known as a photojournalist specializing in conflict and war. I suppose this genre of photography will survive but a new generation of photographers will likely be local stringers who will be paid a pittance to risk their lives.
 
Out to Lunch said:
Don McCullin is best known as a photojournalist specializing in conflict and war. I suppose this genre of photography will survive but a new generation of photographers will likely be local stringers who will be paid a pittance to risk their lives.
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People will always be willing to do the job for the glamour and/or the glory. Such is the case with the "glamour professions".
 
Out to Lunch said:
Very true, and very addictive. Some just can't get enough and stay too long on the dark side. I think this is what J.D. Salinger wrote about in his A Perfect Day for Bananafish.
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That's why Capa went back out into Indochina and met his landmine. But I doubt it could have been any other way for him.

But the other thing is that everyone who does live long enough will complain that the younger folks don't appreciate their work. That civilization is collapsing. That they need to "get off my lawn". Over 5000 year of those complaints in the historical record so I doubt it will ever change.
 
p.giannakis said:
Thank you for posting this, i will spend some time reading it. Also thanks @Richard G for the interview, I wasn't aware of it.

It all reminds me an interview of Kostas Balafas, one of the greatest Greek photographers who - back in the 50s- was discouraged from recording life in the villages and it's struggles as "No one buys those things" - back then it was the era of carte postale photography in Greece. He was discovered and revered later on.

My view is that people get fed up with what is constantly being served and look for something else. There will be a new generation of photographers who will rediscover these types of photography.
Click to expand...
Link:
 
Feels like some are missing old times of real world photos been only available via sold for money paper.

These days if I want to see real world, it is available on YT. And those who are good enough are making money from those videos. Because of these videos I discovered so many new places and it saved me from going where to see it :)

As for something happened and picture is taken, shared by bystander for free. This is more fair than paying for someone taking same photos
 
Ko.Fe. said:
Feels like some are missing old times of real world photos been only available via sold for money paper.

These days if I want to see real world, it is available on YT. And those who are good enough are making money from those videos. Because of these videos I discovered so many new places and it saved me from going where to see it :)

As for something happened and picture is taken, shared by bystander for free. This is more fair than paying for someone taking same photos
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I agree that a lot of "civilization is collapsing" is just nostalgia. BUT: What you are seeing on YT is not the real world... it's the view of the world that makes money for Google (which owns YT.) Very sophisticated algorithms are employed to make sure that everything that is presented to you keeps your eyeballs on the platform so your attention can be packaged and sold to serve the demands of global capitalism.

There's nothing especially new about this: during Don McCullin's heyday, gritty war photos were presented by print publications that wanted to generate engagement with young readers who tended to be very agitated about war (for the very good reason that they were the people most likely to be sent to die in one) and this helped create the marketable mythos of the haunted genius war photographer that helped keep McCullin employed. What's different now is simply that the exploitation process is more efficient.

Soon it will be even more efficient: the algorithms that tell the platforms what imagery will engage you most profitably will pass that information directly into AI neural networks that will generate the imagery to order without needing to bother with reality at all. One byproduct is that people who are forced to live in reality (e.g. poor people in conflict areas) will completely cease to exist in the minds of those who can opt out, so no effort at all will be made to alleviate their suffering. It might make sense to be nostalgic about that...
 
ranger9 said:
I agree that a lot of "civilization is collapsing" is just nostalgia. BUT: What you are seeing on YT is not the real world... it's the view of the world that makes money for Google (which owns YT.) Very sophisticated algorithms are employed to make sure that everything that is presented to you keeps your eyeballs on the platform so your attention can be packaged and sold to serve the demands of global capitalism.

There's nothing especially new about this: during Don McCullin's heyday, gritty war photos were presented by print publications that wanted to generate engagement with young readers who tended to be very agitated about war (for the very good reason that they were the people most likely to be sent to die in one) and this helped create the marketable mythos of the haunted genius war photographer that helped keep McCullin employed. What's different now is simply that the exploitation process is more efficient.

Soon it will be even more efficient: the algorithms that tell the platforms what imagery will engage you most profitably will pass that information directly into AI neural networks that will generate the imagery to order without needing to bother with reality at all. One byproduct is that people who are forced to live in reality (e.g. poor people in conflict areas) will completely cease to exist in the minds of those who can opt out, so no effort at all will be made to alleviate their suffering. It might make sense to be nostalgic about that...
Click to expand...

What I watch has nothing to do with algorithms for generating money.
I could easily find few hundreds views video on information I need. For example few days ago I watched train ride from Tongeren to Liege. It was just what I needed.

As for war. "Liberals" invoked war act on protesters. Local police did not wanted to be cowards.

I was watching live streams from just regular people walking with phones and showing what was going on for real. And talking to strangers who have came to support freedom.

It was very different from lies on subsidized by regime media. Those who where watching it became so hateful. Propaganda works. It is scary to see how it turns people here to similar we left our mother country.

Most of those bystanders, witnesses videos were deleted shortly after, btw.

And if you don't know, i'm one of pioneers of digital television.
I was at technical team for fist SDI based newsroom. Installed and supported different video servers in Europe, FSU and Canada. Those replaced VTRs and tape card machines.

Most of television contain makers whom I remember from nineties in Russia and who are still on bright side are on YT now and doing well.

Zero difference in the content quality, same equipment, same team. Just different content delivery platform.

Or just new kids of the block. They go solo to countries I'm interested to know. And they talk, ask, show real life.

All of this content is superior to traditional TV where I'm working since 1991.

Not only papers, magazines are dead, but traditional TV.

So, don't be manipulated by tinfoil hat wearers. Where are plenty of them on YT. And cowards with hundreds of thousands views as well.
Those are not only for money, they accepting dirty money for spreading of hate.
 
Ko.Fe has a point. What is 'news'? During McCullin's heyday, major newspapers and TV stations would send their star reporters to the hotspots, only. The smaller wars and conflicts were not worth the trouble and expense. During the Balkan wars, especially in Sarajevo, there would be hundreds of them. Not much later, in Burundi, there were hardly any. Those who did appear were stringers working on their own account selling their photos and stories on a piecemeal basis.
 
Photography is cyclical. His time for that type of work will come again. It just might not be in his lifetime.
 
jsrockit said:
Photography is cyclical. His time for that type of work will come again. It just might not be in his lifetime.
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There are still photographers carrying on that kind of work.

Eddy Van Wessel | LensCulture

Eddy van Wessel, The Netherlands. Currently based in Sweden. A documentary photographer, capturing life on the edge in all aspects. Real moments, real images that reflect the emotions of the photographer and subjects at the moment. Eddy van Wessel worked with international magazines like...
www.lensculture.com www.lensculture.com
 
Any one with a cell phone has a camera came be a citizen photojournalist if they want to be. Citizen photojournalists can cover way more ground than pro photojournalists can therefore offering many more viewpoints than ever before possible. Everyone no matter citizen photojournalist or pro photojournalist are going to have a bias… So as a viewer we now have a clearer picture and we can get way closer to the “truth” than ever before. Photography came both be truth and full of lies all at the same time.
 
It's a pretty sad commentary on the human race that our ability to provide soldiers to fight wars exceeds our ability to provide journalists to cover them.
 
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