Don McCullin, Scarborough Beach, from the BBC documentary Looking for England 2018 © Bright Yellow Films & Oxford Films. Photo: Stephen Foote
Sir Don McCullin is a British photographer recognised for his war photography and images of urban strife. Launching his career in 1959, he began with examining the underside of society, and his photographs have depicted the unemployed, downtrodden and impoverished.
McCullin has provided a powerful view of humanitarian crises and conflicts worldwide, while later endeavours simultaneously showcase his creative expertise through carefully composed still lifes, landscapes of Somerset, and archaeological studies that carry with them the same honesty and grit of his earlier photographs.
"Photography for me 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." Don McCullin, BBC Radio 3 interview with John Tusa, 2002.
Shop Don's Edit here
Style Notes
If you had not become a photographer, what might you have done?
Anything in the art world; but I particularly love drawing.
Which photographers do you admire?
Stieglitz; his photography was only a small part of his huge cultural hinterland and intellect. Francis Firth for his archaeological landscapes.
If you could go back to a certain, place or situation and take the photograph you had not, what and where would that be?
I had a limited time in Bangladesh for the war in 1971. The monsoon was late and when it came it brought an ensuing tragedy of cholera and a catastrophic refugee crisis that deserved to be spotlit to the world. I regretted not being able to stay and cover this tragedy more deeply and thoroughly.
Venus, Palazzo Massimo, Rome, 2022 © Don McCullin. Courtesy the artist and Hauser & Wirth. Artwork documentation: Eva Herzog
What object inspires you the most?
Not an object, but clouds and light and sky. I'm obsessed by clouds, just like Steiglitz and Constable. And I worship the classical statuary in the Vatican Museum. Aphrodite always.
Which painting would you most like to hang on your wall?
A Monet of Waterloo Bridge in the fog.
If you didn’t live in Somerset, where would you live?
Somewhere beside the sea in the south west.
Over your career you have produced so many iconic images of our time, what do you think is your legacy? And which image that you have taken would you most like to be known for taking?
I don't feel it's up to me to say what my legacy is… but the dying mother and child picture in Biafra is the most shocking and tragic of my images.
What object could you not live without?
I couldn't live without my eyes. I couldn't live without Irish butter.
What’s your favourite bar in the world and your drink of choice?
A vodka and tonic - the Ritz London was where my wife and I first connected, but then, it was over champagne, which actually I don't like.
Waterloo Bride, Gray Weather - Claude Monet, 1900
What is your first rule for dressing?
Tidiness, wear a tie, a silk square. But country clothes are best when they are worn in.
Having travelled the world on many assignments, apart from your home, where is your ultimate place to sleep?
The presidential suite of the Hotel Du Cap or the corner suite at Villa Igiea in Palermo.
Discover The Stillness of Life by Don McCullin here >
