Friday 16/4/21 - Robert Capa and Don McCullin

During a seminar I was given the suggestion to look at war photographers since my project was heavily inspired by 1917 and was following a theme of taking place in a war setting. I found this to be really interesting as war photography is very different to what I've looked at before. It's genuine photos of conflict and what people don't usually get to see of it. I thought looking at what different war photographers depicted would be a great addition to the narrative and theme of my short film. Alongside this I felt that I could use aspects of these and implement them into my cinematography.

I decided to look at the photographers Robert Capa, Don McCullin, Nick Ut, João Silva and Roger Fenton. In this post I focused on Robert Capa and Don McCullin.

Robert Capa

Capa is considered the greatest war photographer however, he hated war. He was born to Jewish parents in 1913 and studied in Berlin. Unfortunately in 1933 the Nazis rising to power meant he had to leave the country and instead moved to Paris. He was originally named Andre Friedmann but was reinvented as a famous American photographer named Robert Capa.

His work started by capturing images of the Spanish Civil War, most notably was one shot of a wounded soldier which gained him worldwide reputation. He also covered the Second World War during D-Day, the liberation of Paris and the Battle of the Bulge. His photos from D-Day became some of the most iconic but only 11 shots actually survived. His technicians accidentally destroyed many rolls of film by overheating them. This added a sense of drama and chaos to one of his surviving photos, giving the photo a feeling of motion blur.

To take these photos he reportedly spent only 15 minutes taking photos on a somewhat less dangerous area of the beach before taking one of the landing craft back. He also said he had a panic attack during this.

He went on to found the company Magnum Photos and in 1954 he was killed whilst photographing in Indochina.

Overall I find his work to be really interesting as it doesn't just capture moments during the conflict itself, it's a wide range of photos that show life in areas affected by war or during wartime. They show moments in time that people wouldn't normally be able to see, this creates a powerful and emotional image. The same can be said for a lot of war photographers. It feels very different to regular photography because you know what you're looking at is real, that's what I like about his work. They all feel like a still in time, like there's a story behind them because that is the case. Each photo has a story behind it.

These were some of the photos of his that stood out to me in particular.

Don McCullin

Born 1935, Sir Donald McCullin is well recognised for his war photography. He started his path to photography during 1953 when he was called for National Service, he worked as an assistant for a photographer. Because he failed an exam to become a photographer McCullin spent his service in the darkroom however, he was soon able to by his own camera.

In 1958 he took a photo of a gang in London, known as The Guvnors, who were posed in a building wrecked by a bomb. He sent this off to The Observer which helped him gain traction as a photographer.

He began working as an overseas correspondent for the Sunday Times Magazine where he covered different catastrophes such as Biafra and the African AIDS epidemic. Although his work recording the Vietnam War and conflict in Northern Ireland is some of his more recognised work. One of his most iconic photos, titled 'Shell-shocked US Marine, The Battle of Hue', was one that stood out to me. The title of the photo essentially sums what you are seeing, but what makes it a powerful photo is how clearly you can see the effect of war in the soldier. Not only in his eyes and expression but also how he sits and how he grips the gun in his hand. This became one of my favourite portrait photos.

Don McCullin had this to say about the photo:

"This photograph was taken in the great Tet offensive, and this was a particular battle that took place in the city of Hue which is just below the demilitarised zone, that separates the north and the south of Vietnam. This was a Shell Shocked Soldier from the 5th marine battalion I just found him sitting on a wall, he’d got to a point in the battle, or in his life, that he couldn’t take any more of it. And I asked somebody ‘what’s the matter with him’, and he said ‘he’s shell shocked.’ And so I kind of dropped down on my knees and took 5 frames with my 35mm camera of this soldier and he never blinked an eye, his eyes were completely fixed on on one place. He was staring off into the horizon and every negative I took of this man is identical I checked them all out thoroughly. And I left this soldier after I’d photographed him and I went in to another yard to see some other people. And there was an almighty explosion, and I don’t know whether that explosion, which was an incoming mortar shell, killed this soldier, I knew it wounded some people in there, I feel slightly ashamed I didn’t go to check to see whether he was injured or still alive. I’ve come to actually kind of not particularly like this photograph because it gets used and used and used I don’t like seeing my photographs too many times. But I got to the stage with this picture now I’m sick of printing it, you get like that you know, I’ve slightly had enough of looking at it now. I don’t know what message it sends out, I think naturally it’s meant to be anti-war photograph but I don’t know how people perceive it because it has a slightly iconic value to it which could be slightly defeating part of the object of me taking it in the first place. This picture is a kind of silent protest in a way, to express a kind of silent protest about the futility of war. You can see this man’s life has possibly been damaged forever, on the other hand he is in the military he knew there would be some eventual situation that would bring great fear and harm to him possibly. By the time these soldiers got to this battle they’d been in many, many other battles so this man was no newcomer to the to the confrontation that has, brought him to a standstill."

I really liked his work for very similar reasons to Robert Capa but also because of the background behind some of the shots. He often risked his life to take these photos and get the perfect shot and also to help civilians and soldiers. In terms of his actual work I felt that a lot of it really captured the horrors of war and proved it not to be as glamourous as some percieve it to be. I especially like his eye for framing, even in what is clearly a chaotic scene he still manages to create a great photo. Overall, these were my favourite photos of his: